Family counseling addresses the complex dynamics within a family system to deepen connections and understanding between family members, improve communication, resolve conflict and ultimately create new structures and patterns that promote and maintain healthy relationships.
That’s where True Hope Christian Counseling comes in to help.
Family therapy can take many different forms and, depending on the specific needs of your family, could include all or some members of the family unit including spouses, divorced or separated parents, children (including adult children), grandparents, siblings, or any member of a family that hopes for improved relationship within the family unit.
How Can Family Counseling Heal Your Family?
Family members serve as some of the most influential relationships and connections we form in our lives and investing in a healthy family system has profound impacts on the mental health of each member of that system.
If your family relationships have become difficult, you might feel frustrated, misunderstood, unloved, or worse yet - defeated. But there is hope - and we can help!
Within families, each member brings their own personalities, ideals, priorities, feelings, goals, etc and as such, family dynamics are often ever-changing, complex and difficult to uncover. Family counseling provides a dedicated, safe space outside of your daily environment to invest in the system, and thereby each other and yourself.
As family counselors, we focus this work by allowing each member of the family to be heard. The third party perspective that the counselor offers promotes deepened empathy between family members enabling them to separate the problem from each other. A professional counselor can guide your family to uncover hidden sources of shame, resentment and conflict and even destructive generational patterns within the family system so that, as a team, these can be eliminated, disagreements can be addressed and new structures of support and emotional safety can be created and maintained.
Hone Parenting and Co-Parenting Approaches
One of the most common types of family counseling that we address is parental counseling, and we are here to help you grow in your parenting approach.
As parents, we aim to raise children who can flourish as adults, and the weight of how best to accomplish this important work can be heavy and uncertain. Navigating a child’s many different life stages and differences in personality and priorities can often lead parents into either overly controlling behaviors or on the other extreme - allowing their children to rule their home. A home founded in either approach leads to chaos and oftentimes the development of problematic behaviors and coping skills in children. Parental counseling teaches parents practical tools and approaches that come from Biblical principles rooted in grace, love, and discipline so that we may find a balance in parenting and encourage our children to reach their true potential.
In cases of divorce, the divide in family structure makes it all the more important to intentionally define priorities and best practices in parenting. Co-parenting counseling provides a place for mediation with an unbiased party to help sort through parenting goals where both parents can express concerns and desires. By approaching co-parenting with grace and respect, parents are better able to create environments with consistent rules that allow their children to thrive.
Resolve Sources of Family Conflict
Conflict in family is inevitable, and it would be impractical to expect these interpersonal relationships be constantly harmonious. Rather, sibling rivalry, child-parent conflict, generational conflict with grandparents, conflict with adult children, and parent-parent conflict are frequently experienced within families. This conflict is often bred from mismatches in goals, communication styles, perspectives and personalities and while this makes it unavoidable, the ability to quickly resolve, resynchronize and reconnect following conflict is characteristic of health in a family system and can be an achievable goal for your family.
Counseling looks to target existing conflict and create new patterns of conflict resolution to benefit your family long term. As family counselors, we help to identify the root motivations informing behaviors and perspectives of each member of the family (ie comfort, control, affirmation, safety, etc). While individuals often accomplish these goals in radically different ways, understanding and empathizing with these root fears can allow the family to realign goals - facing the problem rather than each other - to ultimately find compromise, compassion and even agreement on best practices within the family.
Improve Communication and Understanding
Too often, individuals experiencing breakdowns in communication misdirect their efforts for resolution. In these cases, they believe that strong communication means hearing and being heard and attempt to improve communication by developing a listening ear, repeating their message again, and improving word choice. These skills certainly have a place in successful communication but are incomplete. Strong, healthy communication instead focuses on the depth of messaging so that true intentions are not lost in translation, and we can truly empathize with and understand each other.
Through family counseling, a professional counselor serves as a third party observer who helps highlight and bring these messages to the surface. We create space for each family member to share their thoughts and feelings and model healthy, connective communication by acknowledging their intentions, fears and goals. It’s important to understand that empathy is not about agreeing with that perspective or anybody else’s behaviors or morality. Rather, it is about feeling the emotion and stress that that perspective brings so that we can meet each other where we are, enhance our connection and relationships, come to a better understanding of each other and implement positive changes to benefit the family system.
Is Family Counseling Right for Me?
Family therapy is designed for anybody seeking to improve the connections, behaviors and dynamics within your family, so there is no “wrong” time to seek support in taking meaningful steps towards this goal. In fact, because family members serve as some of the longest term relationships we form in our lifetime, the complex dynamics in most any family can benefit from the fresh perspective, guidance, and support that family counseling supplies.
If you have questions about your family and whether counseling is the right fit for you, we invite you to contact us for a free phone consultation, so we can discuss your goals and how best to help support your family in achieving these.
Our Approach to Family Counseling:
At True Hope Christian Counseling, we approach family relationship in the same way that we approach life, through a biblical lens and in this way, we recognize that the ultimate objective is to honor God in how we interact within a family.
As Christian counselors, we integrate research based therapeutic approaches such as Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with biblical truths to help establish healthy family structures and patterns that last.
The shared faith experienced between yourself and your counselor creates an ideological cohesiveness that serves as the foundation through which we help form solutions to problems addressed in counseling. This basis aligns objectives, promotes healthy conflict resolution, informs identity and orients decisions and behaviors between each member of your family to ultimately promote greater mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Family Counseling FAQs
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It is not uncommon for us to see families who feel that their relationships are too broken and are beyond repair. In many cases, these families are tired; they’ve lived within conflict, accumulated resentment, hurt and shame and despite their efforts, solutions have only served as temporary “bandaids” for short term relief - only for resentments and rifts to deepen when patterns ultimately repeat themselves.
It can feel isolating and frustrating when you are entrenched within a difficult family system, but the truth is that there is hope and family counseling can work.
Family counseling is not about finding “bandaids” or quick fixes. It is about uncovering hidden sources of disconnect within the family and practicing empathy so that unhealthy or even destructive patterns can be addressed and eliminated. This creates space within the family for true improved relationship.
Through family counseling, families develop healthy boundaries, improve communication, understand each other better, clarify roles, deepen connection, strengthen support systems, and learn new strategies for problem solving to ultimately find new peace. The emotional health and safety cultivated in counseling benefits each individual within the system and can enable families to better tackle new seasons together.
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In every family system there is conflict and while the context of conflict differs from family to family, it is often derived from disagreement on goals or ‘best practices’ for the family. Some common experiences that bring families to counseling are:
Resentment or grudges formed between family members
Frequently strained, heated or avoided communication between family members
Inconsistencies in child-rearing between parents and/or extended family members
Navigating the integration of two separate family units in a newly blended family
Seeking structures to form a functional and healthy co-parenting relationship after divorce
Adapting to a major change in family life including a move, a child leaving the home, financial changes, new life stages (such as teenage years), etc
Coping with the diagnosis of a chronic illness, death of a loved one, or traumatic event
Seeking to cope with and support a loved one with mental illness
The feeling of isolation in a family member or a family member who feels they do not “fit” within the system
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MYTH #1: FAMILY COUNSELING IS TOO TIME CONSUMING AND HARD TO COORDINATE TO BE EFFECTIVE
Anytime we approach counseling with multiple participants, scheduling and time constraints become more difficult to coordinate. Each member of the family has their own calendar of obligations and so finding time to connect can be a challenge. However, persistent conflicts in scheduling would indicate even more strongly that counseling is an important next step rather than serve as a deterrent.
A healthy family dynamic grows from the investment of participants within the system, including investments of their time and energy. As such, reprioritizing family time can be appropriate as it benefits not only the system as a whole, but yourself and each other member of the unit. Regularly scheduled counseling sessions create a dedicated space within our busy lives to consistently invest in the growth and healing of relationships in the family.
MYTH #2: MY FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS ARE TOO DAMAGED FOR COUNSELING
Family counseling happens all the time - oftentimes we seek counsel from friends, other family members or loved ones who weigh in on conflict and dynamics within our family. Despite best intentions, this advice and counsel is often biased and is not derived from research but rather limited personal experience. Efforts based on this advice can lead us to feel that our family is beyond repair, too difficult, too broken, or too mismatched for any type of long term growth.
At True Hope Christian Counseling, we see many families who have spent years trying to resolve conflict and have grown tired and defeated in the process. This is where we can help. When family members approach therapy willing to invest in and grow through professional counseling, there is hope for healing, reconnection and long term relational health. A third party, unbiased professional counselor can offer a fresh perspective, deepened understanding of the dynamics at play, and new methods for finally resolving root sources of disagreement within the family.
MYTH #3: FAMILY COUNSELING IS ONLY USEFUL FOR INTERVENTION WITH ADDICTS
Interventional counseling is one category of family therapy that comes to mind often as it illustrates how the family is impacted by individuals within the system. In this case, the counseling focuses on the addiction of a family member and allows the family to address its impacts and provide support that promote positive change for the health of the individual and the group as a whole. While this is an apt example, the problems addressed in family counseling are not always addiction.
Family counseling can address any number of problems, differences or changes that impact the system. This could include but is not limited to mental illness, life changes, competing ideas of what is “best practice” for the family or parenting, mismatches in communication or personality, trauma, etc. Every family is unique and as such, the problems addressed in counseling will differ depending on their impact to the overall system
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Prior to your first session, each participant of counseling will want to access and complete your intake paperwork located on the client forms page. The correct forms to complete will depend on which family members will be participating. Upon scheduling, we will consult with you on the appropriate forms to complete for your family. We encourage you to bring a copy to your first session, or if you prefer you can arrive 10 minutes ahead of your scheduled time to complete these items.
In our first session, we will focus on getting to know each of you and what has brought you to family counseling. We will then discuss a plan for ongoing therapy as appropriate. The course of counseling will be unique to the needs of your family and through continued sessions we will discuss ongoing struggles, address root causes of conflict and disconnect within your relationships and implement positive changes to promote the long term health of your family unit.
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Family counseling is $150 for a standard 45 minute session.
The frequency and duration of sessions will depend on your family’s goals and can range from short term to longer term needs. During our first session, we will discuss these goals and what to expect for ongoing therapy.
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We recommend contacting your insurer to determine the specifics of whether family counseling will fall under the scope of your coverage. Oftentimes, family counseling will not be covered. However, there are cases where insurance may cover counseling for families coping with the mental illness of a family member.
If your insurance does provide coverage, note that True Hope Christian Counseling would be considered an out of network provider and at your request, we can supply a superbill for you to submit to your carrier for reimbursement.
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Our Colleyville office can accommodate in person sessions for groups or families with up to five in person participants.
For larger groups or to accommodate your unique scheduling needs, we also offer remote counseling options through secure and confidential online platforms wherein some or all members of the group can participate virtually.
In-home counseling is also available upon request. In-home counseling is a great solution for larger families or for families of any size who prefer that counseling take place within the context of your home environment. Costs for in-home counseling are based on travel time, length of session, etc, and we invite you to contact us for a quote and to inquire about in-home family counseling options.
restore peace in your family.
We are here to help.
We offer family counseling for families in Southlake, Grapevine, Colleyville, Roanoke, Keller, and the greater Tarrant County.
