Family Therapy
Family Therapy
When One Person Is Struggling, the Whole Family Can Feel It
Families are interconnected. When one family member is struggling—with ADHD, a learning difference, OCD, serious illness, loss, or a major life transition—the effects are often felt throughout the family.
Stress can change the way family members communicate, respond to one another, and manage everyday responsibilities. Family therapy can provide a place to better understand what's happening, strengthen communication, and develop more effective ways of coping together.
My Approach
My approach to family therapy is grounded in my training in couples and family systems therapy at the Ackerman Institute for the Family. Rather than viewing one person as “the problem,” we look at how family members affect and respond to one another and what changes may help the family function more effectively.
Depending on the concern, I may work with the whole family or with different combinations of family members. At times, it may be most helpful to work with parents together, siblings, or a parent and child or adult child. Who participates is determined by the needs of the family and the issues we're addressing.
The goal isn't to assign blame. It's to help family members better understand one another, identify what isn't working, and develop more effective ways of communicating, responding, and supporting one another.
ADHD & Learning Differences
When ADHD or learning differences affect a child or young adult, the impact is often felt throughout the family. Parents may find themselves caught between wanting to be supportive and feeling frustrated by chronic difficulties with organization, schoolwork, responsibilities, or follow-through.
I help families better understand these challenges, develop more effective communication and behavioral strategies, and create greater consistency at home. When school issues are part of the picture, I can also help parents think through ways to advocate for their child and collaborate more effectively with teachers and other educational supports.
OCD & Family Accommodation
When someone in a family has OCD, family members understandably want to reduce that person's distress. Without realizing it, however, they may become involved in providing repeated reassurance, participating in rituals, helping the person avoid feared situations, or changing family routines around the OCD.
These responses—known as family accommodation—may provide relief in the moment while unintentionally reinforcing OCD over time.
Drawing on my training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), I can help families recognize accommodation and learn ways to remain supportive and empathic without participating in behaviors that may maintain the OCD.
Serious Illness & the Family
Serious illness affects far more than the person who is ill. Partners, children, parents, siblings, and other family members may all be coping with fear and uncertainty while adjusting to changing roles, caregiving responsibilities, difficult decisions, and grief.
My work as a Family Therapist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center gave me valuable experience working with and learning from families coping with cancer and serious illness in an adult family member. My work there included family-focused approaches designed to strengthen communication, coping, connection, and the family's existing resources during extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
I bring that experience to helping families navigate serious illness with greater understanding of one another while making room for the very different ways individual family members may cope.
Other Reasons Families Seek Therapy
Families may also benefit from therapy when facing:
Major life transitions
Grief and loss
Disability or changing family roles
Parent-child or adult child-parent conflict
Sibling difficulties
Parenting challenges
Communication difficulties
Caregiving stress
Relationship changes and family conflict
Building on Your Family's Strengths
Families often come to therapy focused understandably on what's going wrong. But every family also brings strengths, resources, relationships, and ways of coping that can become part of the solution.
My role is to help your family understand where you're getting stuck, build on what is already working, and develop more effective ways of navigating the challenges you're facing together.
Ready to Get Started?
If your family is struggling with a difficult situation or finding it hard to move forward together, I'd be happy to speak with you about whether family therapy may be helpful.
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation to learn more.
Contact Karen:
Phone: 212-734-4302