Family Therapy

There are many active parties in family therapy: each of the family members and the therapist. While each family member is considered a client by the therapist, the true client is “the family.” The therapist focuses on improving the family dynamics that led to the family to seek professional therapy. Family consultations, conducted every six sessions, are a different modality because the adolescent is identified as the primary client working with the therapist on a regular basis.

I believe that family in essential when it comes to mental health. I work to help families decrease conflict and increase connection. In addition, for those who want to, I work to appropriately incorporate family into individual treatment to provide additional support in your growth and healing.

I have helped many families with communication struggles, behavior issues, relationship struggles, and overall dysfunction. I come from the Structural Family Therapy perspective and can help you identify dynamics at play within your family, resolve conflict present, improve communication, and generally help you grow your family happier and healthier.

Can I keep my individuality, yet contribute the the family and relationships?

I earned my doctor of ministry degree through studies in family and congregational systems . The basic principle is that we all act and react in relation to the systems we are a part of, but we can learn to change our functioning in these systems. The work I use today expands and goes beyond Murray Bowen and his followers taking into account power dynamics, systems of oppression and cultural diversity. I apply these perspectives to my work with individuals, families and organizations.

Goals of family therapy often include improving the communication, solving family problems, understanding and handling special family situations, and creating a better functioning home environment.

We provide family therapy specializing in blended families and foster families. We believe that it is often true that our environment and those we are around have an impact on our wellbeing and how we learn to interact. Family involvement can be critical to treatment of children, teens, and adults struggling within interpersonal relationships of those in the home.

My focus and track in graduate school was couples and families and I have continued my work since constantly obtaining new education and reading about techniques.

For families that need extra support, I provide family therapy using principles from Attachment Theory and Structural Family Therapy. With family therapy, you and your family develop skills to communicate with each other in a healthy, positive way and build your relationships.

My passion is to help families who are hanging on by a string. The love that parents have for their children is universal. Every parent wants to provide their children with more than what they had growing up. But the blueprint of parenting that we were raised by is entirely different from the blueprint needed to raise a teen in our ever-changing, technology-driven, modern day culture. Parenting is the most humbling journey with the most steep learning curve but you are not alone.

Develop empathic understanding of all family members perspectives

My background is in Marriage and Family Therapy, meaning I am trained to understand individuals within the context of their current family system and family of origin, and how that impacts or influences the challenges you are dealing with. This means that I may occasionally have you bring in members of your family or support system into session. I may also help you explore how family patterns may be impacting you today, and how you can make adjustments, to do things in a healthier way for you.

During marriage and family counseling sessions, I work with all members of the family to identify and address the underlying issues that are causing problems in the relationship. This often involves helping each member of the family to better understand their own feelings and needs, as well as those of other family members.

We provide therapy services to children, adolescents, and families . We also work with parents in supporting their children.

Family therapy has been a critical part of my private practice experience for the last 11 years. Family therapy is often overlooked when treating adolescents and young adults. I help families understand that they function as a system, and support each person in understanding their role that contributes to the family dynamic. I utilize talk therapy as well as in-session structured activities to encourage connection, healthy confrontation, and healing within the family.

As a PhD student in marriage and family therapy, I am consistently learning new, cutting edge techniques from the master's in the field. Some of the master clinicians I have worked with are Dr. Linda Metcalf (Narrative and Solution Focused Therapy), Dr. Meichenbaum (the father of CBT), Dr. David Keith (Symbolic Experiential Family Therapy), Elliot Connie (Solution Focused Brief Therapy) and Dr. Travis Heath (Narrative therapy).