Family Counseling Services in Mountain Lake Park, MD.

Family counseling can be helpful for resolving family disagreements and improving communication. Many families don’t communicate well. Poor communication can leave some family members feeling left out or isolated. Through counseling, a family can learn why they have so many disagreements and how they can resolve a disagreement without resorting to yelling. Families can run into problems when some members make assumptions or think there are unwritten rules that everyone in the family is aware of. When one members doesn’t follow these rules, other family members can get upset. In family counseling, we can discover if your family isn’t getting along because there is a communication problem.

Family counseling with me is designed to support the entire family unit, whether that includes parents and children, siblings, or extended relatives. Unlike couples or marriage counseling, which focuses on the relationship between two partners, family counseling addresses the patterns, communication styles, and challenges that affect everyone in the household. My approach is to create a safe, respectful space where each family member has a voice and can share their perspective. Together, we work to understand the unique dynamics at play, resolve conflicts, and build healthier ways of interacting.

We are all relational beings, living within interactive, emotional systems. How we relate to our most significant others (spouse, children, siblings, etc.) can sometimes lapse into unpleasant scripts and powerful undercurrents of action-reaction, negative group-think, and ineffective authority roles. Restoring a sense of effective functioning, wellness and harmony (shalom) within family relationships can be aided by learning and practicing new ways to empathize, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Under certain conditions, families can even benefit from video sessions or teletherapy (if more convenient and less stressful than gathering everyone at a therapist's office!)