Family Therapy Colorado Springs
Have You And Your Family Reached A Breaking Point?
Do you and your family regularly clash or argue all the time? Are you unable to communicate your feelings clearly and effectively? Have you noticed any of the following negative patterns within the family unit:
Arguing or fighting?
Distance or withdrawal?
Neglect or abuse?
Perhaps the issues involve two or more individuals, or perhaps they extend to the entire family. Maybe you’re experiencing constant conflict that you’re unable to constructively resolve together. Or you may struggle to communicate or are currently not on speaking terms with one another.
Unresolved Issues Can Negatively Impact The Entire Family
Even if family issues don’t regularly come to the surface, they can still impact everyone in the family in subtle ways. You may find yourself filled with dread before coming home or interacting with certain family members. You may be engaging in escapism like food, TV, the internet, or even substances as a result of your toxic home environment.
There may be family members who feel unfairly criticized or others who feel neglected or ignored. The relationship dynamics within the family may range widely, where one relationship is close and loving, while another is distant and removed. One, some, or all of you may feel unseen, unheard, and/or misunderstood.
The good news is that it doesn’t need to continue this way, and your issues can be repaired. Family dynamics can be greatly repaired and improved with the help of therapy, which can help heal damage both at the individual level and within the family system as a whole.
Have any questions? Send us a message!
Most Families Experience Conflict At Some Point
Often, families are continuing generational dysfunctional behaviors, whether consciously or subconsciously. A lot of people are never taught how to communicate healthily, set boundaries, and deal with conflict. Because so many individuals are stuck with the behavioral patterns that they’ve known for all their lives, they often don’t understand how to address their problems.
However, counseling can prove effective at helping you break these dysfunctional patterns. According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), “after receiving treatment, almost 90 [percent] of clients report an improvement in their emotional health, and nearly two-thirds report an improvement in their overall physical health” (1).
Many Families Aren’t Well Equipped To Handle Stress Or Conflict
These family dynamics can be worsened when stress or adversity occurs because the family system is often unequipped to handle the crisis. When combined with some larger cultural factors, which discourage talking about feelings while encouraging escapism, families can spiral into increasingly negative patterns and away from real connections.
Counseling can give your family valuable outside mediation and support by helping you better understand each other’s needs while building the skills to increase connection and navigate conflict. An experienced and empathetic counselor can provide the missing link that bridges the gap, helping your family move forward together with greater unity and empathy.
(1) https://www.aamft.org/AAMFT/About_AAMFT/About_Marriage_and_Family_Therapists.aspx
Therapy Can Help Your Family Communicate and Bond
When you’re experiencing deep and intense emotions of frustration, anger, and resentment toward your family, it can be difficult to envision peace and harmony in your dynamic. But your family should be one of your most important resources for navigating the difficulties of life, and we can help you build more supportive relationships and dynamics between you.
We help families learn how to understand their feelings, communicate their needs, and set healthy boundaries, fostering curiosity and compassion within the family system. We want to get to the root of the issues rather than simply trying to change negative behavior.
An Open-Ended Approach To Family Therapy
We lean on a few different modalities in our family therapy work, including:
Bowenian Family Therapy – An influential form of therapy, Bowenian Family Therapy can help families improve communication and build insight into family dynamics.
Solution-Focused Family Therapy – An evidenced-based modality, Solution-Focused Therapy directs energy to solutions rather than problems.
Structural Family Therapy – A form of short-term therapy, SFT focuses on the structure of the family to improve relationships between its members.
At Alpine Family Counseling, we tend to be very open and curious in how we build our understanding of the family dynamic. We help families hold a sympathetic mirror up to themselves so they can see what they’re doing and whether it’s serving them or not. We work to develop solution-focused skills but also seek to understand the deeper relational systems and break negative patterns.
If you are committed to progress, we can help you and your family change for the better. We usually see the best results with all family members on board, but even a single family member can inspire positive change within the family unit. We’re ready to get started when you are.
You May Still Have Some Questions About Family Therapy…
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I’m concerned that my family members won’t want to attend therapy.
While we encourage the entire family to attend therapy together, we can still make significant progress with even one or two family members present. When even a single member of the family tries to change for the better, it can positively impact the whole family system. And when the entire family decides to change, the process can unfold even more quickly.
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I’m concerned that my therapist will take sides with my family members against me.
As therapists, it’s our role to ensure that all family members feel seen, heard, and understood. Through this process of understanding, there will be some self-examination involved, which can prove difficult. Our goal is to help support all family members as they go through this challenging reflection process and help them feel a valuable part of the family system amidst the healing.
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I’m worried that talking about our issues in therapy will only make things worse.
Our honest answer is that all aspects of growth and change are difficult to some extent but essential. We seek to balance gentleness and progress as much as possible as we enact noticeable changes in your family life. And we will always have your best interests at heart as we work together from the beginning through the end of the therapeutic process.
You And Your Family Can Build Harmony Together
If you and your family are struggling with conflict or disconnection, Colorado Springs family therapy with Alpine Family Counseling can help you better communicate, connect, and support each other.
Please call 719-413-6879 or visit our contact page to get started.
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Colorado Springs Family Therapy
In-Person & Online Therapy Sessions Available
7680 Goddard St Suite 120
Colorado Springs, CO 80920
719-413-6879