Whether you have a young and growing family, or you have several children that are now branching out on their own, there could come a time when you become interested in some sort of family therapy. Each family is very unique, and comes along with a specific set of needs and a rich history. When you are interested in learning more about the therapy process and how it can benefit you, it is always going to be best that you ask yourself what’s marriage and family counselling and how can you get involved.
What Does A Marriage And Family Therapist Do?
Marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors, are there to help their patients to overcome a variety of mental and emotional problems and disorders, while also managing issues with family members and other important relationships. They will take the time to listen carefully to their clients, ask questions, and work on helping their clients to understand the problems they are going through.
From there, they will be able to formulate valuable strategies that are aimed at helping to improve the client’s lives. You will usually find a marriage and family counseling professional that works in any number of settings, ranging from an office in a local hospital or through their own private practice.
Basically speaking, if you are interested in some sort of marriage counseling or learning how family therapy can help you as a group, this is an area that is designed to address a number of issues that impact the psychological health of your entire family. There could be major transitions in life that you are going through, or even specific mental health conditions that you are face with. The therapy that you choose can either act as the main mode of treatment for you, or as some kind of complementary approach to another outlet that you are using.
Enjoying The Benefits
You will find that families of all different sizes and all different configurations can benefit a good deal from going into a therapeutic situation. Whenever there is any sort of stressful event that can put a major toll on their family relationships, it is going to be a good idea to seek the guidance of a professional.
What’s marriage and family counselling going to do for you and your family? There could be a situation where you are going through a divorce, some sort of financial hardship, troubles with teen years, a medical issue that is impacting the function of the family, or the death of a loved one. While working through any one of these circumstances with a professional who is trained to help families and couples, you will be able to get a great bit of insight on how to heal and proceed.
Additionally, marriage and family counseling can be a nice way for treating any number of mental health issues that can impact your entire family, not only in your immediate household, but also through to some of your extended family. Whether it is a bout with depression, someone going through substance abuse, food issues, chronic illness or more everyday concerns like interpersonal conflict, communication barriers or behavioral problems in young children or adolescents, the right therapist can offer a range of value.
Targeted family counseling is there to help promote the understanding and involved collaboration in your family so that you have all of the tools that you need to help solve the problems that one or more of you are going through at any given time. For example, if you have a child that is presenting with academic and social problems, the therapy can focus on the potentially different family patterns that could be contributing to the particular child’s actions and how he or she may be acting out.
This is done instead of simply evaluating the behavior of the child alone, as there could be more to the story and more than one person in the family that is contributing in some way. As the family is able to work together with a family therapist, they can have the chance at uncovering the underlying source of the issue and then work on how they may be able to support the child and any other family members. All of this is a wonderful way for everyone to work together to minimize or alter whatever conditions that could be contributing to the unwanted behavior of the child.
Selecting And Meeting With A Family Therapist
What’s marriage and family counselling if you are unable to find the right person to be a perfect fit for you and your family? Family counseling is offered by an LMFT, or licensed marriage and family therapist, but you may also find that there will be other mental health professionals available. In some instances, a family will go with a social worker, professional counselor, or psychologist that has gone through the formal training in family therapy to incorporate the different principles into their own practice.
Generally speaking, this is a mode of therapy that is short-term and solution-focused, with some families only going through 8 to 10 sessions on average until they get the results that they need. You may find that the therapists you look into will hold meetings with you once a week and the sessions may last anywhere between 45 minutes to a full hour.
It will be up to you and your unique situation on the number of your family members that will be in attendance at each of the sessions. It could depend a great deal upon the goals for your therapy, and the therapist that you select may want to go through with separate, individual sessions that will supplement your family sessions. As mentioned before, you could find that these sessions will take place in a variety of settings, including your local hospital, community agencies, residential treatment centers, or a private practice.
You may not always be able to find the right counselor or therapist to help you right away. Some families will go through two or more therapists before they find one that is the perfect fit. You need to have a therapist that seems to understand your family dynamic and the unique connections and relationships that are involved. If you are able to find a professional that you all seem to work well with an open up to, then you are going to have a much better chance at getting the results that you are hoping for out of your therapy sessions.
The Family Therapy Approach
You will usually see that many forms of the family counseling offered today will borrow quite a bit from systems theory. However, there will be others that are based upon the psychological approaches, to include cognitive-behavioral, experiential and psychodynamic. The realm of family systems therapy will argue that the internal dynamics of your family entity can produce and then sustain certain problematic behaviors that branch out to the different family members. The family therapy approaches are basically made to help different families when they want to be able to improve their skills in problem solving, coping and communication, while also working to enhance their connections and bonds with one another.
The Marriage Counseling Approach
It used to be that in the past, marriage counseling ended up being something that couples would turn to as a last resort before thinking about getting a divorce. Today, the process is extremely effective for helping couples of all backgrounds and problem-levels to have a better understanding of how to communicate and work through any variety of issues. You could be a couple that is just now planning on getting married, one that is in the first few years of marriage, or one that has been together for quite some time. Every couple, at some point, can benefit from a number of different therapeutic measures while working on their marriage.
Do you have immediate problems that have recently come about? Maybe you have some problems that are deeply rooted that keep coming up from time to time that the both of you should address? No matter what it is that you could be facing, a marriage counselor can be there to help you find out what steps to take so that you can get back on the right track in your relationship. No matter what needs to be addressed, there are generally two kinds of philosophies that are used, including the systemic and psycho-dynamic.
Depending on the program that you choose to go with, you will find that there will usually be a series of sessions that will be moderated by a registered marriage counselor. Some will have specializations in areas like addiction issues, cheating, lack of intimacy, or trying to recover from divorce, so it will be best that you look for a counselor that will fall in line with your unique needs as a couple.
Bringing Together Marriage And Family Counseling
There is never any reason why you, or anyone in your family, should feel as though you have given up by turning to the help of a trained professional. There can always be some instances where you end up feeling as though you have hit a wall and do not know where else to turn to give your family the help that you need. When working on these valuable relationships, a professional will be able to offer a unique and valuable viewpoint that will help everyone involved while getting over traumatic occurrences and major breaks in the family dynamic.
What’s marriage and family counselling really going to do for us? This is a question that many couples and families may ask before getting started. While family therapy can be a bit different from marriage counseling, there are going to be major benefits to both. In some family situations, these two avenues can come together to offer incredible advantages for your whole family. Once the parental units are secure in a strong marriage that is facilitated by marriage counseling, there will be a much better chance that integrated family therapy will be extremely successful.
Do you have the perfect family for marriage and family counseling? The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as the perfect family, which is what makes every one unique. The family unit could include the parents, children, stepparents, grandparents, guardians and any other relatives that are working closely with one another. No matter who is involved, if you have the common goal of strengthening bonds and going over some of the common issues that you are consistently butting heads on, you will see that professional marriage and family counseling can be extremely beneficial.