Feb 20, 2025
Families are complicated. There’s no way around it. When you get two or more people living in the same house and trying to do life together, discord is unavoidable. This doesn’t mean your family dynamic is bad by any means. People are complicated, and a group of people even more so. Your family is influenced by a number of factors, both internal and external, and many out of your control. The ones in your control, like family communication or behavioral patterns, can be hard to learn.
Family therapy can help. Therapy for families is an effective way to address conflict, heal family rifts, and support each other through a difficult time.
What Is Family Therapy?
Family therapy is a type of group talk therapy that helps improve relationships and functioning within a family. A “family” encapsulates a group of people who care about each other and are making a life together. It can include parents and children or it can include grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, and anyone else who plays an instrumental part in the structure of a life.
Any therapist can conduct family therapy, but many families choose to seek the expertise of a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), who is a mental health professional who specializes in family therapy. These types of therapists differ from LCSWs or LPCs, who specialize in individual therapy. LMFTs have the experience and education that can help a family heal and grow stronger.
What Can Family Counseling Help With?
Family therapy is a very versatile type of therapy. Just like individual therapy, which can treat a wide variety of needs, family therapy comes in many different forms. Although all family therapy focuses on the health of the family as a unit, it can be adjusted to help one struggling member in particular or to improve the family as a whole.
For example, some uses of family therapy include:
- Helping a member with mental or behavioral health issues such as Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Substance Abuse, etc.
- Improve relationships among family members
- Help a family transition in a difficult time, such as the loss of a loved one or a military deployment
- Manage relationship conflict, including that of parent-child, sibling-sibling, or any other types of conflict that might occur.
- Healing from trauma, like losing a home or family member or experiencing family violence
- Improving communication and relationship dynamics
- Changes in the family structure, such as a new child or a divorce
Family therapy is a powerful tool to improve the family as a whole but also to aid an individual. Research has continuously shown that a strong support system is vital for healing from mental health issues. Family is often a major component of that support system. Educating all family members on the needs of a mental health issue will prevent conflict and ensure the hurting family member gets the love, support, and understanding they need while keeping the family unit strong.
Who Should Go to Family Therapy?
There is no shame in going to family therapy. It does not mean your family is wrong, broken, or weak. The fact that you are coming to family therapy reinstates your love and commitment for one another.
Therapy is a tool that can be used to heal and strengthen the family unit, and it should be used as such. If you think your family could benefit from family counseling, it is worth talking with a family therapist near you.
Signs your family should attend family therapy include:
- You have recently gone through something traumatic.
- Your family has recently grown or shrunk.
- There is persistent conflict interfering with your family’s quality of life or health.
- There are consistent communication issues.
- One or many members are struggling with behavioral or mental health issues.
- There has been a major life transition.
- Your home doesn’t feel like a safe space for all of your family members.
- Past hurts keep resurfacing and resentment continues to simmer.
- There are major disagreements that keep popping up.
No one’s family is perfect. Messiness and conflict are a part of cohabitating with other humans, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you feel like your family’s conflict interferes with any member’s mental, physical, and emotional health, family therapy could be the right option for you.
What Happens During Family Counseling?
Family therapy is evidence-based, meaning it has been researched and proven to be effective at helping families cope with everyday life, difficult transitions, and mental and behavioral health issues.
During a family counseling session, your family therapist may:
- Talk with family members individually.
- Conduct group therapy to work through conflicts.
- Help members learn healthy coping skills.
- Mitigate family conversations to promote healing and understanding.
- Navigate conflicts as they arise.
- Educate family members on various aspects of mental and behavioral help (a process called psychoeducation).
- Find strategies to manage conflicts and prevent future conflicts.
- Help your family implement strategies and coping mechanisms.
A good family therapist will adapt to your unique needs and goals. It can be helpful when deciding on your family therapist to know why you want to attend family counseling, what your greatest concerns are, and what you hope to get out of it. If you don’t know yet, a family counselor can help you. You can also read our guide on starting therapy to learn the questions you should ask a therapist before scheduling with them.
Types of Family Therapy
There are many different modalities of family therapy, which is to say different research-based ways of conducting family therapy. An LMFT (licensed marriage and family therapist) may have a modality they specialize in. It’s important to ask a therapist if they have a preferred modality and to understand what modality you would prefer. Most therapists are willing to work with you in your preferred type of family therapy, however.
Types of family therapy include:
- Strategic Family Therapy: Short, goal-orientated therapy that aims to help families support a child or youth with behavioral or mental health issues. For example, helping a child with substance abuse or oppositional defiance disorder. The goal is to use direct interventions to identify and disrupt unhealthy patterns.
- Structural Family Therapy: In Structural Family Therapy, the focus is on understanding and reshaping family structures and hierarchies. Therapists help families reorganize their dynamics, boundaries, and roles to create a more functional and supportive environment. By identifying and addressing power dynamics and communication patterns, this approach aims to promote balance and harmony within the family system.
- Family Systems Therapy: Helps someone use the strength of their relationships to overcome individual issues. This is a good option for a family who wants to come together to support a member of their family who is healing from past trauma or struggling with a mental health issue like substance abuse, suicidal ideation, or schizophrenia, for example.
- Narrative Family Therapy: Encourages individual family members to tell their own story and listen to the stories of others. Through this practice, family members can begin to understand how they affect one another and how their family functions. With the help of a therapist, they can identify unhealthy patterns and dysfunctional behaviors and work together to change it.
These are just a few of the modalities of family therapy. Ask your family therapist what modality they use to make sure it is a good fit for you and your family.
How Do I Find an Affordable Family Therapist Near Me?
Family therapy tends to cost more than individual therapy, but there are ways to find affordable family therapy near you.
- Use your insurance: Most insurance will cover family therapy for a similar rate as individual therapy. Always check with your insurance before a family therapy session and make sure your therapist accepts your insurance.
- Use online directories: Finding a family therapist that matches your needs quickly is one of the easiest ways to save money. You don’t have to “shop around” for a new family therapist and can begin to heal your family quicker. Using an online directory is one way to do this. A directory will list a family therapist’s education, experience, and preferred modalities, so you can find a match easy.
Lifebulb Counseling and Therapy offers online and in-person family therapists across the U.S. Browse our directory to find a family therapist near you or reach out to our team and we will be happy to match you with a therapist who meets your needs.
Finding an affordable family therapist does not have to be difficult. Contact Lifebulb to begin your family therapy journey today.
