Family Counseling
Does it feel like your family is falling apart?
Are you overwhelmed by the tension that you are feeling at home? Do you find that some or all of the members of your family are arguing with each other. Are your children isolating in their rooms and avoiding time with the family? Maybe you and your spouse are having trouble making parenting decisions together. Do you wonder why or how your family got to this point?
When families can’t communicate their needs and opinions to each other, it can become frustrating and cause a lot of anger. Sometimes it can feel like no matter what point you are trying to make, it never seems to make an impact. Often times, these misunderstandings result in arguments or avoidance. Realizing that your family relationships are suffering can feel very painful and overwhelming. If you are experiencing any of these problems in your family, it may be time to consider family counseling.
What is family counseling and how can it help?
Family counseling or therapy is a forum where all or most family members attend in an effort to improve troubled or conflictual relationships. Sometimes it is designed to help a family process a situation or event that is stressful or traumatic. Most families will experience some difficult times or even a traumatic event at some point. You might have to deal with a serious health issue, experience death or loss, or go through periods of financial uncertainty. Some challenges seem more mundane but are still very stressful. For example, you may feel overwhelmed with having to manage everyone’s schedules in addition to your own. Whether you are dealing with everyday hassles or a major trauma, both can have a negative effect on your family’s ability to communicate with each other. Triangle Cognitive Therapy can help your family get through the experience of life’s stressors. With counseling, our therapists will help your family process feelings about your problems and teach you how to support each other through the stress.
You might have a situation where your child or spouse is suffering from mental illness or addiction. In this case, it becomes so difficult to balance your own needs while taking care of your loved one. When there is an individual who is struggling, counseling for the family provides invaluable support. Our therapists will teach your family strategies on how to maintain a healthy balance. You will learn how to best support your loved one in recovery from their illness and still be able to take care of yourself.
Say what you mean, but don’t say it mean
Poor communication will often lead to a lack of connection or mistrust within the relationship. Communication is often the core issue that leads to problems within the family. When family members have difficulty getting their message across, it is usually because it is not being delivered in the right way. When a message is not received in the way it was intended, it can spark an argument. Sometimes, hurtful messages can result in avoidance or withdrawal from family activities. Either way, everyone ends up feeling hurt, alone and unsupported.
The good news is that this pattern can be reversed. Our therapists will help your family to feel safe to express your needs and feelings to each other. Sometimes it’s hard to identify why communication has become such a problem. Family therapy will help you figure out why and how the communication is breaking down. Finally, we will develop tools and strategies to improve your family’s ability to send and receive messages to each other.
Can family counseling make things worse?
Building new communication skills within your family takes time and effort. Occasionally, statements will be made that are misunderstood and perceived as hurtful. Also, once you are better able to send your messages to each other, some of the underlying issues may start to emerge. These issues are important to address, but it’s not always easy to work out. It can make you wonder if therapy is making your family functioning even more problematic.
Even though you may initially experience some uncomfortable or even terrible feelings, therapy
will improve your relationships in your family. Imagine that you’ve decided to start lifting weights at the gym. After the first few workouts, you are probably going to feel pretty sore. Those who are able to push through that pain and continue working out, start to see positive changes. Family counseling is the workout that builds strength in your communication skills. When your family can communicate their needs more effectively, it becomes easier to support of one another and feel emotionally safe.
Our busy schedules will make it difficult to commit to counseling
Most of us lead very busy lives. Everyone in the family is juggling numerous responsibilities and activities. Counseling will add to that schedule that already feels too full. I have found that therapy works best when meetings are consistently scheduled weekly. I know this is a big time commitment and can feel overwhelming. Think of therapy as the tool that strengthens the foundation of your family. Your therapy time is the investment that will help you feel stronger individually and together. A commitment to family therapy will ultimately allow your family to grow and move forward in life together.
Is it time to seek out family counseling?
Does your family have trouble getting along? Does it seem like you are fighting all the time and its no longer enjoyable to spend time together? Maybe one of your family members is struggling with mental illness or addiction and you don’t know how to support them. Triangle Cognitive Therapy will help you with the issues that you and your family are experiencing.