Family Counseling Near Me -- Learn How Families Can Benefit From Therapy Online
Updated December 09, 2019
Introduction
If you and members of your family have been at odds lately, you may feel like it's time to seek family counseling. In your search, you may find yourself online searching for family counseling services, or family counseling services near me. The good news is - you're not alone. Many families have breakdowns in communication that can lead to festering family issues.
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In this article, we help you find resources for family counseling services, including marriage and family counseling services, child and family counseling services, and free family counseling services for families in crisis. Let's start with a definition of family counseling
Family Counseling - The Basics
Family counseling (or psychotherapy) is designed to help families who are in crisis reduce family conflicts and create better outcomes. As we learned in the study of attachment styles, caregiver, and family relationships are critical to the development of healthy coping styles.
Family therapists help families to deal with everyday challenges and also help families in times of distress related to events such as mental illness within the family, death or incarceration of an immediate family member, marriage, and other family life issues that contribute to stress and family arguments. Family counseling is an extension of individual counseling that provides professional advice and coping strategies for families.
Where To Find Free Family Counseling
Most people start with a Google search for "family counseling near me" to find free family counseling resources nearby. Free family counseling services are often offered by local churches, schools, and community organizations like local community action agencies. Finding free family counseling services isn't always easy, but it's worth it.
There are also options for getting free family counseling services online. Online counseling sessions work like offline sessions. The only real difference is that you and your counselor or therapists aren't in the same room. Options for taking part in online therapy are becoming more popular than ever as individuals and families realize the value of having improved communication skills leads to a better quality of mental health.
Free online family counseling options can help families get to the bottom of the issues that families are having. In many cases, free counseling sessions uncover deeper issues that are related to undiagnosed mental health disorders.
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With over 43 million Americans annually reporting issues with mental health, the fact that free counseling sessions may reveal underlying mental health issues - is no surprise. The most common mental health disorders for people in the United States are Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If you or a member of your family is struggling with any of these issues, this can make family communications tense and confusing.
Family Counseling Services Online
Today's therapy providers are taking note of the importance of maintaining good mental health and have responded with affordable and subscription-based therapy options online. Leading therapy platforms like BetterHelp.com to provide individuals and families with access to a pool of thousands of certified therapists as an alternative to trying to pay for expensive in-office therapy appointments - or even worse, getting no therapy at all.
Sessions with a family counselor online are conducted via face-to-face video chat, SMS messaging, secure chat rooms, and audio or telephone therapy. Your therapist will meet with you and your family members using one of the methods above at your designated appointment time. Using therapy platforms like BetterHelp doesn't require that family members are in the same location. Family members can join or be invited to a therapy session from wherever they are - as long as they have a solid internet connection.
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Families find value in having a professional third-party opinion that can help them identify and resolve family dramas that they haven't been able to resolve on their own. Many families learn in therapy that they have never learned how to communicate with the other members of their family properly. Miscommunication is the cause of many family communication breakdowns. When you take part in online therapy, your therapist helps you learn how to communicate and respond to real-life family issues that may be keeping your family apart.
Marriage and Family Counseling
This relationship-based form of counseling normally focuses on the primary heads of a household - husband, wife, etc. and how they relate to themselves and other members of their family. Marriage and family counseling can be conducted by a licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) or other mental health professionals who specialize in counseling and support services for families.
When people take part in marriage counseling sessions, they often speak to their therapists about issues that are plaguing the marriage that is leading to marital discord and in some cases even divorce. Marriage and family counseling helps couples and families to hear what the other person is saying from an unbiased perspective. The counselor has no stake in the family outcome either way which makes it easier to make a clear assessment of the situation.
This relationship-based form of counseling normally focuses on the primary heads of a household - husband, wife, etc. and how they relate to themselves and other members of their family. Marriage and family counseling can be conducted by a licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) or other mental health professionals who specialize in counseling and support services for families.
Child And Family Counseling
When children experience emotional issues and turmoil in their young lives, it can affect them and also their families. In cases where children and families are unable to resolve their emotional issues on their own, counseling is often recommended. Child counselors specialize in providing therapeutic solutions for children suffering from issues with chronic mental health.
Children can also suffer from symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These issues can develop in children as a result of genetics or circumstances in their environment that have caused lasting trauma. Children process trauma differently than adults, and the effects can last a lifetime if left untreated. The earlier a child who has been traumatized can get treatment - the less likely it is that chronic-mental illness can have long-term effects.
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Child and family counselors specialize in providing trauma-informed therapy and treatments that involve the immediate members of the family. Child therapy specialists facilitate therapy sessions with the child and caregivers to help families resolve issues and develop behavior plans that help the child and family to create a harmonious environment while dealing with family issues.
How Mental Health Affects Families
When one or more members of a family are affected by the symptoms of chronic mental illness, this can cause issues within the family dynamic without professional intervention. Families may not understand or recognize the symptoms of mental health in their relatives and mistake symptomatic behavior for apathy or disinterest in the family dynamic. This is especially true in families with undiagnosed mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
When a member of the family has mental health challenges, it is important to make sure they get proper treatment and have family support. The person suffering from mental health issues has to commit to follow all prescribed therapy plans and take prescribed medications to help mitigate the symptoms of mental illness.
Benefits Of Family Counseling
When families take part in counseling, family members learn how to recognize the symptoms of mental illness in themselves and other family members. Family therapists teach families how to have better communication so they can resolve family issues when they're small. Learning how to communicate better prevents issues that would escalate in the past from turning into long, drawn-out family dramas that can often result.
When families come together, they can help keep one another on track towards achieving individual and family goals. One of the best takeaways from family counseling and therapy is that families learn to work together as a team - instead of working against each other. Online counselors can provide group therapy sessions for distributed families regardless of their location. Platforms like BetterHelp make it easy for families to sync schedules and meet online virtually to attend their family counseling sessions.
Family counseling sessions are conducted via secure chat rooms, SMS messaging, face-to-face video sessions and audio. Audio options include logging in to therapy platforms for audio-only sessions or joining virtual conference calls to connect by phone.
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Final Thoughts
There is help for families who are in crisis or struggling with chronic symptoms of mental illness. Taking part in family therapy online is an easy and affordable way for individuals and families to get help with their individual and shared challenges. When you search for family counseling near me, you have the option of taking part in traditional in-office therapy sessions (where available.)
Families who choose online therapy gain access to thousands of board-certified and licensed therapists that are skilled in the art of family therapy. These trained providers can help broken families to pick up their pieces and begin anew with better communication and coping skills. Today's online therapists are highly trained experts that provide an affordable means for helping people improve the quality of their lives. If you're ready to improve the quality of your family's life - start by reaching out to a BetterHelp.com family therapist today.
