Family Counseling Services in Pacific Palisades, CA.

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!

If you and your family aren't getting along or are having some form of difficulty, family therapy can be incredibly useful. I would help to give each family member a voice--a way to be heard, understood, and accepted. In fact, I would fight for this on behalf of each family member who feels disregarded, disrespected, or dismissed. I would help each person to feel respected and to be given a sense of dignity as we work together to improve the critically important aspect of communication--something I find wanting in many families.

What future do you want for your family? Stressors can affect families in many ways. Family therapy provides the opportunity to change your family’s relationship to its problems and the effects those problems have on each person in your family. Families come to therapy for a variety of reasons: single parenthood; underperformance at school; birth of a new sibling; unemployment; relocation; substance abuse; mental illness; divorce; blending families; grief and loss. If your family is experiencing difficulty, family therapy is a way to increase communication and understanding, while discovering sources of strength and support within your family.

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.

Families are complicated machines. There are many parts, all of which must work in unison and balance with one another. When this balance is disrupted because one or more family members are having an issue or a hard time, the entire machine (family) stops functioning optimally. Like any machine would, your family may need a "tune up" at that time. You must relearn how to function at your best.

Emotional problems play out in families. They often start there. If this is the case: no matter how much individual therapy a person gets, things don't really seem to get better. Sometimes the whole family needs to be involved in the therapeutic process. Call me for a consultation to find the best course of action for you and your family. We can get to the root of the issues to help you start a whole new relationship with your family.

Family conflict is a common occurrence for everyone, but it doesn’t have to be a fact of life. I can help facilitate communication between your family members so that every person feels heard, fulfilled, and loved. Both parenting and being a child are difficult, but better family interactions can make life wonderful for everyone as a united family.

I take a "systems" approach to Family Therapy, which means that each member of the family contributes to the overall dynamics and issues within the family. As a graduate school Professor for over ten years, I have taught the theories of marriage and family therapy for over ten years and facilitated the couples training program at a Community Mental Health Center as well. Often, Family Therapy will turn into Couples Therapy in my experience, which comprises about half of my counseling practice in Los Angeles.

In doing family therapy I try to work with all members of the family so that I can understand the dynamics, the rules and roles, the relationships that are not permitting the family to function in a healthy way. Even when it seems to be just one person who has a problem, it may be the whole family that is interacting in ways that can be improved. I work to have the family understand what is really going on and changes they may need to make to function in healthier ways. I focus on the need for respectful communication and cooperation between all family members, including children. My Parenting Classes focus on specific skills to achieve calmer homes with respectful and respected children.

Problematic behaviors in a child or teen are usually rooted in some disturbance of the emotional connections within the family. I can help your family reconnect with each other using an approach called Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT). EFFT rebuilds connections by helping you to understand and change the repetitive and self-reinforcing negative interactions that create distance and conflict within your family. People are empowered when they feel a secure sense of being loved. They naturally become stronger, more resilient, and more autonomous – not weak or needy. Once your child or teen feels securely connected, he or she will have a foundation on which to build positive behaviors.

Dr. Clark has extensive training and experience helping family, including eight years working as a Director of Child and Family Services for a large medical facility. Dealing with the stresses of raising children can become overwhelming, and often problem seem to repeat themselves with no hope in sight. It can be very helpful to get another point of view from an objective psychologist.

The goal of family therapy is to improve the relationships and functioning of the members of a family unit.Common issues addressed include premarital and marriage therapy; establishing family rules, roles, and expectations; problems with communication; dealing with family grief, loss, and transition; working in a family-owned business; managing conflict, parenting issues, and blended families; and problems in the emotional connection between family members.

I routinely work with families in my practice. There are any number of reasons that families seek counseling. Quite frequently, the reasons revolve around children and parenting. Sometimes there are issues between child or adult siblings. Unresolved conflicts from childhood. Arguments ensue over the family business. Caring for a special needs child, or an aging parent. At other times, family members have experienced a loss in the family or there are struggles with blending families in second marriages. These struggles also bring with them opportunities to create openings that may not have existed before. Counseling can be very useful in healing old wounds and settling disputes.

We need our families. If your family is in danger of disconnecting or falling apart, let's work together to lean toward each other instead of away. No one family member is ever the cause of disfunction. We each must learn our responsibility in the mix. My approach to healing families is to help each member understand how they absorb stress, and explain it to the group in a way that will be heard. Our family is our home base. Let's keep it that way by learning empathy for each other's struggles.

Parent-child conflicts, sibling rivalry that has gotten out of hand, issues arising from divorce or parental conflict all these issues need to be discussed and have a supported and open conversation with your family members. I will work together with the family in order to identify areas of dysfunction and to help the family move through the difficult times that a family faces.

While family therapy can sometimes work well as a stand-alone modality, I often offer family therapy in addition to individual therapy with a child or collateral therapy with a parent. Depending on the concerns that your family faces, family therapy may be an effective way to improve your family's relationship and well-being. Please reach out to me to discuss what is going on with your family and whether family therapy would be helpful.

I work with families on a variety of issues including communication, divorce, blending families, grief & loss, power struggles, and phase of life transitions such as becoming a parent, teen topics, and aging/elder issues. I offer a supportive environment where we will work together so family members can gain the necessary skills to overcome challenges and strengthen relationships.

Family therapy improves the family by improving the relationships that each of the family members have with each other. The goal is for all family members to feel understood, respected, appreciated, supported, and loved by the rest of the family. Typically, families seek help when one of the family members has caused problems that have shaken up the whole family, bringing distress to everyone. Family therapy does not just single that person out and "fix" them, but seeks to help the whole family come together as a team and address the problem together. Common problems would include sibling rivalry, recent divorce, severe adolescent rebellion, and struggles with parenting step children.

Most family therapists inadvertently create more chaos through their well-intentioned efforts to assist a family move through a change process. Why? Brains are inherently deregulated (all of us, may I add) and most talking and dialoguing misses brain-centric problems that need more intensive help. Many times the emotional trauma created by years of solving problems ineffectively can wreak havoc on the brain's parasympathetic nervous system, not ever giving the family a break from flight or fight thinking. Contact us for an innovative neuroscience solution to family dysfunction. Kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

As a Marriage and Family Therapist I have been trained to focus family therapy on the entire family system; every member has a role and makes contributions to the balance and satisfaction within a family. An important strength of families is that they allow us to support each other as we all adapt to growth and change, as well as face challenges from outside the family, Psychotherapy can help family members understand how change is challenging relationships, and it can facilitate adaptation to these challenges and changes. The goal is re-establishing caring, supportive, and stable relationships within the family.

I take a systemic approach in dealing with familial work. I am trained in Family Systems Theory and work with the family unit to identify goals and establish objectives at the outset of therapy. By examining family dynamics, together we can work to create change by establishing clear boundaries and improving communication skills. Often, I incorporate both a Humanistic and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques in work with families as well.

Raising a family can be challenging, especially when parenting children struggling with anxiety or depression. Anxiety and depression are often reinforced and enabled unintentionally via the family system and by the adults most involved in the child's life. I use a family systems based approach to treating children with anxiety and/or depression, which helps parents develop the tools necessary to decrease anxiety or depression related behavioral issues, tantrums, and conflict in the home. In addition to building skills that help support their children without enabling symptoms of anxiety or depression.

In many ways, I practice Family Therapy every day-even though I usually see only couples and individuals! The reason for this is because we all come from a family system, and our role and place in that system are revealed in every we relationship we have. The early attachment experiences we had as young ones set the stage for our intimate relationships later in life. It can be an illuminating experience to examine and understand the family system dynamics that you-and/or your spouse came from, thereby better understanding the context from which we came.

Often times, the patterns of the household and family that you have lived with are not pleasant. Disruptions, hurt feelings, and not being understood or "respected" can cause lingering resentments that can negatively impact our household more often than we want. I will work with you and your family to identify the patterns that work and more importantly, the ones that do not work. We will then commit to an active plan to make changes that will bring about more peace and satisfaction in the home. Even when things are really bad, small tweaks can make a huge difference. Let me help you and your family achieve fulfillment in the home!

Families enter therapy for different reasons. Many families are seeking help for an immediate problem or crisis, while others need support changing long standing negative patterns. Family therapy can be beneficial as, it provides opportunities to identify and build on strengths, improve communication, and better understand roles and dynamics that shape the family system. I have experience working with families in crisis and am skilled at assisting parents and children/adolescents increase positive communication and connectivity.