Family Therapy
"Why family therapy… because it deals with family pain" - Virginia Satir
Family therapy is a way for a person and their family to learn how to maintain healthy family relationships, communicate effectively with family members, and work cooperatively to solve family problems. This type of therapy is unique, in that problems are viewed through a broader lens and as part of the complex system of the family.
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Symptoms are viewed as connected to the big picture of a person’s life and relationships.
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Clients are helped to develop self-awareness of how they are reacting to others and how their reactions are being responded to.
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The past is explored to assist this awareness of circular patterns and the effect they have on people’s coping capacities. Events from the past are not viewed as the cause of symptoms but as anxiety generators that have been responded to in the relationship system. Hence each family member is affected differently by challenging events.
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The therapist works hard not to take sides with any member of the clients’ relationship system.
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Clients are encouraged to keep their change efforts outside of the therapy room – in the natural systems of real life and relationships. Hence sessions are often spaced out to allow for observing the things learned in counselling.