Family Therapy

All families experience conflict. We come together with a jumble of life lessons, past experiences, cultural messaging, and expectations that often live just below the surface of awareness and can have a big impact on how we are in our family relationships.

Families living abroad may be at increased risk of conflict due to the many stressors of moving and acculturating to a new place. Sometimes members may acculturate at different rates and formerly close bonds can become strained. New schools, workplaces, and daily routines can upend the systems that used to work. Old problems can become harder to ignore when familiar coping strategies and support networks are no longer available. Families formed across cultures may discover that cultural differences arise in unanticipated places as they navigate family formation and expectations.

Family therapy is an exciting opportunity for families to engage in a new kind of communication that can help each member to have greater choice over how they want to be with one another. The goals of family therapy are to increase awareness, improve family functioning, and the enhance the quality of communication in order for families to relate better, become more resilient, navigate challenges more effectively, overcome stuck patterns, and better support one another’s needs. My role will be to assist each member in sharing their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a safe space while assisting each member in receiving and appreciating what is shared. I will aid the family in identifying and building on strengths and making adjustments in behaviors to achieve more authentic and satisfying engagement. Because I base my work on your goals and needs, therapy will look different for each family. In addition to an Existential-Humanistic foundation, I draw from Experiential, Narrative, Solution-Focused and Attachment-Theory techniques when working with families.

Common issues families may face include:

* Family therapy with more than 3-4 individuals may be more challenging to conduct via telemental health. If you have a large family seeking TMH, we can discuss your situation in your free initial consultation and create plan together that is appropriate for your needs.