• Adults
• Couples
• Families
• Adolescents and The Transition to Adulthood
• Veterans and their Families
• Individuals or Families Coping with Chronic Illness or Disability
• Persons Interested in the Intensive Process of Depth Therapy

Psychotherapy for Families

Our family lives can be tremendously gratifying and enriching, and a source of invaluable support and belonging. They can also become troubling and chaotic, especially when under the influences of acute or chronic stress. Such responses are often normal, but you may need some help from time to time.

Families seek the support of psychotherapy for many reasons.

Some families begin psychotherapy in an effort to understand and respond more successfully to the behavioral or emotional needs of one of their children, to become more stable or to cope with the aftermaths of a recent change or crisis.

Other families need help with the inevitable processes of change that is often harkened when their children reach adolescence and begin the developmental processes of individuation – a process that often evokes conflicts regarding power, autonomy and even safety.

Blended or step-families may seek the support and guidance of psychotherapy to establish a stronger identity and cohesion as a family, especially if they are grappling with feelings of insecurity about their capacity to become “like a real family,” while other families may need help to establish or restore a more predictable order in their lives - an especially effective strategy in those families troubled by confusion or struggles regarding roles, responsibilities and boundaries, or in need of more internal structure, balance or leadership.

The intrusion of illness and disability may also destabilize a family, especially when a member is sick, or one or more parents become preoccupied with care-giving responsibilities, however even positive events, like the birth or adoption of a child, may precipitate an unexpected surge in feelings that can undermine even the most solidly committed families.

Whatever your need, the process of psychotherapy, may be able to assist you.

As we meet, we will try and understand your needs, as well as your hopes and aspirations for your family. Each member of your family will be encouraged to participate and to speak, as we begin to explore ways to restore more well-being and closeness in your lives together.

This process can be tense at times, as feelings are expressed, however it can also help diffuse tensions and promote the resolution of even long-standing conflicts.

If you are seeking support for your family, psychotherapy can also assist you to:

• Develop more insight regarding your problems or difficulties
• Cope with circumstances, such as sibling rivalry, depression, anxiety, separation, divorce, remarriage, co-parenting, step-parenting, addition, disability, illness, loss, grief, or challenges with learning, schooling and employment
• Manage other crises or stressors impacting your life
• Improve your communication and problem-solving skills
• Identify and develop practices that help nurture a sense of closeness between members of your family
• Understand and help mitigate the effects of intergenerational trauma impacting your life in the present

• A history of abuse
• A history of trauma
• A need for more structure or family cohesion
• Addiction or problematic drug and alcohol use
• Adjustments to change related to losses, separation, divorce, marriage, remarriage, relocation, financial or employment stresses or other circumstances
• Adjustments to the birth or adoption of a child
• Adjustment to and management of the impacts of chronic illness and disability
• Adolescent individuation
• Care of children with special needs
• Conflicts regarding parenting styles or philosophies
• Difficulties with anger and emotional regulation
• Difficulties with schooling
• Difficulties with step and co-parenting, or creating a blended family
• Divorce
• Grief
• Heightened, irresolvable or habitually distressing conflicts or arguments
• Loss of parental authority and leadership
• Recovery from addiction
• Parenting conflicts or difficulties
• Separation and loss
• Sibling rivalry
• The need to develop better coping and problem-solving skills
• The stress of care-giving – for a child, spouse or extended family member or parent
• The stress of transitions
• The transition of children to adolescence and adulthood