Your parents, aunts, or uncles drank or did drugs. Now you abuse drugs and alcohol, too. Is substance abuse a learned behavior? Or a condition you inherit? It’s actually a little of both.
You love your family, but you’re also experiencing conflict with them right now. Whether your family consists of just yourself and a partner, or includes children, parents, siblings, and in-laws, effective communication and conflict resolution are key to a happy family life.
The expert counselors at The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling, offer family therapy for families of all sizes and configurations. In addition to seeing patients in our Greenwich Village offices in downtown Manhattan, New York City, we also offer teletherapy.
Would you and your family benefit from family therapy? Review the following questions to help you decide.
When you’re having issues with family, you need to be able to freely express your feelings and frustrations without worrying that doing so will start a fight or an argument. During a family therapy session, your expert counselor facilitates the conversation so that you can identify the specific issues that concern you and express your feelings in a way that doesn’t place blame on someone else.
An important part of family therapy involves learning honest communication with one another while keeping the focus on yourself. You learn non-confrontational language that allows you to say what you mean in a manner that’s most likely to get a positive response.
You also learn to listen to your family members without feeling blamed or threatened. Active listening is a major part of being able to communicate effectively.
If your partner, child, or parent is acting in ways that you consider harmful, a direct confrontation may lead to conflict and make the situation even worse. In fact, it may not even be safe for you to confront them.
Your family therapist can refer your family member for individual therapy, including substance abuse counseling. They help you develop and implement strategies that keep the focus on yourself so that you stay safe. They may also help you and your family learn to adjust to parts of the situation that can’t change or may take time to change.
The illness or death of a loved one, a divorce, or a job loss or move are stressful events for all family members. Some families don’t feel comfortable with sharing feelings or may try to shield their children from pain.
Your family therapist helps you process the grief of loss and find ways to support each other through trying times. Going through family therapy together can be a way to help one another heal and move on to the next phase of your lives.
Many families face extreme challenges such as a family member who has a mental illness, substance abuse problem, or another behavioral issue. Part of family therapy is learning new problem-solving techniques and also learning to let go of aspects of the problem that you can’t control.
You also may live with parents or in-laws who have different views on child-rearing than you have. Or perhaps you and your partner are from different religious, cultural, or ethnic backgrounds and you’re finding it difficult to balance your differing values and viewpoints.
Your therapist helps you find common ground. They help you identify and solve the problems you face and heal the conflicts that arise in any family.
Considering how much time we all spend in school, it’s unfortunate that we’re never taught one of the most essential skills we need to forge and maintain good relationships, whether at work or home: effective communication. Our therapists use and teach you a variety of communication skills that you’ll be able to apply to every aspect of your life.
Use our online form, or call our friendly staff during office hours to book a family therapy session. You can also choose teletherapy that’s conducted through confidential and affordable video/phone consultations.
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