What is family therapy?
While families are a basic building block of society, every family has its own set of unique features and behaviours. Family therapy is a type of counselling that focusses on these bahviours, and issues that arise from them, within the family group. A therapist will provide the safe space and opportunity to resolve any issues.
How can family therapy help?
We are all born into a family, traditional or otherwise. Within this group we learn the various customs and habits that help us grow and develop. Intentionally or not, those closest to us shape the way we interpret the world. Family members also form the way we relate to others, and to the environment around us. Although this influence is vital for our individual development, families are sometimes an arena for disagreement and disharmony. This can often lead to tension and discord within the group. Tensions can become problematic if left unresolved, with individuals feeling they are held in low regard, or have no voice.
This is when family therapy, also known as family counselling, can help. If successful, it allows everyone in the family to help reduce or reshape behaviours that are contributing to tensions or other unwanted outcomes.
What happens in a session?
Family therapy involves open and safe discussion through which the relationships between different members are discussed. As with individual therapy, every group is different so there can be no predefined counselling path. It really depends on what each family member brings to, and expects to get out of, therapy sessions. If the counsellor uses a person-centred approach, family members won’t be directed to take a specific course of action. Instead, each member will be encouraged to explore their feelings and their role within the group. This will allow the group to better understand the issues they are facing as a family. The therapists role is to help identify effective ways of communicating with each other and living together.
Counselling will give each family member a way to express themselves in an appropriate manner. It allows everyone to be heard, and also to reflect on their own part in the group. It’s a route by which individuals within the group can appreciate the world as perceived by those closest to them.
Will all family members be involved?
This will depend on the therapist’s approach and assessment of each unique group. Sometimes, the therapist will listen to each family member as an individual within the group, and at other times as a single relation, parent or a child. This allows the therapist to see how members work together and communicate with each other as a group.
What is the family therapist’s role?
The therapist will not take sides or favour one person over another, nor will individual family members be blamed for behaviour. This allows groups to move forwards more effectively and at their own pace.
As with individual therapy, family therapy will be more successful when everyone involved is committed to the process. Counselling can involve emotional conflict, but it’s part of the process of identifying solutions.
What to do next
Please note I do not currently offer family therapy, and information on this page is provided as general guidance only. For more specialist family therapists, I recommend a search on Counselling Directory or Psychology Today.
If you want to know about my work as a counsellor in Walsall and Wolverhampton, please call me today on 07824 385338. You can also fill in the form on the Contact Me page. There is no obligation to book a therapy session, and we can discuss if counselling is right for you. Any information you provide will be treated in confidence.