BeeLove

Family Therapy

The great family therapist, Virginia Satir, would ask families:  “Does it feel good to you to live in your family right now?”  Most troubled families take for granted that it does not feel good to live in their family, at least not right now or not most of the time.  

Working with families is very close to my heart.  For most of us, the family is our most fundamental unit of relationship and community.  This is also the one place in life where we can, ideally, be truly ourselves, truly accepted for who we are.  And yet, sometimes we find our family and family life to be a source of great discomfort, anger, or hurt.  How can we find our way to being supports for each other, rather than hindrances?  Is there such a thing as a family life in which we see and accept each other for who we each are?  Is it possible that, in this small microcosm of human society, we can create the best we can imagine for a human life?  And if this is possible, how do we do it?

My work with families draws from Emotionally Focused Family Therapy and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, both of which are based in an attachment perspective.  When appropriate, I also utilize parenting strategies such as Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (formerly “Collaborative Problem Solving”), developed by Dr. Ross Greene.  I have extensive experience working with adoptive and foster families, and working with families with children who struggle with things like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), difficulty with anxiety, anger or impulse control, and attachment issues.