Have you ever wondered what family therapy looks like? Maybe you have seen it on reality shows or heard about it in conversations about family therapy sessions. Or maybe people have said, "Family therapy would be an option," but what does that even mean??

In this post, you will learn what family therapy sessions are like and whether they might be a good fit for you and your family.

A Space for All

The family therapy session is a space where everyone can be heard, understood, and empathized with. The therapist will check in with everyone throughout the session and understand how everyone feels in the space.

There is no "I" in Team

In family therapy, we will work on rebuilding the team. Not one person is the focus in the space. It's not "what so and so did this day and that." All of the family members make up the system, and therefore, everyone will be asked and listened to during this time. There is no pointing of fingers, which is not helpful at all in the space, especially when everyone is just trying to help and support each other. Because if the team succeeds, everyone can succeed, and that's what we want at the end of the day.

No Yelling

You may think that this could be a reality housewives show where everyone is yelling and pointing at each other.

I promise you that will not happen in this space. For a number of reasons, as I will go into

1) Yelling at someone can cause another or others to shut down and stop listening; when this happens, it can become counterintuitive.

2) A person is probably yelling because they do not feel heard or understood, or the opposite, where everyone is yelling at each other, which again is not helpful in the grand scheme of things.

3) Do you feel better when being yelled at or yelling at others? Probably not.

Learning Tools to Communicate

This space is to learn tools to communicate. A pattern has appeared now that is not helping anyone in the system. Now, we need to learn a new way to communicate to help with the feelings of frustration being eliminated and everyone working together again. Remember the saying, "Old habits die hard?" well, that's kind of what we will be working on; yes, it will take time, and no one will be perfect at it the first time. But by having tools and techniques, we can practice until it's semi-perfect! (no, it will not always be perfect, and that is OKAY!)

Now that you have learned what Family Therapy is about, reach out below for a 15-minute consultation totally free, by the way!

Disclaimer: This is also just how I practice family therapy, and there may be many different ways/forms that other therapists practice family therapy.