This answer often looks different to each family that starts family therapy. However, some signs that your family might need to consider family counseling include frequent fights or misunderstandings, constant tension, experiencing loss, behavioral issues, marital issues, divorce, and blended family issues, among others.
In family therapy, therapists will often start by asking questions and assessing individual and family dynamics. From there, they may employ therapeutic techniques such as structured family therapy, CBT, strategic family therapy, and more depending on the present concerns and conflicts. From there, a therapist will work to open lines of communication between family members and facilitate emotional healing and growth.
The novelist Marge Kennedy once stated, “The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us all to become our best while looking our worst.” As children grow up, the family home can be a secure haven where kids get a chance to learn, grow, and experiment. They can become confident and secure under the family roof. On the flip side, they can learn behavior patterns that may be maladaptive in the long-term. But all those complex dynamics can be hard to unravel, especially from within the family, when everyone is so emotionally involved. That’s where a professional can help.
The licensed family therapists at Thriveworks in San Diego are highly trained to see issues from each family member’s perspective. They can find solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems. Their job isn’t to cast blame, but to help foster rapport, understanding, and connection. And the family therapists at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA have the compassion, authority, and expertise to help families achieve their goals.
When Can Family Therapy Help?
Family therapy at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA can help families with the following issues:
- Behavioral. For example, one family member is acting out. If they’re a kid, maybe they’re skipping school or bullying someone. Are they subconsciously reacting to a larger issue in the family? Could the family member benefit from individual therapy?
- Addiction. One person has a substance abuse problem and it’s affecting everyone.
- Estrangement. Two family members haven’t spoken for weeks or months, and the distance is painful for both of them, but they don’t know how to heal their relationship.
- Blended family. A second marriage is bringing children from different family backgrounds together under one roof.
- Intergenerational family. A mother is moving in with her son, daughter-in-law, and their kids, and the dynamics are changing.
- LGBTQ. A child doesn’t understand why he has two moms when everyone else in his class has a mom and dad.
- Mental health condition. Someone is suffering from depression or anxiety, and it’s affecting everyone.
- Financial. The family is under financial stress and everyone feels worried for different reasons.
- Marital. The parents are fighting and the children are acting out because of it.
What Is It Like to See a Family Therapist?
Family therapy at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA is essentially group therapy with the people in the world that you probably feel the most emotionally attached to. So it can be intense at times. But an exceptional, fully licensed, highly qualified Thriveworks family therapist can work to put everyone at ease and create a safe zone where all family members can open up and speak freely. Some of the topics that might arise in a family therapy session include the following:
- Individual roles that everyone plays within the family
- A family’s implicit strengths and weaknesses
- Unspoken rules and codes of behavior
- Patterns of communication
- Emotional triggers
- Group dynamics
What Are the Different Types of Family Therapy?
Psychotherapists at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA use a variety of approaches to help their clients meet their goals for family therapy. These are six of the main modalities of family therapy:
- Structural, which considers the role each member plays in the family
- Milan, which sees the body as a system guided by natural behavior
- Strategic, which attempts to examine and redirect patterns of behavior
- Systemic, which is rooted in family systems
- Narrative, which focuses on individuals
- Transgenerational, which looks at conflicts from a generational standpoint
A licensed family therapist at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA can also identify problem areas that could use a little extra support. This might include referring a family member to a substance abuse counselor at Thriveworks, or perhaps meeting one on one with a couple for relationship counseling.
Reinforce Your Love with Family Therapy at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA
Needing to see a family therapist does not have to signal that your family is troubled, weak, or in crisis. Seeing a family therapist at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA is a sign of strength. It sends a signal to each family member that the family is worth time and effort. The family–and each person in the family–is valued.
When you call the Thriveworks office in San Diego, CA, our staff can usually find you an appointment with a top-rated, licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) quickly, so you can meet with your counselor for the first time within 24-48 hours. All our therapists are licensed, which means they accept most health insurance. We think every family deserves premium, affordable therapy when they’re experiencing challenges.
In addition to your therapy sessions, you can also call or email your family therapist between appointments. And Thriveworks offers free educational resources like e-books and videos for clients who’d like to take their psychoeducation beyond the sessions.
We look forward to meeting you and your family members! Schedule your initial appointment today.
