Family Therapy

As a family therapist, my job is to understand the problem that a family is seeking help with; and to leverage a family’s strengths and expertise about itself to address the problem.

A good therapist keeps many balls in the air - listening to each family member; and exploring layers of family history, social and cultural context, life stage issues and dynamics of relationship that influence the problem. The therapist supports shifts in behavior that alleviate distress while fostering new understanding. Part of honoring the trust that families place in the therapist is a willingness to be transparent and collaborative, including sharing elements of personal experience and social location (gender, race, class, sexual orientation, immigration experience, neurodivergence, etc.) that might impact the therapy as well as sharing thinking about interpretations and ‘choice points’ towards the aim of ‘getting it right.’

I believe strongly that the key to engagement with a young person starts with treating them as fully intelligent and worthy of respect. Children’s expression includes modes other than talking, and a good family therapist incorporates activity-based interaction. Teenagers are preparing for adulthood, and need to exercise independence and influence their environment. A good therapist helps a teen-ager and their family determine what the teenager can gain from participation. Family therapy utilizes both full family sessions and meetings with individuals and sub-groups. These often include parent sessions that incorporate couples work.

I have experience with a range of families including foster and adoptive families; LGBTQIA+ families; trans-racial families; neurodiverse families; families affected by trauma, physical or mental illness; addiction, or loss; and blended families included working with those who are parenting while no longer a couple. I am a parent myself. I have experience and success in building rapport with children of all ages, teens and young adults.

“I am thinking of a solidarity …constructed by therapists who refuse to draw a sharp distinction between their lives and the lives of others...who are constantly confronting the fact that if faced with the…troubles of others, they just might not be doing nearly as well themselves.”

— Michael White