You can love your family and still struggle to be in relationship with them.
Family therapy can help you understand the patterns that have developed between you and find new ways of relating to one another.
Family relationships don’t stop being complicated when we become adults. Old roles, unresolved hurts, misunderstandings, and patterns that developed years ago can continue to shape how you relate to one another even when everyone involved wants things to be different.
Understanding the patterns that shape your family relationships
Family relationships can be complicated, especially when patterns that developed years ago continue to affect the way you relate to one another today. Old roles, unresolved hurts, communication difficulties, and changing family dynamics can all make it difficult to have the kind of relationship you want.
Therapy can help you understand these patterns and consider what might need to change so that you can relate to one another in healthier, more meaningful ways.
You may be looking for family therapy if…
- You keep having the same arguments without getting anywhere
- You feel misunderstood, criticized, dismissed, or unheard by a family member
- Old family roles seem to take over whenever you’re together
- You struggle to set boundaries without feeling guilty
- One person feels responsible for everyone else’s emotions
- There is resentment or hurt that has never really been addressed
- You have become emotionally distant from someone you used to feel close to
- You are trying to repair a relationship after a significant rupture
- You and a sibling have grown apart or find yourselves repeatedly falling into the same patterns
- You are navigating caregiving, aging parents, or changing roles within your family
- A major life transition has changed your family relationships
- You want to stay connected while also creating healthier boundaries
What do we actually do in family therapy?
Family therapy isn’t about deciding who is right or wrong. Instead, we’ll work together to understand the patterns that develop between you and what keeps those patterns going.
I use a combination of family systems, attachment-based, and emotionally focused approaches to help family members understand what is happening beneath the surface of recurring conflict, distance, or hurt. We may also draw from Gottman-informed strategies when helpful, particularly when working on communication, conflict, and relationship repair.
Together, we may explore:
- Family patterns: What happens between you when conflict begins, and how does each person respond?
- Emotions and attachment: What feelings, fears, or needs may be underneath the way each person responds?
- Family roles: How have the roles you learned within your family shaped the way you relate to one another today?
- Boundaries: How can you stay connected without taking responsibility for another person’s feelings or giving up your own needs?
- Communication: How can you express what you need and listen to one another without falling back into familiar patterns?
- Repair and reconnection: What would it take to acknowledge hurt, rebuild trust, and create a different kind of relationship?
A note about cost and insurance
I do not accept insurance for couples or family therapy because of the way this type of therapy is structured. I use a family systems approach, which means I work with the relationship as a whole rather than identifying one person as the “patient” or making one person’s diagnosis the focus of treatment.
Insurance typically requires therapy to be provided to an identified patient with a mental health diagnosis and for treatment to focus on that individual’s medical needs. Because couples and family therapy focuses on the relationship and the patterns between people, I am not able to bill insurance for these services.
This does not mean that you or another family member cannot have a mental health diagnosis. It simply means that a diagnosis is not the focus of our family therapy sessions.
Session Length
Family therapy sessions are longer than individual therapy because everyone needs time to participate. Sessions are available in two formats:
90-minute session — $262.50
2-hour session — $350