Family Therapy
Experiencing family problems? Are you worried about a breakup or divorce?
The following are some of the most common signs of family problems:
- Your child is refusing to respect your rules
- Your separation or divorce is creating huge emotional problems for the children
- Issues between family members do not get resolved
- Your child is suddenly showing signs of distress (mood changes, poor grades, few friends or interests)
- The fighting between you and your partner is affecting your children
- Your financial situation is out of control
- There is physical, sexual or psychological violence in your family
- Your new relationship or marriage is a problem for the children
- Family members feel unappreciated
- Communication is often one sided, hostile, sarcastic, angry or completely avoided
- Your child's behavior is out of control (fighting, alcohol or drug use, cutting, sexual acting out)
If you are experiencing one or more of these signs, Brief Family Therapy can help.
What is Brief Family Therapy?
Brief Family Therapy focuses on reducing the hurt, anger and frustration you and your family members are experiencing in dealing with the immediate situation while acquiring new tools to resolve the problem now and in the future. Working collaboratively with Dr. Stulberg, you will learn innovative approaches that will address the hostility, foster positive interactions and allow trust to develop. Even long-standing conflict and destructive behavior patterns may be replaced with positive, respectful and supportive interactions.
When your family is facing life's critical challenges, Brief Family Therapy addresses them - separation, divorce, fighting and communication difficulties, divorce, financial hardships, parenting, additions or losses in family membership, violence, grief, illness, addiction and lifestyle issues.
Whether you are about to begin a new family, want to improve on your existing family relationship, or save a very troubled one, Brief Family Therapy can make a significant contribution.
How to choose a Family Therapist
- Make sure that you have chosen a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT). Licensed marriage and family therapists are mental health professionals with a minimum of a master's degree in marriage and family therapy and 200 hours of supervised clinical experience by a licensed marriage and family therapist.
- Make sure that your LMFT has specific training and experience in marriage and family therapy. Are they a clinical fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)? Clinical fellows of AAMFT are LMFTs specifically trained to diagnose and treat relationship problems from a systemic perspective and are experienced in providing marriage counseling. Make sure that your marriage counselor is a LMFT and clinical fellow of AAMFT.
Think with your gut. I tell all of my clients, you are the consumer. If you feel that your marriage counselor is helping, then you will know in a few sessions. Stick with it, even when the work is hard. Trust your gut.
You are our last option!
As a Brief Family Therapist, I often hear those very words from you, our clients. You are extremely worried that the situation with which you are dealing continues to affect your family members or has snowballed into a crisis that you cannot understand or resolve. You have tried every tool in your parenting toolbox and reached out to family, friends and even the Internet for suggestions. Family therapy feels like your final resource to resolve these critical issues.
The use of “mutual inquiry” is an essential feature of the brief, collaborative approach. This process allows all of you to understand how the problem has influenced your relationships with one another and to explore how to reclaim your relationships from the problem that seems to hold them hostage. For example, by asking each of you how your relationships are different when the problem isn’t influencing you, you may begin to imagine possibilities for a future outside of the problem. Those possibilities could generate fresh opportunities to change the direction of the problem’s influence and either reclaim or redirect the relationships you desire.
Interested in exploring your options? I would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with you towards a future filled with possibilities.
