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 Davenport, IA 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 Davenport, IA 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?
The Dalai Lama once stated that the “best way to resolve any problem in the human world is for all sides to sit down and talk.” But not all talking is of the same quality. Talking to a friend may help you feel supported, but they may not have all the psychological insights you need. Talking to another family member about a family problem is a great idea, but not if you’re both too emotionally involved in the situation to see it objectively. That’s where family therapists can help.
Family therapists at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA can guide all different types of families toward harmony and equilibrium under one roof. Thriveworks family therapists use evidence-based psychotherapy approaches to identify problems and find practical solutions that everyone can agree on. They have the compassion, expertise, and authority to instill trust in clients–and help give them positive results.
How Can Family Therapy at Thriveworks Help My Family?
A family therapist at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA will help your family with whatever you need help with! It’s not unusual for family members to arrive with different goals for and perspectives on therapy. It’s a therapist’s job to listen and see problems from everyone’s point of view. Sometimes families arrive at Thriveworks with acute problems that they consider insurmountable. Sometimes families arrive with smaller goals about improving rapport between siblings and parents. A family therapist will find out what everyone hopes to achieve, and go from there. Some possible motivations for therapy include wanting to accomplish the following:
- Be more emotionally open
- Reduce tension
- Enhance harmony
- Forgive
- Ask for forgiveness
- Learn what makes your family strong
- Improve communication
- Manage anger
- Reduce misunderstandings
- Really listen to each other
- Recognize implicit rules and codes of behavior
- Make healthy boundaries
- Identify emotional triggers
- Rebuild trust in each other
- Heal estrangements
- Make a safe, secure home for all
How Does Family Therapy Work?
Family therapy might seem a little intimidating at first if you’ve never been to group therapy. It can help to know what to expect. Here’s how it usually goes:
- You notice that something is “off” in your family. Or someone else points out an issue.
- You make an effort to fix the problem yourself, but you can’t seem to make it better.
- You easily schedule an online session with a family therapist at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA. Everyone can meet together, virtually, from their own comfort zones.
- The Thriveworks family therapist asks everyone individually what their goals are for therapy.
- The therapist works to hear and understand a problem from everyone’s perspective.
- Your therapist uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques to gain further insight into the problem, and to help everyone acknowledge their true feelings.
- Together, your family members and your therapist create a treatment plan—practical steps you can all agree on—to resolve the problem.
- You resolve the problem in fewer than 12, solution-focused sessions and learn ways to prevent further disturbances in family harmony.
What Are Some Common Family Therapy Exercises?
Family therapists at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA use a variety of therapy exercises to help family members feel comfortable, open up, and get to the bottom of their problems. These exercises can also help identify a family’s strengths. The following exercises can be helpful:
- The miracle question. The family therapist poses a hypothetical question that everyone has to answer truthfully. They might ask, “If you could wish for a miracle tonight, what would it be? And how would it change your life?” Answers to this question can help a therapist understand everyone’s dreams and ideals for the future.
- An icebreaker exercise. To put everyone at their ease, a family therapist might pass around colored candies. Different colors prompt different disclosures from family members.
- A family scavenger hunt. In this fun, child-friendly exercise, a family therapist asks everyone to go around the house and find items that hold special meaning for them.
All of these exercises can be adapted to work online or in-person, at a client’s convenience.
Discover the Benefits of Family Therapy at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA
The emotional health of your family can influence many generations to come. Your children may model their behavior as parents on your own behavior, and so on and so forth. It’s worth it to learn more about your family dynamics and unspoken rules that can wield such powerful consequences. Family therapy at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA can be a critical investment in the enduring well-being of your unique family.
The licensed family therapists at Thriveworks in Davenport, IA accept most health insurance, so you can receive premium care at affordable prices. They also make themselves available to family members via email or phone calls between sessions. And all sessions can be conducted online, in-person at the office, or through a hybrid model.
We look forward to helping your family navigate its complex issues. Call the office today to book your first appointment!
