By Dr. Amanda Craig, LMFT

No type of therapy can be more vulnerable, intense, or rewarding than family therapy! At the same time, family therapy is often the most misunderstood and the most resisted type of therapy.

In many cases, the road to the first session is a long and perilous one, fraught with shame, guilt, anger, and self-condemnation. Those brave enough to walk through the therapists’ doors had often overcome ingrained misgivings, judgements, prejudices, shame, or embarrassment.

By Dr. Amanda Craig, LMFT

The best and worst advancement of modern society, ‘the screen’… It allows us to work faster, to be more productive, think bigger, and communicate instantly while having dinner, driving a car, and spending time with others. No longer able to leave the office behind at the end of the day, we are always ‘on’.

By Abby Crews, LMFT

When confronted with a temper tantrum in the produce isle or a teenager’s sass at a family function, few (very few!) are likely to think “Yay! Here’s a teaching moment!” Most just try to get through the situation with minimal losses and get back to the hustle and bustle of life.

By Baine Beckerich, MA, LMFT

The transition back to school is hard on everyone. As summer comes to an end both parents and kids alike are forced to get back into the structured school schedule and busy long weeks.

For many families this change brings about a host of problems that lead to conflict not just between parents and kids, but couples as well.
 

By Sarah Trance, MS, LMFT

When you are a parent, worry is a given. Where are they?  How are they?  How do I handle this? Is this normal? Am I doing a good job? 

These questions are ever-present whether we are new parents or seasoned vets. They often come with feelings of anxiousness or uncertainty, which generally subside when we get validation and reassurance from a partner, friend, or even internet.

But, what if they don't?

By Amanda Craig, PhD, LMFT

I’m waiting for my son to get home from school.  It’s a beautiful day and I know he is going to want to play soccer, then football, and then play hockey with lacrosse sticks and a soccer ball.  Brutally honest, I am thinking about the couple of e-mails I would like to send and loose ends I’d like to wrap up before the end of business day.

Divorces are difficult under any circumstances, but they can be especially painful and challenging when there are children involved. The transition usually takes over a year and requires for all family members to find their new ‘normal’. 
 
For parents, figuring out how to ensure that the kids are secure and least impacted during the transition is usually a major source of anxiety and fear.

Revised

Oh, the Holidays! We have a love-hate relationship with them. We look forward to them all year only to begin complaining about the stress, the over-the-top schedule, pants busting at the seams, and budget chocking on the dust of runaway spending.
 
We yearn for the perfection of holidays of our childhood, when Christmas (or Hanukkah or Festivus) was about BEING, having fun, family, and care-free wonder of what’s next. There was room for boundless joy, surprise, awe, tradition AND newness, doing AND being. Surely it wasn’t perfect (remember the time when you got your holiday outfit dirty before you even left the house and got the full doze of Mom’s wrath?), but it was to us.