Family can be wonderful, but it can also be complex. When things are going well, it is easy to go through life together, but sometimes things don’t go well. Sometimes families face challenges, changes, or even trauma. When this happens, family counseling in Mansfield, Texas can help.
At Mansfield Christian Counseling in Texas, we believe that every family can find support. Whether you are struggling with communication or values, or you are facing something significant like a medical diagnosis, addiction, or abuse, family counseling can offer support and tools to help your family navigate whatever you are facing.
Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(469) 333-6163
Family counseling is a form of psychotherapy focused on the whole family. While some types of counseling focus on individuals or couples, family counseling considers the entire family. Often, family counseling can help with conflict and communication issues as the family unit works through whatever challenges they are facing.
The family unit is a broad term that can represent different things. Often, it involves a parent or parents and their children. Sometimes it is the whole family, and at other times it is part of the family. Sometimes it is within one household, and at other times it is there to support a change in the family to include blended families. There are no rules for who is involved, other than being part of what you consider a family.
A trained, licensed therapist performs the counseling. This could be a psychologist, clinical social worker, or licensed family therapist. Experience working with families, including children in your child’s age group, is helpful.
Family counseling provides space for a family to find support from a trained neutral person to work through the family’s struggles. Typically, the family comes to sessions together and works with a therapist as a group to uncover a healthier approach to communicating and resolving issues that are present.
The therapist does not focus on the needs of one individual in the family. Instead, they help each member of the family. The therapist will listen, guide, and offer strategies that support each person involved. Family counseling allows everyone in the family opportunity to be recognized and contribute to finding solutions to make the family stronger.
Family counseling is for all kinds of families. It is not specific to a father, mother, and children, although that may be the case. Instead, the family unit can be the people you consider family and with whom you are in a close relationship.
Some examples include:
- Nuclear family
- Part of a nuclear family
- Siblings
- Extended family that is close
- Blended family
- Adoptive families
- Birth families
The important thing is that they are people who are in a relationship as a family unit.
Some families come to counseling with a specific issue in mind, while others come for more general reasons. Whether there is a singular catalyst for pursuing counseling or not, your counselor will support your family in whatever they need to discuss. Typically, these would be issues that affect the family in some way.
Possible topics for family counseling include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Conflicts or disagreements between family members
- Death or loss of a family member or close friend
- Financial issues that impact the family such as bankruptcy or moving
- Family responsibilities or expectations
- Addictions to drugs, alcohol, pornography, technology, or more
- Mental health concerns within the family
- Trauma or traumatic events
- Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
- Infidelity and its impact on the family
- Behavior concerns
- Separation or divorce
- Custody and visitation
- Blended family changes
- Adoption, birth families, foster care
- Grief
- Prolonged illness of a family member
- Difficulty in school
- Eating disorders
- Self-harm
- Suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts
- Sibling conflict
- Extended family relationships
- Special needs and the impact on the family
- Sexuality, sexual preferences, and sexual behavior
- Anger and aggressive behavior
Any topic your family is facing can be discussed in family therapy. If a therapist thinks there is something that requires individual support, they may recommend individual therapy for a certain family member. Marriage therapy is another option to give parents a space to address marriage-specific issues without the children present.
A counselor can guide the family to whatever services will best help them understand, process, and work through concerns to get help and support.
The counseling for your family will be specific to your family’s needs.
During family counseling, the family comes together with the therapist to talk about the issues they are having and work toward resolution or skills to help them move forward.
Sessions typically take place in the therapist’s office. This is a space that is private and comfortable for the family. This can include age-appropriate activities, games, and toys to help children express their thoughts. While the space may be new to the family, at Mansfield Christian Counseling, the counselors in our office work to make sure the space is big enough for the family and offers a comfortable environment.
Weekly sessions are the most common, with each session lasting fifty minutes to one hour. The family and therapist will work together to consider how many sessions are appropriate. This may be a few sessions, or it may be a longer season to meet your family’s needs.
Your counselor will work with you and each member of your family to improve communication, address specific struggles, celebrate strengths, build up weaknesses, and develop skills to foster healthy family life.
There are times when not everyone in the family wants to pursue counseling. If someone in your family is resistant to the idea, you can simply start counseling without them. Your counselor can help you with ideas for how to handle the situation.
Family counseling is flexible to meet the needs of your family, even as they change over time. This means allowing different personalities and opinions to come together. Everyone who wants to participate is welcome. Having one member who does not want to participate does not need to prevent the rest of the family from seeking support.
In a situation where you are the only one who wants to pursue counseling, it may be beneficial to start with individual counseling. When you do this, your counselor can help you address some of the issues you are facing, as well as provide ideas for how to encourage your family to try family sessions.
You can learn more about Mansfield Christian Counseling, our services, and our counselors by exploring our site. This will help you understand who we are and what we offer your family.
The next step is to talk about it with your family. This may mean talking to the adults first and then telling the kids, or it could mean having a whole family discussion. Do what you think will work best for your family with their specific needs.
It is important to remember that the way you talk about counseling matters. You can talk about counseling as a tool or strategy that can help your family. Be mindful for yourself and your family that counseling is not a magic solution that will fix everything. It can, however, help with issues affecting your family.
Mansfield Christian Counseling wants to make this journey easy and comfortable for you and your family. You can connect with us on our website or by phone and someone from our office will be happy to help. We can connect you with a therapist that will be the best fit for your family’s specific needs, meets your schedule requirements, and can offer faith-filled support.
Family counseling doesn’t need to be complicated or scary. Simply start by reaching out today. We are here to help you walk through whatever you are facing in your family.
Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(469) 333-6163
