Family Therapy

I work with families in a variety of formats. For parents who are struggling deciding how to best help their child, I offer parent consultations. Here we talk together about your concerns about your child and come up with new and concrete ways of changing your reactions and approaches; the belief here is that if you as parents change what you do, the child will have to change what he does as well. Parents really can become their child's best therapist.

But I also do meet with total families, where everyone but the dog shows up. As with couple therapy, my focus on providing a safe place for each person to be heard, to sort through overlapping problems, to help the family see where they are getting stuck solving their own problems. I also work with adult children and their parents, with sibling groups, one-on-one parent and child relationships.

It's easy for families to fall into dysfunctional patterns, for parents to do a good job at one developmental stage but to struggle at another. Family therapy provides a way for families to communicate honestly, for parents to better understand what their children and partner needs, to learn the skills and solve the problems that allows them all to be more successful in the future.

As always there are skills to learn, homework to change behaviors in everyday life.