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 Newport News, VA 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 Newport News, VA 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?
Counseling, Therapy and Coaching for Families in Newport News, VA
What is your family going through right now? Maybe you and your spouse disagree about parenting choices, and in the meantime, your children are confused about expectations. Maybe lack of communication has led to distance between family members. Maybe an unhealthy family pattern is harming family members. Maybe one person’s depression or anxiety is taking a toll on the whole family.
These common but difficult challenges can either draw families closer together or push them apart. Family therapy is not a quick-fix or an easy answer, but when families as a whole become healthier, their individual member often reap the most benefits. Family therapy may be the path forward your family needs to re-establish its balance.
The problems that each family faces are unique, but the therapists at Thriveworks Newport News know that every family has challenges. It is normal. Overcoming those challenges can be normal too. That is why Thriveworks Newport News provides family therapy. We want families to solve life’s challenges together. Reach out today for help.
Signs to Seek Family Therapy
The main idea in family therapy is people are best understood through the context of their family. Families can shape people’s beliefs, behaviors, and identities. They exert significant influence, whether people love their families or want to run away from their families. Whether people like the connection or not, individual family members are interwoven, and what happens to one person can influence many others in the family.
More specifically, here are a handful of challenges that families have faced and overcome through family therapy:
- Unforeseen crises such as family death, job loss, or loss of home.
- Permissive parenting and uncontrollable children.
- Domineering parenting and disobedient children.
- A marriage that lacks connection.
- A special-needs family member who needs substantial care.
- Hormonal changes within a child or parent that may be causing or increasing conflict.
- A family member (or members) with unmet needs.
- Unresolved tension/strain in family relationships.
- A family member facing a mental illness diagnosis.
- Insufficient/no premarital therapy and/or marriage maintenance counseling.
How Can Family Therapy Help?
Through therapy, families may explore how each individual’s love language, personality type, and birth order affect how the family relate. They may learn how to relate in new ways that respect each other’s needs and gifts.
When families put in the work to become healthier, their efforts are often rewarded. Strong families may experience…
- Secure parent/child attachment with the possibility of children bringing that benefit into their future relationships.
- Fewer instances of neglect and abuse.
- Improved coping skills for handling stress and adversity.
- Less anxiety and depression-related conditions.
- Reduced risk of poverty as shared earners increase potential for income.
Scheduling Family Counseling at Thriveworks Newport News, VA
Is your family experiencing some of the challenges previously listed? Are you growing together or falling apart? If it is time for a more peaceful, balance home, know that family therapy appointments are available at Thriveworks Newport News.
Our goal is that every client who walks through our doors receives the excellent care they deserve. That is why we offer convenient weekend and evening session. That is why we do not keep waitlists, but our clients often see their therapists within the same week of calling to schedule an appointment. Support for families is available. Call Thriveworks Newport News today to work with a family therapist or psychologist.
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