Family Counseling Services in Smyrna, TN.

As a marriage & family therapist for 30 years I've helped many individuals & couples deal with complex issues and strained relationships with: * parents * in-laws * siblings * teenage children * adult children Issues may include: * resolving conflict * reaching forgiveness and rebuilding trust * negotiating differences and different expectations * setting healthy boundaries

A great deal of attention is given to understanding how a family has structured, organized itself around a presenting issue or problem and how the family has been functioning. Family systems therapy provides the family with a focus on patterns of communication and behaviors that help them understand how such communication and behavior has perpetuated their issue(s) and reduces the likelihood of placing responsibility or blame on one person or identifying one person as the "patient". With the therapist as a facilitator the family can learn new ways to relate and create innovative approaches to problem solving.

I work with families to improve communication and to support each member in feeling seen and like a valued part of the family. You will learn how your behaviors have an impact on the whole family system, and I can help you learn new strategies and concepts for shifting how your family functions together. I will help you find the roots of conflicts, support members in sharing themselves in healthy ways, and overall get the family re-connected.

Working with families is particularly rewarding for me. I am a true believer that each family is a system. Everyone contributes in both positive and negative ways. My goal for your family in therapy is to learn to communicate in a healthy manner that will allow individuals to heal from past hurts, resolve conflict, work together, and build new, more satisfying relationships.

Family therapy can make all the difference when you cannot seem to find creative solutions to the elephant in your family room! I like to use different combinations of sessions to make family sessions effective and meaningful. My office is in a home zoned commercial, so the space feels comfortable and not clinical. I use mind mapping and other visual techniques to help everyone see what I see and move to a better place.

My family therapy approach involves seeing the whole family initially to understand each person's unique perspective, provide safety for each person to express themselves and to give each person the opportunity to determine their comfort level with me as therapist. I will then work with parts of the family (eg, siblings, parents, dyads such as Mother/Child, Father/Child, Sib/Sib) to support recognition of the unique cycle each group/dyad experiences as problematic in having the closeness and safety they desire within the family. I use Emotion Focused Family Therapy which is based on attachment research and which acknowledges our need to be known and loved by family members.

There is not one template to tell any family exactly how to fix their problems. Families get healthier as individuals in the family become healthier, and visa versa. Sometimes personality conflicts exist that can be improved by simply understanding the enormous differences in how varying personality types interpret life and events.. Other times there are much deeper issues ranging from character disorders, neurosis, personality disorders, past abuse, etc. While the dynamics can sometimes feel daunting, a mood of compassion and hope from a skilled therapist can set the tone for improvement in what might have seemed a hopeless situation.

Sometimes our families find themselves in a place of crisis due to divorce or the loss of a family member. Other times we've stopped communicating with one another, forgotten how to hear one another, and we don't know how to bridge the distance and the hurt. In counseling, I'm able to provide each member of your family with a safe place to open up to one another. Take heart that your family can grow closer again - or for the first time!