Family Therapy
Thank you for your interest in family therapy. If you would like to schedule an initial consult, please feel free to call or email me directly, or you can click over to the scheduling page to request a consult time that works for you. For more information on child therapy and what to expect, feel free to read more below.
What is family therapy?
Family life can seem overwhelming and challenging even in the best of times. Navigating household roles and rule-setting, managing multiple individuals’ emotions and working to facilitate healthy communication, navigating the balance between being an individual and having familial obligations can tax the best of us, even as the rewards of family life are also profound.
Family therapy aims to create a space for all members of a family to feel heard in the context of the family setting, to assess what is at the foundation of family difficulties and disagreements, and to support family members in making the adjustments that might help the family as a whole, and to encourage family norms wherein growth and evolution are supported. This takes commitment from each family member to do their best to overcome tendencies to criticize, shut down, attack, or reject, and to be willing to check in on how progress is going and what adjustments might continue to be made.
How can family therapy help my family?
Family therapy can assist in weeding through the overwhelming tangle of emotions and conflicts that can often seem to characterize family challenges. Just a few aspects that we might look at together include: family and household roles, responsibility and expectations - who is responsible for what, and who needs what from whom?; emotional expression and responsiveness - how are emotions being expressed, dealt with, and responded to, and what improvements might be made there?; communication, healthy requests, and healthy responses - how are wants, needs and requests being communicated, received, and responded or reacted to, and what requests might family members have about how to do that differently?
Additional topics that can come in relate to balancing individual versus family identity, navigating shifting life stages for both children and extended family members, navigating grief and loss, and processing stressors and strains on the family system. We will also look at family structure and hierarchy and help establish the parental unit as healthy, respectful and respect-worthy family arbiters with a clear sense of their parenting philosophy and guiding principles. We will help establish the goals of a healthy childhood in preparing healthy adults and look at what the means for your particular household and family. Family therapy is a big undertaking, and often requires great courage and willingness to open up often painful parts of your life to outside intervention. This is no small step, but I can assure you I work with the utmost respect and care for you and your family members.
What to expect in family therapy
To begin family therapy, the first step is to have a brief consult call to discuss what you’re looking for and assess fit. You can schedule that here or call or email me. This initial call will be 15-20 minutes, for us to get to know one another a bit, and explore what you’re looking to get out of therapy for your family.
Next, we will schedule a first appointment, at a pre-established rate. I will send you some paperwork in advance, in order for us to dive right in at your first appointment. Provided you wish to continue working together, I request that initial sessions take on a weekly or every other week schedule for at least the first three months, before we determine whether to move to a more sporadic schedule. That said, all of this is up for discussion at anytime and voicing your needs is encouraged.
Family therapy sessions revolve around talk therapy, and may occasionally involve play therapy, art therapy, or collaborative activities. We can continue to work together as long as you like, provided your family is finding benefit in the process. I will periodically check in to see how you a think things are going, and what you might wish to focus on if it seems we are plateauing. My goal is to ensure that my time together with your family is intentional and worthwhile for you, even as sessions bring in unexpected and new material that may arise in the process.
Confidentiality and participation in family therapy
The topic of confidentiality in therapy is an important one, and therapy is traditionally a protected confidential space. For family therapy, the understanding is that the family is the client, and the goal is the help improve the family system while bearing in mind the wants and needs of each of the members of the family. We will discuss what the parameters are of confidentiality between family members if we split off into individual or pair sessions, and ensure that everyone is clear on the expectations before beginning or making adjustments.
I look forward to hearing from you if this sounds like a potential fit!
(323) 688-6771 // hello@nicpas.com