Family Counseling Services in Downingtown, PA.

I love when children/teens and their parents all come in together. Some worry it will be awkward but I make a point to have it be relaxed and conversational. I help parents understand the social culture and stressors impacting their kids' lives, as well as help them express their concerns in ways that don't feel like lectures to their kids. In turn, I help kids to articulate their struggles in ways that their parents can appreciate and empathize with. Respect and responsibility is an important part of any work I do with families, and helping parents to balance their expressions of compassion with their need to hold their kids accountable is always part of the conversation.

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!)

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.