Family Therapy
“There are no individuals in the world, only fragments of families”
- Carl Whitaker
Family Therapy is unique in that it views each family as a whole and focuses on the interactions and dynamics of the relationships within that family system. Anything from health, illness, loss, trauma, and personal experiences are perceived in the context of relationships.
Problems that individuals and families present in therapy are not considered in isolation. They are understood historically and contextually within the relationships that are informing those problems.
Family Therapy can help you better understand your own family system and your role within your family. Implementing change within your family is easier when you know where you stand, and can see how patterns and behaviors may have been recreated within families over time. It may help you understand better why you act, feel and operate in a way that makes sense given your family background and your relationship and interactions with others. This understanding may guide you in making the changes you are seeking within your family and significant relationships.
Every family experience challenging times. These difficulties can range from not knowing how to communicate directly or effectively with family members, to life cycle changes, parenting differences, separation, divorce, establishing a remarried family, becoming a stepparent, and co-parenting. Grief and loss, depression, anxiety, addiction, and financial difficulties can make family life overwhelming, and perhaps even unbearable at times. Feelings of anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment, hopelessness, disconnect, and resentment are common when families are in distress.
Family Therapy can be helpful for families to hear each person’s perspective and experiences in navigating through the family problem. As an experienced family therapist, I can guide you through the process of determining the needs of your family, how the problem is retained within the family, and how to implement the appropriate changes that work best for you and your family. I am committed and passionate about my work with families. My collaborative and solution-oriented approach allows me to recognize and utilize the strengths and resources families present in therapy to help you achieve your goals.
“A dysfunctional family is any family with more than one person in it.”
- Mary Karr
TEENAGERS {CHILDREN 13 TO 18}
To be a teenager in today’s world can be exciting and exhilarating but also overwhelming and scary. With so much access to social media through the Internet, TV, cell phones, and texting, teenagers are more exposed than ever. With hormonal changes, peer pressure, complex family dynamics, parental and school demands, it is easy (sometimes unavoidable) for adolescents to feel flooded with emotions. Whether a teenager is struggling at school, in the middle of their parent’s divorce, adjusting to a remarried family, or dealing with bullying and difficult relationships at school, it can be difficult for teenagers to contain and grasp all the different emotions they feel and find effective coping skills. Turning inward and stewing in their challenges alone is often the more natural and common, if potentially destructive, solution for adolescents. However, many times this approach results in teenagers feeling overwhelmed, helpless, afraid, and alone.
Therapy can be beneficial for adolescents looking to find a safe space to talk about their feelings, experiences and difficulties with a professional who is not directly related to, or conflicted by, their family and friends.
A seasoned professional can validate and normalize a teenagers’ experience and help guide them to develop more effective communication skills with peers and family members. Further, therapy can create a safe space for these young adults to explore new and undiscovered parts about themselves, voicing these hidden strengths and energies by getting in touch with their needs, goals, and aspirations.
As a result, therapy can show positive changes in a teenagers’ confidence and self-esteem, something most adolescents have a difficult time dealing with as they begin to mature and individuate.
As a practiced family therapist that benefited from my experience working with teenagers throughout both the Broward and Miami-Dade County school systems, I am equipped and sensitive to understanding the unique challenges teenagers face. My approach is interactional, strengths-based, and non-threatening. As a family therapist I look to understand the context and relationships in teenager’s lives that are important to them and how those relationships inform their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Family dynamics can be difficult, and I often incorporate family members in my work with teenagers to address relational issues, family interactions, communication difficulties and destructive patterns that keep families “stuck”. I ask parents to respect their teenagers’ privacy in individual sessions as much as possible. Although parents have the right to know about the content and process of their child’s therapy, it can delay or stall a teenager’s progress if a parent gets overinvolved.
It takes a trusted and safe environment for a teenager to feel comfortable enough to open up and talk freely about their feelings, challenges and fears. Therapy is most effective with teenagers when parents respectfully give teenagers space to explore their own challenges while being supportive and engaged in the process of therapy.
There are three occasions where I as the therapist would have to breach confidentiality in my work with a teenager: the facts suggest the teenager is at risk to self-harm, the teenager expresses homicidal intention and/or a plan to hurt someone else, or when abuse is reported or suspected.
Dr. Olivia only works with teenagers who are willing and/or initiate the prospect of therapy.
If otherwise, please see the COACHING FOR PARENTS program I offer. This type of therapy may be more suitable for some parents.