What Is Family Counseling?
Family counseling is a treatment that focuses on developing and strengthening a healthy family bond. Family therapy aims at identifying, analyzing, and treating issues between family members. Issues and problems within families can be caused by a plethora of reasons, such as addiction, depression, physical illness, parent-child conflict, and marital distress. Thus, family counselors help with various problems and conditions that negatively affect familial relationships.
Importance of Family Counseling
Family counseling and family therapy allow family members to express their thoughts and emotions in a non-judgemental setting. In 2020, a study showed that families could benefit from therapy if they need assistance with communicating, sibling, parental, or marital conflict, developing a healthy relationship after divorce, physical or mental health illness, or death.
A family counselor provides family and personal counseling to treat clinical problems and reconcile differences to avoid further conflict that could cause separation. Furthermore, affiliated family counselors help members understand each other’s behavior and mental state, encouraging effective communication based on a mutual understanding of the next person’s personality. On average, 90% of clients report improved emotional health, and two-thirds report improved physical health after receiving treatment from family counseling.
Techniques of Family Counseling
The theoretical orientation between the family therapist, the family’s needs, and the internal conflict determines the technique or approach. Below are some techniques that family therapists may use or combine for effective treatment.
Behavioral Techniques
Psychodynamic Techniques
Structural Techniques
Types of Family Counseling
Functional Family Therapy
Multisystemic Therapy
Transgenerational Therapy
What Family Counseling Can Help With
Unaddressed family issues can cause significant harm to people’s lives and mental health. It is recommended to see a family therapist to utilize effective strategies and healthy communication to manage or resolve these issues. Family therapists can help with:
- Death of a loved one
- Changes within the family
- Communication problems
- Behavioral problems in children or teens
- Infidelity
- Trauma
- Divorce or separation
- Child custody
- Parent-child conflicts
- Parenting issues
- Problems between siblings
- Stressful events or significant life changes
Benefits of Family Counseling
- Improves communication
- Helps develop healthy and safe boundaries
- Helps improve family dynamics and interactions
- Identifies and resolves the family problem
- Improves problem-solving skills within the family
- Combats offensive behavior, addiction, depression, and other serious clinical problems
- Builds up a healthy relationship following a divorce
What Are the General Responsibilities of a Family Counselor?
What Traits Should Family Counselors Possess?
- Ethical
- Effective relationship builder
- Sensitivity to culture
- Problem solver
These traits are important because they help build trust and confidence in therapists’ ability to properly provide treatment and scale through challenges during each personal family counseling session.
What Are the Specific Duties of a Family Counselor?
- Help families improve their communication skills
- Assist families in resolving difficult situations and challenges in family therapy, such as divorce, illness, job loss, etc.
- Help identify and diagnose psychological disorders
- Recommend and encourage group therapy sessions for the whole family when needed
- Document discoveries made in behavioral patterns and relationship fluidity
Get Family Counseling at Pacific Beach Health
Life difficulties have proven to cause separation and emotional conflicts in most families. These challenges can include disagreement, lack of communication, mental or physical illness, or death of a loved one. Do not let conflict get in the way of a healthy and positive family relationship. Instead, seek help at Pacific Beach Health for effective family counseling to resolve issues and mend broken bonds.
At Pacific Beach Health, families get to find and regain peace, balance, and connection that may have been lost. We offer a range of services as well as a team of licensed and experienced medical professionals who can help identify and resolve any type of conflict hindering a healthy and cohesive family. We know the importance of family, and how improving familial ties can help an individual navigate their own wellness journey.
Contact us today to begin the journey to full healing in your family. We’ll give you the necessary tools to create the family dynamic you’ve been fighting for.
Resources
- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/family-counseling#benefits
- https://www.aamft.org/About_AAMFT/About_Marriage_and_Family_Therapists.aspx
- https://www.verywellmind.com/family-therapy-definition-types-techniques-and-efficacy-5190233#toc-techniques
- https://www.ncu.edu/blog/5-characteristics-marriage-and-family-therapists#gref
