Family Counseling in Sugar Land, TX

Restoring Hope, Happiness, & Connected Family Relationships!

Restoring Connected Family Relationships Through Family Counseling

Your once peaceful household is now one of tension and frustration.
Teen therapy or young adult counseling simply isn't getting your family where you want it to be.
As a parent, you have worked hard to help your family but are met with resistance.

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Why Family Counseling?

Experience has shown that family counseling is one of the most effective ways to help teenagers and young adult make changes. While it may not seem like it sometimes, teens and young adults care about how they affect their family members.

We also find that family therapy often takes less time than individual teen counseling or young adult therapy. Being able to have an objective 3rd party be able to explore what is creating the tension in the home and having input from family members helps bring about change quicker.

And this objective 3rd party is also a family counselor who through education, training, and experience, specializes in family therapy to guide your family through the process.

Reasons Why People Begin Family Therapy

While there are many different reasons people begin family therapy, there is one common theme that runs throughout. The family has experienced a shift from a family that gets along relatively well to one where tension and frustration is becoming the norm.

There are common reasons why people begin family therapy. Below we will share the more common reasons.

Emotional Challenges That Have Emerged

One common reason is that emotional challenges like depression, anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, ADHD, and others can create conditions where the teenager or young adult expresses their inner struggle on the outer world.

The hurt they are experiencing is communicated not through their words, but by their actions which is felt by each family member.

Challenging Life Transitions

Sometimes there are life transitions such as moving away for work, a death of a close family member, a death of a close friend, and other challenges. At the developmental stage teens and some young adults are in, this can be a hard transition.

It's not uncommon for teens and young adults to not know fully yet how to manage those feelings and it can come out through their behavior.

Creating a Blended Family

Having a blended family can also create tension in the home. Teens and young adults may find it hard to share their dad or mom with a new set of other children, teens, or young adults. And introducing new personalities to the family system may create some disruption, temporarily.

Minimizing the Impact of Divorce

Sometimes, divorce is part of a family's story. The top priority for parents in a divorce is to minimize the impact on their kids. Joining together and starting family therapy to work through the feelings of the divorce and to help the kids understand how they will be supported is an important step.

This can help prevent things like depression, anxiety, acting out behaviors and other challenges that occur when families may not take this step.

Support in Co-parenting After a Divorce

When we talk about minimizing the impact of divorce through family therapy, this can look like traditional family therapy with the parents, teens, and young adults included. It can also look like divorced couples seeing a family counselor to help them better co-parent as a divorced couple.

There is a spectrum of feelings between the mom and dad during and after a divorce. On one end we have highly contentious divorces where there are severely hurt feelings. And on the other end we have amicable divorces where the parents remain friends (or at least friendly).

No matter where you fall on the spectrum of feelings after a divorce, each parent will agree to one thing. And that is that both want to do what is in the best interest of the children.

At Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling, we have divorced couples meet with our family counseling specialists to help them better co-parent as a divorced couple. This is a new experience for many and it is unchartered waters. Seeking expert support is one powerful way to minimize the impact on the children.

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How Can Family Counseling at Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling Help Our Family?

Often is the case that family therapy with a family therapist who specializes in family therapy, takes less time than individual teen therapy or young adult counseling. We also find that family counseling with teens and young adults can be more effective than individual therapy alone.

There are a few reasons for this. Below we will explore those reasons further.

Reason #1: Family Therapy Helps Open Up Communication

Probably the most common beginning point in family therapy centers around communication. As parents, it is our responsibility to ensure peace and harmony in the home. When this starts to be replaced with tension and arguing or even isolating, parents work hard to restore what was had before.

As time goes on and the tension and arguing persist, trust is usually eroded in this process. Whether intentional or not, feelings get hurt during this period of tension and arguing. As a result, people don't trust one another on a deeper level to share how the other is affecting them at that deep level.

In family counseling, a family therapist who specializes in family therapy can help put words to deeper inner experience for the teen or young adult. This can help bring understanding and awareness for both the teen and young adult as well as with the family members.

Our family counselors also help parents and family members put into words the affect that the teen or young adult's behavior is having on them. This is important for the teen or young adult to understand to help them gain understanding and awareness of how their actions are affecting those they love.

Reason #2: Family Therapy Helps Build Back Trust

When the challenges in the family persist over time, often is the case that family members have been hurt. And often this hurt is at a deep, core level.

Our minds and bodies are hard wired to avoid pain. When someone hurts us and doesn't seem to want to change, we naturally put up walls to protect ourselves. The trust we have for the other person to not hurt us emotionally has been diminished.

As the family counselor helps open the lines of communication, family members begin talking about their inner experience, and there is listening and understanding, trust begins to develop again. In families, we don't want to not trust our loved ones. We yearn for that trusting relationship to return.

This yearning for the trusting relationship brings energy and drive to family members to follow through with agreed upon changes. And once you see the other person follow through, most of the times this helps build a little more trust and the other family member feels more comfortable in following through with their change.

And this process goes back and forth until trust has been strengthened and relationships improved.

Reason #3: A Family Therapist Increases Likelihood of Change

I do cardio but I don't lift weights. And I know I should as I'm not getting any younger. One way to motivate me that I know for a fact would work is for me to hire a personal trainer.

This would work as I not only don't want it to be a waste of money, but when my personal trainer gives me goals to reach and I know I'm going to report back to them each week, I am more likely to reach those goals with a personal trainer than on my own.

A personal trainer is supportive, encouraging, and will provide expert guidance on how to get the most out of my workout. And knowing that I would be reporting back my progress provides "positive accountability".

Much like a personal trainer, a family therapist who is an expert in family therapy can also provide positive accountability. You will find your family counselor to be supportive, encouraging, and providing expert guidance on how to restore family relationships and strengthen the bonds of love.

Family members know they will not only be reporting back to the family therapist, but they will also be reporting back to the family members. This positive accountability will help individuals follow through with their goals. And as a result, change happens.

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Are There Obstacles Preventing You From Starting Family Therapy?

With family therapy often being more effective and takes less time than individual teen counseling and young adult therapy, it would make sense to incorporate family therapy into your teen or young adult's therapy journey.

If family therapy is something that could benefit your family and where you are at relationally now, are there obstacles that stand in your way of starting family therapy?

Below are a few that Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling has observed over the years in providing family counseling.

Obstacle #1: Parenting a Teen or Young Adult is Very Personal

One of the main reasons parents may not start family therapy is due to concern over having their parenting criticized.

As a family counselor, it can be hard to get feedback on something I could have done better as a parent. Even more so because I should know better! But as parents, we are all doing the absolute best we can to parent our kids.

Parents who have not participated in family counseling before may feel anxiety around a family therapist picking a part parenting skills and approaches.

A therapist who specializes in family therapy understands the very personal, and almost sacred nature of a parent's approach to parenting. At our very foundation is an understanding that parents are doing the absolute best job using the skills and tools they have at the time.

Because of this, family therapists are very good at recognizing the strengths in your parenting and primarily focusing on those strengths. A specialist in family counseling will also know how to discuss areas where additional skills or tools may be useful.

If this is a concern you share, fist it's very natural and normal. And if this is an obstacle standing in your way of beginning family therapy, why not try 1-3 sessions of family therapy and see what you think.

Starting family therapy doesn't mean you are committing to the full course of family therapy. You can stop at any time.

Starting out committing to 1-3 sessions will help you get a feel for how the family counselor provides the support you are looking for.

Obstacle #2: My Teen or Youn Adult Needs a Parent They Can Trust. If I Acknowledge a Mistake in Parenting, They Won't Trust Me.

Early on in my career as a teen therapist, young adult counselor, and family counselor, my experience with supervisors was that they did not acknowledge mistakes.

I clearly remember the first time a boss I had acknowledged a mistake he made. We were in a staff meeting. He was giving us direction of what needed to happen in terms of a change to the program.

Well, he didn't think through all the variables. As we pointed out how the direction he was giving would not work, he looked at us, cocked his head, and with a smile said, "Ya, you're right, that's not going to work is it."

This left such a strong impression on me it helped influence how I approaches employees as a supervisor to this day.

Our experience in family therapy is much the same. When a parent is able to acknowledge making a mistake, this builds trust and role models honesty. As parents do this, often is the case that an otherwise resistant teen or young adult will also start to acknowledge their mistakes.

And don't get me start on offering an apology backed by change! This can be one of the more powerful relationship healing things a parent can do. And often the teen or young adult will start offering their apologies when mistakes are made.

Obstacle #3: I Want to Start Family Counseling, But I Just Don't Have the Time or Money.

This is the reason many people do not exercise. They don't know where they are going to fit exercising into their busy schedule. Plus, it's another expense that they can't afford right now. But when exercise becomes a priority and valued, time opens up in their schedule and the funds become available.

Like exercise, we hear similar reasons why families didn't begin family therapy sooner. Many times, families begin family counseling because this obstacle got in the way earlier on and things at home became have now become so severe, they needed outside support.

When family counseling becomes a priority and is valued as something that can help strengthen family relationships, time on the schedule opens up and funds become available.

Begin Family Counseling at Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling: Sugar Land, TX

You can overcome the obstacles that may stand in your way of beginning family counseling. You don't need to endure the tension in the home. You can start strengthening the family relationships today. Let us help you restore the peace and harmony to your home.

At Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling in located in Sugar Land, TX, we specialize in family counseling. We are conveniently located off of US 90 and Dairy Ashford Road.

We also have our office in Katy. Katy Teen & Family Counseling in located in Katy, TX, where we also specialize in teen, young adult, couples, and family counseling. We are conveniently located off ofI-10 and the 99-feeder road in Katy, TX.

If you are ready to for the support of a family therapist in helping to restore connected family relationships, all you need to do is follow these 3 simple steps: