#JOINING HANDS FAMILY CO8NSELIMG PROFESSIONAL#

With family sessions, this ideal can come under assault from all angles. Don’t take sidesĬounselors know they need to be the leader in the room. It may take time for such insights or behaviors to arrive through the course of counseling, but allowing family dynamics to reveal themselves on their own time makes it easier for counselors to make their best assessment of the factors and personalities families deal with. Troubled adolescents may not actually be mad at their parents but with themselves, for instance. Observing the family as it would be at the dinner table or elsewhere is critical to getting the truest picture of what dynamics and issues are at the heart of disagreements or fights. Instead, allow family members to interact with one another. Asking questions that guide the conversation in a general sense is a good way to maintain control, but counselors should avoid trying to provoke reactions that fit their own agendas. Try to put aside family socioeconomics or demographics (which is not to say totally ignore these qualities, as they are indicators of their own worth to understanding the family) that may lead to assumptions or generalizations. Appearances can be deceiving, and the intricate issues any one family experiences can hardly be surmised on an introduction. It is particularly important during a first session to let family structures and relationships emerge naturally. Following are some do’s and don’ts of family counseling that professionals can use to direct their sessions and help families achieve healthy results: Do let family dynamics come out on their own The celebrated 19th-century Russian author Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “All happy families are alike each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The opening words to his novel “Anna Karenina” lay out the basic principle counselors must approach in sessions: Each family will have its own unique issues and tendencies that may seem to multiply in intensity across fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and other family members. The counselor’s job is to diffuse the potential powder keg of emotions that is family counseling by using strategies that will help the family achieve some measure of closure, understanding or relief.Įven with tools and techniques to deploy during especially challenging family sessions, counselors must always be ready to adapt and learn as interpersonal dynamics emerge.

#JOINING HANDS FAMILY CO8NSELIMG PROFESSIONAL#

Even though counselors will want to get as honest a picture of family life as possible, they may find themselves grasping to assert control and professional structures when bickering or personal attacks threaten to envelop the session.įamilies come with their own existing dynamics and ways of interacting and communicating, none of which may be conducive or helpful to productive sessions.

Consider the emotional and mental complexities one person may present, and then consider those issues multiplied by as many other family members who attend the session.

Such is the case with family units who seek mental health services, whether as couples, new parents or families with sibling conflict. Counseling one individual with a strong personality can be demanding enough add one or more people to the session, and the situation can easily become hard to manage. Family counseling can be a unique challenge.

Joining hands family co8nselimg