Family Counseling & Therapy
At Anchor Light Therapy Collective, we understand that family relationships can be difficult to navigate during the best of times. When families are faced with challenges like trauma, financial stress, grief and loss, it can become too much to manage on your own.
A Marriage and Family Therapist in Seattle can help you and yours understand the dynamics at play, and create the positive changes that will put you on the road to having the positive environment that you have always wanted.
Family Therapy Techniques We Offer in Seattle WA
Behavioral issues in children and adolescents are caused by a variety of issues. Issues with couples and marriages are often a factor as well – sometimes couples therapy is needed to support positive change. A Licensed Mental Health Counselor is trained to listen to your concerns through structured sessions and support your family so you can move forward. This is also a great place to discuss coping with postpartum depression in a family setting.
We use a combination of different techniques and exercises including:
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy
- Bowenian Therapy
- Milan Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
Emotionally-Focused Therapy
Emotionally-Focused therapy (EFT) was developed by Sue Johnson and can be used with both couples and families. It is based on attachment theory– a theory that looks at how we learn to attach or connect to others from our very early childhood.
By understanding our attachment styles, we can gain insight into how we behave and interact in relationships, and what we need to feel safe and secure.
Emotionally-Focused counselors help parents and children understand the difference between primary emotions like hurt or sadness, and secondary emotions like fear or embarrassment.
When we can slow down, identify and communicate their primary emotions with one another, real healing can occur.
Bowenian Therapy
This type of therapy was developed by Murray Bowen in the 1950’s and looks at the relationship between our drive to be a part of our family and our opposing need to be individuals.
According to Bowen, we need a balance of space and togetherness to lead a healthy life, and reaching that balance is called becoming “differentiated”. He also stressed the importance of reducing emotional reactivity among family members.
Bowen invented the genogram, a tool counselors use to diagram family histories going back at least three generations, so that they can see similarities that reach across generations and how they might be impacting the current state of affairs.
A therapist using Bowenian Therapy would work to help individuals increase their differentiation and sense of self, decrease their emotional reactivity to each other, and repair any ruptures or cut-offs in family relationships.
The Milan Approach
Milan therapy works to uncover belief systems of individuals and the family as a whole, challenging everyone to explore those beliefs.
Where do they originate from? Are they adding value to your lives and relationships?
Milan therapists focus on patterns, rituals and behaviors that families have, particularly around conflict, to help discover those sometimes-hidden belief systems. In this way, the counselor can help clients replace unhealthy belief systems with healthier frameworks that match their values.
Narrative Therapy
Human beings are narrative creatures. We think in stories or narratives, and form all kinds of stories about ourselves and our family members that make up the mythology of our family.
Narrative Family Therapy helps us to recognize the narratives we have about ourselves and each other so that we can let go of old stories that we’re struggling with, and replace them with narratives that are more accurate and positive.
For example, maybe one sibling got in trouble a lot as a child and developed a narrative about being “the bad one” that they carry with them through life? Maybe others also viewed this person as a black sheep.
This may have little to do with that person’s identity anymore, but could be holding them back in terms of their potential and their relationships. Narrative Therapy empowers clients to take control of their own narratives, values, and recognize their competence and self-worth.
Our Licensed Family Counselors
Anchor Light Family Therapy Program
Find out what to expect when you engage in family therapy at Anchor Light
Explore Private Seattle Family Therapy
The word “Family” is synonymous with belonging, but what do you do when family time leaves you feeling lonely and disconnected? What if your family system is more prone to conflict than harmony?
Sometimes therapy or counseling needs to happen one-on-one, just one client and their therapist, setting goals, venting frustrations, hashing out feelings, peeling back the layers of the onion. Couples therapy is also useful to identify issues that can affect your parenting styles.
But sometimes we have issues in our family relationships that we can’t seem to solve with the individual tools we learn from a professional counselor. Have you noticed that there are family dynamics at play that you don’t quite understand? Do you need help working on your family relationships? Family counseling can help in dealing with issues in children, adolescents, teens, and parents.
FAQs
What are the indications for Family Therapy?
- Fighting, arguing, sibling rivalry, or discord in the family
- Anxiety in toddlers/children
- Family members feel disconnected from each other
- Major life transitions- divorce, remarriage, death of a family member, birth or adoption of a new sibling, retirement, moving, changing schools, family member questioning gender identity
- Traumatic event- illness in the family, assault, abuse, car accident, police violence, arrest
- Behavior changes in children- children are overly attached to one parent, suddenly withdrawn, aggressive, impulsive, or “acting out”
- Those experiencing family estrangement may benefit from seeking therapy
- Potentially parentified environments
What is the focus of family therapy?
Family Therapy is focused on the health and wellbeing of individuals as well as relationships between family members. Family therapists observe the dynamics of the family system to find places where they might be stuck in patterns that are not serving the individuals or the family as a whole.
What is family therapy and what are its goals and benefits?
As with any form of therapy, goal setting should be a collaborative process between therapist and clients. With Family Therapy, there are more clients needs to consider. Often want to improve their communication, strengthen their bonds, and sense of well-being, although they may come with more specific goals like working on boundary setting or repairing a damaged relationship.
When should you seek family counseling?
Family Counseling is appropriate not only for families in crisis, but also for families who want to increase their ability to communicate effectively, and enhance their relationships.
How much does it cost?
Therapy creates a space for you to experience healing and progress in a way that can change your life. But of course, it’s also an investment of both time and finances. When you’re ready to commit to healing and transformation, here is what you can expect.
Standard individual session
(50 minutes) $190
Insurance
We do not participate with any insurance panels. Anchor Light Therapy Collective is considered an out-of-network provider.
As a courtesy to any individual clients who wish to utilize their insurance benefits, We are happy to verify your out-of-network plan benefits to tell you what portion, if any, may be covered by your health insurance provider.