Family Counseling/Therapy
Kids have a tough enough time just being kids with school and sports and friends. Add when parents divorce or are already divorced and remarried with a blended family… or a cancer diagnosis, or death or suicide in the family… everyone’s emotions are all over the place. Family therapy with a calm caring counselor in a soothing setting can help.
Call 714-743-5612 or TXT
So...what is family therapy? Well, the answer depends upon what's going on in your household.
If you are married, and have children, tweens or teens living in your home, Family Therapy can involve every member of the household.
1) Maybe your tween/teen is into drugs or partying on the weekends. Clearly they need help. You need help in how to parent a child dancing with danger. You and your partner/spouse may need help in how to support each other and present with a united front with household rules, responsibilities and expected behaviors. Your other children need to vent their emotions surrounding this situation with their sibling and the chaos. Helping children is very different from helping adults. I offer coaching, counseling and mentoring (without the stigma of therapy) specifically for tweens, teens and young adults. I invite you to visit TeenCentered.com if you are interested in getting help specifically for your children.
2) Maybe you or your partner/spouse are ill. You could use help is dealing with added worry and/or responsibilities. You could use help in finding the right words to share the situation with your children. You children could use a safe place to talk about their feelings, and their fear/confusion about what family life will look like and feel like going forward.
3) Maybe you or you and your partner/spouse feel your relationship is not working and are considering a trial separation. You could use help in how to approach your partner/spouse and how to discuss this with your children.
If you are already divorced and have children, tweens or teens who are the subject of a custody/visitation order, everyone involved could be invited to participate in Family Therapy.
1) You and your ex could use help in staying respectful and polite during visitation exchanges, deciding school outing and vacation plans.
2) You, your ex and your children could use help in dealing with grief over the death of this union, the loss of a two parent family, and the loss of a known way of life.
3) Everyone might need help in dealing with anger over the question of "why did things have to change in this way?" and "why couldn't the adults just get along???"
If you or your ex are planning on remarrying, and/or there will be step children involved, everyone involved could be in need of Family Therapy.
1) If you are remarrying, you might want help with introducing your new partner and their children to your children.
2) If your ex is the one remarrying, you might want help with anger, jealousy, fear, regret...and your children could use help for their own similar emotions.
3) But most importantly, if you or your ex are divorced and planning to remarry and introduce step children into the mix, your own children could suffer with a form of identity confusion, on top of fear, anger, regret, how to deal with a step parent and their children. As an example, per author Evon O. Flesberg in The Switching Hour, if you are the oldest child of your natural parent and their only daughter, but the middle child with two step sisters at your step parent's house, identity and household roles becomes confused, and children desperately need help with this.
There are many more situations for which Family Therapy can offer help.
Confusion about how to handle a current family situation
drug or alcohol bingeing
infidelity
domestic violence
defiant and/or angry teen
Help with decisions/fear of making a bad choice
Anger and regret over the past
All of these are normal concerns surrounding change. Counseling is designed to help. You feel more calm and empowered. You learn how to deal with over the top reactions, out of control emotions, and the confusing behaviors (especially from children) that grow out of major life changes.
Please know, I don't judge, I don't criticize, I don't ask stupid questions. I meet you where you are and walk along side you on this part of your life journey. It's a privilege to be in a helping profession, and I would be honored to help you create peace in whatever household you and your family reside, no matter the situation in which you find yourself, no matter how you got there.
Call (714) 743-5612 or TXT me anytime and ask for Dr. Mickey.
