How Family Counseling Can Reduce Conflict in Your Home Life

Whether your teen is a tween or an older teen, family counseling can help restore your household’s peace. Even if you have a good relationship with your teenager, pursuing counseling together can build on the strong foundation that’s already there.

Benefits of family counseling with your teen.

A few benefits of family counseling with your teen are that you learn how to become a better listener. If we’re honest with ourselves, many parents talk more than we listen.Simply learning to respond with curiosity is a skill that counseling can teach every parent.

Along with listening skills, parents can also learn how to ask open-ended questions. Because you know your teenager and have known them for a long time, you may be quick to finish a sentence, assume what their preferences are, and jump to conclusions unintentionally. These are all sneaky habits that can deteriorate a healthy relationship over time.

A counselor’s job isn’t to pinpoint everything you as a parent are doing “wrong.” In fact, a helpful family counseling session will include time for you and your teen to talk together, listen to one another, and try to come to a mutual understanding. Your counselor will likely equip you and your teen as well as other members of the household with tools to use at home.

Tools family counseling equips your family to use.

Some of the tools aren’t going to be new to you, and some will.

You’ll learn how to communicate better with each other, but you can also rest assured that one of the tools you’ll gain from family counseling is hearing how family dynamics impact your teen. Every family is different, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to counseling. But a well-trained family counselor will know how to ask questions that draw out:

• Complex emotions in the home that are contributing to unhealthy behaviors or attitudes.
• Unresolved conflict.
• Communication patterns that need to be transformed.
• Chaotic family structures that need additional support to function well.
• Unrealized or unrecognized expectations, either in you or in your teen or another family member.
  

  

When these topics come up, instead of fearing the discussion, you can welcome it. A counselor will always work to help your family function in a way that brings health and healing to everyone, parents and teens alike. It is helpful to have a guide walking with you and your family to talk through painful moments or hurtful comments that have left wounds in need of healing.

Another benefit of family counseling is that your counselor will know when the current style of counseling needs to shift. For example, if while in therapy, the counselor discovers your teen would benefit from one-on-one counseling or a specific diagnostic assessment, he or she can guide your teen through the next steps.

Getting started.

Some reasons you may seek family counseling for you and your teen include grief or a major life change, conflict patterns that aren’t getting any better, communication difficulties, and lifestyle or behavioral issues that need to be addressed within a family unit because of their impact on the family, such as addiction, mental health, or coping with a family tragedy.

At Keller Christian Counseling in Texas, our team can walk you through the process of what to expect at family counseling, how to find a counselor that fits your needs, and ways to talk to your family so they will understand why counseling is a restorative practice. Call us at Keller Christian Counseling today to find hope again for your family’s journey.