Family Counseling Services in Ladera Heights, CA.

My approach in family therapy is to focus on the problem or set of problems, not to assign blame to a person or the family as a whole. In family therapy, we will hear how problems affect everyone. There is not always a "solution," but more often than not there are untapped resources that a family can call upon to help reduce a problem's influence on each person's life.

Everyone has a family, even if no two families are identical. Family may mean different things to different people, but there is no denying that the relationships we have shape us as individuals. Some families have healthy traits and some have more toxic traits. In my family work, I aim to help to uncover systems both that are working, and systems that are not working. I also aim to help each member of the family feel heard in asking for their own needs and boundaries to be met, appropriate within the family and cultural context.

I am an expert in Family Therapy based in the Satir model. Working with the whole family can have a dramatic positive impact on everyone involved. The problem is often not the problem. It is how you cope the problem that is the real issue. I can help your family work together to change the how you cope, as a family, with difficult situations and problems and bring peace to the household.

I offer family therapy for families who have young children and/or adolescents. This is a speciality! I have three therapists who have different specialtes with family therapy! One is a teen and teen parenting specialists, another specializes in families with young children and another specializes in difficult families, families and trauma and another still with single parent families or blended families (families coming together with other families). I specifically work with families and parents of teens and alterative families (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families - either parents are GLBT or families who have a GLBT child). Call me and one of us will be the perfect match!

Let me guess. One partner feels alone and like they don't matter and the other feels they are always being criticized and can't get anything right. The more one asks for the other to show up, the more the partner disappears physically and emotionally. You both bicker and fight and the idea of sitting and just hanging out seems elusive, if not impossible. Something like this? Often we crave connection but are blocked by the pain and the history that gets in the way. Small fights about little things become battles that highlight our struggle to have our basic relational needs met. I can help you get under the bickering to the parts crying out for connection- to an enriching relationship.

Family Therapy is essential when a family is unbalanced and in need of guidance on how to become a family unit with a healthier structure. Working with a therapist you will be able to validate each family members desires, discuss family goals and improve communication skills to continue using even after therapy ends. Family therapy is not only essential to the family unit but for each individual to be able to feel important and included in family decisions.

I believe that as we grow up we are shaped by our relationships; this starts from the time we are little and continues for the rest of our lives. Through these relationships we are also shaped by society. In being shaped we create various meaning from our experiences as well as receiving and giving instructions on how to live. When we form new relationships of any kind, this gets challenged; coming together and finding a path forward that celebrates all involved is the key to success.

Family therapy is helpful in understanding your family unit. Understanding each member of the family as having roll, responsibility and expectation is the beginning of the process of understanding what works and does not work within your family unit. Working with the family from this starting point, will hopefully open the door to improved communication among each family member.

I use a family systems approach when working with families. I work with families in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It is suggested that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit. By working with families we can see patterns that are sometimes dysfunctional. Families who are able to see their dysfunction are able to make the changes that bring about healthy relationships within their unit.

When I work with the family, the approach is often related to understanding the quality of parenting and the quality of attachment to the children. I will help each family member understand their role within the family responsibilities. We will discuss and identify those roles, and the expectations. We will develop ways for you to better cope and manage painful situations. We will work together to improve communication during difficult times. We will work at redirecting negative thinking in a positive direction.

Family life can be greatly rewarding and extremely challenging. Whether seeking therapy for issues arising from starting a family, preparing to launch children into adulthood or any stage in between, the difficulties cause concern and deserve attention. At all ages, the creation of a family structure with consistent boundaries and expectations can contribute to healthy lives, both as individuals and as a group. Common Areas of Focus: •Communication patterns •Rules and discipline •Regulating emotions and behavior •Effects of separation, divorce, blending families •Drugs, Alcohol, Sexual Activity •Freedom vs. Limits •School performance •Sibling/peer relations •Responsibilities and Goals

When I work with families, a large focus of the work is learning to communicate with each other. It is also learning to hold space for one another and heal attachment wounds. My space is nonblaming and nonjudgemental. I am always aware of the power dynamics in the room. When I work with minors, I like to involve family members. That can be a caregiver or other family members.

A family is not just a collection of people. Everyone in the family impacts the family dynamic, how the people relate to each other. And, each person changes that dynamic, in a unique way, even when they may not intend to. If you’re having difficulties in your family, we can address how the family’s rules of relating and the patterns of relationships can help to make things better. We’ll also see how unproductive patterns can be eliminated.