What is Child and Family Counseling? Regardless of the family structure, the healing comes from creating a sense of security, protection, and comfort for each family member, ensuring each family member has a positive sense of self and the ability to effectively regulate their emotions. This is the objective of child and family counseling. What is Our Counseling Approach to Family Therapy? Emotionally-Focused Therapy – Child and Family Counseling. What Are Some Reasons to Seek Child and Family Counseling? Depending on the age of the children and the family structure, family members might seek family counseling for a wide variety of reasons: Prenatal and Postnatal counseling, Sleep issues, Feeding issues, Attachment and bonding, Developmental delays, Behavior problems, Frequent temper tantrums, Learning or attention problems, Social withdrawal or isolation , Difficulty regulating moods, Intense feelings, Regular worry and anxiety, Bereavement issues, Exposure to traumatic event Building self-regulation, coping strategies and problem solving skills, Parenting, Communication problems, High conflict families., Co-parenting, Blended families Dealing with separation or divorce. We utilize Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) – an evidence-based counseling approach that has been validated in clinical trials as being highly effective for individual, couples, and family counseling. Our approach is somatic (body-oriented) and skill-based. New skills and healthy patterns of functioning will be developed and yours to use for the rest of your life. Children are highly influenced by their environment and their caregivers. The essential condition for healthy development is the child’s relationship with nurturing adults. For this reason, we cannot work with kids in isolation. The child only spends an hour a week with a therapist, and much more time at home or school. For most effective and long-lasting results, the whole family needs to be involved in the healing process. The most efficient way to resolve relationship issues within a family is often to have all of the family members in the room or online with the therapist at the same time. The counselor will often work with some or all family members individually, then bring them together to discuss important issues that involve the whole family. Sometimes parents bring a child to counseling because of the behavioral or emotional concern but it turns out that the parent actually has to do some individual counseling and healing themselves in order to most effectively support their child. Sometimes Couples Counseling is the best thing the parents can do to help their child. As the parents heal themselves and their relationship, the children’s perceived problems will often dissipate and never come back. In most cases children naturally thrive when their parents are balanced, grounded, and happy. Children can also be supported individually by engaging in Play Therapy, which helps them express and process their emotions in an age-appropriate way. Goals of Emotionally-Focused Therapy with Families: Emotionally-Focused Therapy with Families -, California Emotionally Focused Therapy with families seeks to restore connection and promote resilience in family relationships. Similarly, to Emotionally-Focused Therapy with couples, we will be looking at attachment styles, working on correcting any negative family interaction patterns, repairing any misunderstandings and broken emotional bonds. We will be using resources that develop flexibility and closeness necessary for families to promote individual growth and meaningful relationships across generations. The focus is on building connections, security, trust, responsiveness, and effective communication even in the face of challenges. For parents of young children this includes understanding the child or adolescent’s behavior in terms of attachment needs or fears and work with parents on the building of a coherent parenting team. If you want to find out more about how Wings of the Future, NFP can assist you and your family, contact us today.