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604 people sought family therapy help at Columbia in the last year

Discover how starting therapy with a family can support your own journey toward a happier, more fulfilling life.

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Cierra Brabham

Hear from Cierra Brabham, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

View Cierra Brabham's profile

What is your go-to approach for family therapy?

In my approach to family therapy, I address all clients' concerns during the initial intake, tackling common issues and establishing a treatment plan that all involved parties agree upon. This sets the foundation for subsequent sessions.

What tools do you teach in family therapy?

The tools I teach in family therapy include:

  • Communication skills: Learning assertive communication to effectively manage conflict.
  • Conflict resolution: Tips for navigating heated discussions without aggression.
  • Emotion regulation skills: Techniques for healthy processing and expression of emotions.
  • Interpersonal effectiveness skills: Strategies to maintain healthy relationships.

How do you know when a client is making meaningful progress in family therapy?

Clients show meaningful progress in family therapy when they can independently handle challenges using the tools provided in treatment. Progress is evident as clients begin to recognize and overcome barriers contributing to their distress.

What can clients do in their personal time to supplement family therapy?

To supplement therapy, I recommend families dedicate quality time each week without distractions and complete homework assignments from sessions. Practicing communication styles throughout the week and noting any concerns or obstacles for discussion in the next session are also encouraged.

What should someone do to prepare for starting family therapy?

For the first family therapy session, I advise clients to list their concerns and come prepared with an open mind, ready to tackle challenges in new ways. This preparation helps facilitate a productive and engaging therapeutic process.

Starting Family therapy

What is family therapy?

Family therapy helps families resolve conflicts and strengthen their relationships. It is led by qualified mental health professionals like psychologists, licensed professional counselors (LPCs), and licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) who have extensive training in family dynamics and group communication.

How does family therapy work?

Thriveworks family therapists in Columbia, SC usually begin by asking what everyone’s goals are for family counseling. Family members may need help with very specific issues or with general relationship functioning. But there are three main purposes in family counseling: to educate, to counsel, and to strengthen. Thriveworks also offers online family therapy and in-person services, so you may all meet in an office together or join a video call from your home depending on everyone’s location and availability.

What is the most effective family therapy?

The most effective form of Family therapy will often depend on the family itself, as there are many types of family therapy for therapists to use as they see fit in order to best meet the needs of their clients. However, one of the most commonly used types of family therapy is structural family therapy (SFT). SFT focuses specifically on family dynamics and interactions, looking at how they shape the relationships and structure present in the family. It can be effectively used to treat a variety of concerns.

How do I know if my family needs therapy?

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.

What is included in family therapy?

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.

What is the success rate of family therapy?

Family therapy can be incredibly successful, with some studies reporting a success rate of almost 90% for improving participants’ emotional and mental health, and around 66% for improving their physical health.

Is family therapy conducted in person or online?

Thriveworks therapists in Columbia, SC offer both online family therapy and in-person family therapy. We encourage you to choose the option that works best for you.

How long does family therapy last?

Family therapy is usually short term and solution-focused, with most families accomplishing their goals in 12 sessions or fewer. However, it can also last for longer if the probles at hand are more complex — and that’s okay, too.

Need more help deciding?

Family Therapy in Columbia, SC — Marriage and Family Therapists in Columbia, SC

A family is a system where every member is connected to each other. For better or worse, people often cannot be understood apart from their family unit. Families pass onto each member patterns of social behavior, emotional processing, and ethical standards. When each member’s needs are met and when each member makes important contributions, families often function cohesively and flourish. However, families can easily be knocked off balance, and the system needs adjusting.

Is your family unit facing any of these challenges?

● Parenting is harder than you or your spouse anticipated.
● The family is repeating a hurtful cycle of behavior over and over again.
● One person in the family is experiencing anger, anxiety, or frustration, and other members are affected.
● Lack of communication or poor communication has led to hard feelings.
● Family members are growing apart, but no one knows how to come back together again.

When families are having a hard time working together, they often need outside help to re-establish healthy interactions. A family counselor can help families understand their unique challenges and implement necessary adjustments that help each member.
Thriveworks Marriage and Family Counseling in Columbia, SC understands that every family faces challenges and needs help at times. That’s why we provide family therapy. Our professionals may have the skills your family needs to overcome its challenges and start working together again. Reach out today for help: (803) 477-3736

What Is Family Therapy?

Family therapy rests upon the idea that families form people’s behaviors and identities. Each individual must be understood within the context of their family. Family therapists generally focus on how the family offers comfort, copes with stress, defines each member’s role, and gives expectations. During a session, a family counselor may explore how love languages, birth order, and/or personality types affect the challenges unique to each family. This often leads to adjustments that allow the family to meet each other’s needs and/or contribute to the family in a meaningful way.

The goal of family therapy is to facilitate better communication, more interdependence (but not codependence), and more harmony in the family’s life. Strong families offer many possible benefits to the community and to each member of the family, including …

● More secure attachment between parents and children; therefore, an increased chance that children learn healthy relational skills.
● Decreased risk of poverty because parents have shared income potential.
● A greater capacity to handle stress and hardship because of emotional connection and comfort.
● Fewer cases of abuse, neglect, or problems with the law.
● Reduced cases of anxiety disorders and depression-related conditions.

Do We Need Family Therapy?

Your family faces many challenges. More than one family member contributes to the dynamic? Family therapy may be helpful if your family faces…

1. Domineering parenting style with rebellious children
2. Hormonal fluctuations within a parent or teen that may be causing conflict
3. A special-needs family member who needs unique care/interaction
4. Inadequate/no premarital counseling and/or marriage maintenance guidance
5. Neglect, addiction, and/or abuse
6. Lax parenting style with out-of-control children
7. A family member whose needs are not met
8. Love/intimacy problems in the marriage relationship
9. Hostility/tension in any relationship
10. Particularly stressful times such as job loss of death as a divorce/separation prevention

There is no quick fix for overcoming these or similar problems, but family counseling has given many people a safe place to acknowledge unhealthy patterns of behavior and find new, more harmonious ways to work together. Each family member must be willing to do the work required to strengthen the family bond.

Scheduling Family Therapy at Thriveworks Columbia

Thriveworks Marriage and Family Therapy in Columbia, SC helps families find practical answers to life their challenges. Our marriage and family therapists understand what knocks families off balance and what it takes to regain stability. We know that…

● Listening and empathy go a long way to ease family tensions
● The family or individual who comes in for help is not the problem—the actual problem is the problem
● Every family member needs a voice
● Every conflict has a workable compromise

If your family needs help tackling life’s challenges, call Thriveworks Marriage and Family Therapy in Columbia, SC today. We accept most major medical insurance and we have no waiting list for appointments. We make getting family therapy more convenient by offering day, evening, and weekend appointments. Your family deserves the best! Call Thriveworks Marriage and Family Therapy in Columbia, SC today! (803) 477-3736

Pricing & insurance

Our therapists accept most major insurances. We accept 585+ insurance plans, and offer self-pay options, too.
Learn more about pricing for therapy and counseling services at Thriveworks.

Our Columbia therapists and counselors accept 25 insurance plans

  • Aetna

  • Blue Cross Blue Shield | Anthem (Blue Card)

  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina Medicare Advantage

  • Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina | BCBS

  • Carelon

  • Carolina Behavioral Health Alliance (CBHA)

  • Cigna | Evernorth

  • Cigna | Evernorth EAP

  • Cigna | Evernorth Medicare Advantage

  • Compsych

  • First Health Network

  • Humana Exchange

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Self-pay costs at Columbia
Talk therapy

Talk therapy

Includes individual, couples, child/ teen, & family therapy

First session

$1

Ongoing sessions

$1

Talk therapy

Psychiatry

Includes reducing symptoms with medication & management

First session

$1

Ongoing sessions

$1

Hear from our clients

Thriveworks Columbia has no reviews yet, but check out these reviews from locations in South Carolina.

4.5 Thriveworks Columbia reviews are collected through Thriveworks.com.
★★★★★
Thriveworks helped me realize that I do believe people can change. I’m not the person I was three months ago, broken and fearful. I’m healthy and happy and for the first time being kind to myself. Thank you for giving me my life back.
Read more Thriveworks helped me realize that I do believe people can change. I’m not the person I was three months ago, broken and fearful. I’m healthy and happy and for the first time being kind to myself. Thank you for giving me my life back.
Anonymous Thriveworks Client
Review left on Thriveworks.com

Where to find us

Getting here

Thriveworks Counseling & Psychiatry Columbia is located on Executive Pointe Blvd off of Bush River Rd, just northwest of Interstate 20 on the north side of the Saluda River. Our building is neighbored by The Steele Law Firm; S.C. Press Association; and Thomas, Watson & Company. The closest bus stop is Bush Woodland WB. If you have trouble finding our office or have any questions about how to get here, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Phone number

(803) 573-9453

Languages spoken by SC providers

  • English
Saturday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Sunday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Monday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Tuesday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Wednesday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Thursday 8:00am - 9:00pm
Friday 8:00am - 9:00pm

Shown in ET

Saturday 7:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Monday 7:00am - 9:30pm
Tuesday 7:00am - 9:30pm
Wednesday 7:00am - 9:30pm
Thursday 7:00am - 9:30pm
Friday 7:00am - 9:30pm

Shown in ET

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