Janette Patterson

Family therapy or counseling can be tremendously helpful for families where there are situational stressors that cause one or more family members to become symptomatic. In order to support the family member in distress, the whole family unit needs to be supported. For example: A marital crisis with potential divorce might trigger one or more children to act out, either at home and/or in school.

To successfully work with this family, the therapist engages both the parents and the children to address not only the concern that brings the family into therapy, but also to explore healthy and unhealthy family dynamics, communication and interaction patterns and triggers that cause anxiety and/or worry.

Other stressors can be:

• School problems (undiagnosed learning disabilities, ADHD, other educational/psychological challenges)
• Addiction problems
• Transition problems (change of employment, move of home)
• Grief and loss complications (death of a grandparent, etc)

As much as I like working with couples, I very much want to offer my help in guiding the family in the process of unearthing hidden wounds and pains, sowing seeds of hope and learning new ways to talk with each other, embrace each other’s individuality, celebrate the family bond and cherish family memories. •