Family therapy services in 19090: Willow Grove, PA. Relationship and couples counseling.

It has been said that members of a family are like the creatures on a child's mobile - when one moves, they all move. I help families understand their relationships with each other, and how each family member influences and impacts the entire family unit. I work with families to help them learn effective communication and problem solving, while respecting individual autonomy.

Families have many challenges in these times. I have experience with issues ranging from divorce, to medical illnesses, to traumatic family experiences. I have years of experience as an adolescent therapist, on an inpatient and an outpatient level. I have specific experience with the family dynamics of aging and dementia. This can be a challenging issue, but with the right strategies you can succeed.

Families are fascinating paradoxes. The health of the family system is connected to the interactions among individual family members. I provide a safe place for family members to talk and listen to each other, to express feelings honestly without criticism. Families often come to therapy because of a crisis that has become too overwhelming. In family therapy, we will look at family dynamics, alliances, communication styles, goals and expectations, boundaries, trust issues, behaviors, ways of dealing with conflict. Our goal is to heal the family system.

Family therapy can be a place where all members of a family are safe to discuss their concerns. It is also a place where you can hear each other in new and surprising ways. Being willing to hear, understand and respond to the surprising feelings behind the anger or withdrawal that blocks closeness in your family can set the stage for more cooperation, compromise and a new strategy for interacting without hurt. I will help you do the work of connecting emotionally and strategizing about new ways to cope with old problems. Call me for an appointment to discuss your family's particular difficulties. As a therapist, a wife, and a mother of teenagers, I bring professional and personal resources.

As a trained Marriage & Family Therapist and a mother of two, I can help you to navigate the challenges of marriage and parenting. Simply put, we all want to be loved and accepted for who we are. What family does not wish this for everyone involved? Unfortunately, as a result of day to day stressors, ineffective communication, learned defensive behaviors, and a simple lack of know-how, families can fail to accomplish this simple task for one another. Therapy can turn this cycle around by allowing family members to rediscover each other's perspectives and true selves, replacing conflict and misunderstanding, with harmony and compassion.

During Family Therapy we deal with: patterns of communication (the way people in the family talk to each other); anger (how that sabotages the family); correcting dysfunctional patters, and negotiation (how to work out things so that everybody feels O.K. about the solutions). During family counseling families learn how to deal with crisis as well conflict management techniques. Also included are effective parenting skills for both children as well as teenagers. Therapy needs to have practical strategies and to be as short term as possible.

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.

Families often involve three or more individuals, each with their own emotions, understandings, relationships, and challenges. This can make the family dynamic complicated. Also, sometimes one or more family members have experienced personal circumstances that the whole family can have a hard time understanding. Family therapy can help improve family boundaries, clear up misunderstandings, and re-learn healthier communication methods to empower your family to move forward and meet future challenges more effectively.

In family counseling family members develop healthy ways of communicating and responding to one another to create and establish an atmosphere of trust and emotional safety. Family members learn to identify their own needs, increase sensitivity to the needs of others and interact in ways that build trust. Family counseling is conducted in an atmosphere of respect and dignity for all.

Family problems affect everyone in the family-from the oldest down to the youngest family member. Working with as few as two family members, I can help you and your family resolve conflict, emotional cut-offs, and negative communication patterns. Long term unresolved issues often create present day conflict and misunderstandings that affect everyone in the family. Therapy can help uncover and resolve those issues as well as work through the current family issues.

Carol has counseled and provided consultation to many families with special needs children. Her services included working with children with autism, learning disabilities, tourette's syndrome, central auditory processing disorder and gifted. Parenting a special needs child can be challenging. There are times when families need assistance with home or school issues. Counseling can be beneficial, and help not only the parents, but the entire family. I also offer consultation regarding IEP's and GIEP's. Tom also provides family therapy, and his specialty area is adjudicated youth, and adolescent issues, co-parenting and families in crisis.

Family is the backbone of our society. So many things in our lives make having peace in our home very difficult. I believe that home needs to be our safe place. I work with families to help them forgive hurts, communicate about what is really going on and to love each other the way God intended us to. I create an environment that leads to greater understanding and a deeper love.