Family and Couples Therapy
Family therapy can be helpful when stressors cause conflict between family members or stress for the family. There are many reasons that families come in for therapy including issues with communication, parenting, life transitions (relocating or additions to the family), separation or divorce, blended families, a loss in the family and a loved one suffering with mental health issues. Family therapy can include the entire family coming including, when appropriate, extended family, step-parents and family friends. Generational differences and cultural differences are additional stressors that can occur in biracial families and in collectivist cultures. My approach to working with families is engaging and collaborating with all members of the family to get an understanding of the whole system. My goal is for the family to gain an understanding of the underlining issues creating stress in the family system and to learn new skills in communicating their emotions and managing stressful situations .
Couples seek out therapy to address issues ranging from a variety of stressors including, but not limited to, communication issues, premarital counseling, one of the partners struggling with mental health issues and infidelity. Often times relationship conflict can be exacerbated by each partner’s own mental health issues, past relationship trauma or abuse. Couples attempting to manage conflicts or misunderstandings may struggle in communicating their emotions and needs and feel that their partner is not hearing or understanding them. My approach with couples is focused on helping couples learn communication skills to express themselves and facilitate emotional closeness.