Brief therapy is a type of psychotherapy that utilizes your strengths and resources to help you effectively identify and resolve situations. Collaboratively, with your therapist, you identify the issues, decide how you would like to see them changed and then, using you as the expert, set goals to resolve the issues with a plan of action in accordance to how you work best. Brief therapists often assign "homework,” encouraging you to use your vast strengths to test and fine-tune the skills used to resolve issues and achieve your goals. You will find solutions to your problems now and in the future.

Yes! Brief therapy is directive.  Brief therapists help you set observable, measurable goals without limiting the amount of sessions or time spent on particular issues. However, this directive approach often leads to just that, a reduced number of sessions and less time in therapy. Hence, brief therapy is often described as more efficient. Clients often find new, effective ways to resolve their issues in a short period of time. Researchers have found that:

• The average length of treatment is less than 6 months. At the Birmingham Family Therapy Clinic, the average length of treatment is less than 4 months.
• Most clients benefit from simply one session. At the Birmingham Family Therapy Clinic, most clients report feeling more control over their situation after just one session.
• The average number of sessions is 10. At the Birmingham Family Therapy Clinic, many clients resolve their problems in less than 9 sessions.

As partners in the collaborative effort, you will make important decisions about who to include in counseling. Our belief is if you are part of problem then you are part of the solution. For instance, when we are working with couples and families, it is often important for each family member to hear each other’s understanding of the situation and eventual resolution, as well as what works and what doesn’t in the marriage or family. We will discuss this with you and decide together whom to include in each session so that our therapy is the most effective and efficient.

Brief therapists understand that you are the expert in explaining your life experiences including what brought you into counseling. Therefore, as a collaborative partner you will direct us in understanding your perception of the most salient issues and eventual resolution of those issues. If you tell us that you want to work on your child's anger management issues we will work on that with you. If we believe that perhaps a marital conflict may be playing a part in the situation, we will discuss this with you as another possibility for treatment focus. In addition, if any family member is destructive to themselves or others, that immediately becomes the treatment focus. This includes destructive conversations that occur in our office. These conversations get broken up until all members calm down and we can continue our work.

No. We have our own motto: "if you have no problem then you have no solution." If you don't have a situation that you are motivated to work on in counseling then we don't do counseling with you. Fortunately, we have found this situation to be the exception to the rule. Brief therapy is client focused and solution driven. We work with your definition of the problem situation and eventual solution. Therefore, this type of therapy works with a wide range of people and problems, from individual struggles and relationship problems to family issues and pre-marital, marital or post-marital conflict. In addition, we work with victims, survivors, offenders and family members traumatized by sexual abuse, physical violence, human trafficking and neglect.

We also work quite often with court mandated situations. Many clients are forced into treatment by the courts. We realize that they may not want to be there and we acknowledge and respect that decision. However, as collaborative partners you are able to help us find a goal to work on that in the end will help your situation with the courts, allow you the opportunity to be accountable for your actions, and provide you with effective skills that keep these types of legal situations from happening in the future.

We are marriage and family therapists. We graduated from accredited marriage and family therapy programs and are clinical fellows and approved supervisors for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Our expertise is in areas that affect relationships for individuals, couples, and families. On the average at the Birmingham Family Therapy Clinic, 45% of our clients are dealing with marriage or relationship issues. These issues include: communication problems, spouse abuse, extramarital affairs, anger management, sexual issues, substance abuse, premarital issues, sexual abuse, learning to argue effectively, post-traumatic stress disorder, and rekindling passion and romance. On the average 30% of our clients are working through family issues. These issues include: blended family or adoptive family issues, anger management, children's impulsivity, sexual abuse, physical abuse, self-worth issues, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder, learning to parent effectively, dealing with the loss of a loved one, childhood developmental disorders, and family involvement in the legal system. On the average 20% of our clients are dealing with situations surrounding divorce or dissolution of a relationship. The situations include: custody and visitation issues, shared parenting problems, family violence, making decisions in the best interests of children, learning to communicate after divorce, and anger management. On the average 5% of our clients are individuals struggling with: Post traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, work-related issues, learning to date, self-esteem, anger management, grief and loss, and court mandated situations.

With a convenient location in Birmingham, Michigan we proudly serve clients from the entire Wayne, Oakland, Macomb county area including: Beverly Hills, Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Clawson, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Franklin, Huntington Woods, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Southfield, Troy, West Bloomfield.