Family Therapy

“We are family – sort of.”

Is the phrase, “You just don’t understand me,” echoing throughout your family? Slammed doors, silent treatments, and deep sighs of disappointment are how you know something is off. Each family member tries to grow and develop from little ones to teens to adults while coexisting with others. It’s not easy.

A family exists like a tiny ecosystem, with each member impacting the other. When life throws its curveballs (and it will), everyone has a response. Those curveballs might be divorce, grief, or illness, and they can also be navigating the teenage years, learning to connect, or figuring out how to talk to your kids.

As a toddler mom, I see firsthand how quickly emotions rise – hers and mine. How anyone gets through parenthood without therapy support still surprises me.

It is not a failure to end up in family therapy but a sign of investment in a better future.

Whatever brings you to family therapy, please know I’m here for each member. Sometimes, I work with an individual who wants to get their family into sessions; other times, an individual might seek family therapy from the beginning.

Either way, we’ll begin the process by completing appropriate paperwork (depending on the age of each family member) and gathering information, including who each member of the family is (as defined by you), what’s going on, how you’ve been coping, and what you would like to see in the future. Gathering this information from each family member allows me to understand the common goal.

Online family therapy offers a few meeting options. We can meet in “Brady bunch style,” where everyone has their camera in their own space, or we can meet with you all together in one space, one camera, or whatever works best for you.

We’ll begin with a grounding breath practice and a “temperature check.” Each of you has a busy life (yes, even young ones), and checking in with each other is a way to see how you’re doing at the very beginning of the session. We’ve all been in situations where our mind and body are elsewhere.

Sessions are about open communication.

I offer three agreements for family therapy which we can build upon:

• Listen to hear, not respond.
• Be present.
• Allow family members to complete their thoughts.

At the end of the session, we’ll complete another “temperature check” to see how everyone feels. You might leave with some “homework” to complete before the next session.

If it feels okay, we’ll close again with a grounding practice to help ease the transition back to your lives.

“Get Up Everybody and Sing!”

While I cannot promise your family will want to stand up and sing at the end of each session, I can offer a space for each family member to feel seen and heard, which is a great gift.

Like all therapy, family therapy brings up complicated emotions, painful experiences, and a great opportunity to truly heal. As stated above, a family is an ecosystem. One person is not hurting in isolation.

When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, it felt like a knife split something in our family. We each changed because we had to. Now, as we heal from his loss, we are evolving in new ways. Change is inevitable, and a family can be your best support system as you give time and care to each other.

Please don’t wait. Let’s connect today. Your family deserves it!