Family Therapy

Family Therapy

What is Family Therapy?

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy involving all family members. It focuses on each individual’s needs and issues while creating a safe and supportive environment for open family communication.

Family therapy helps to strengthen understanding, support, and relationships while helping to rebuild trust and reduce conflicts between family members. Additionally, family therapy helps individuals create healthier dynamics within their households. The goals can be varied depending on the situation and the family’s specific needs to improve family dynamics and contribute toward long-term recovery for everyone.

How Does Family Therapy at North Atlanta Behavioral Health Work?

At North Atlanta Behavioral Health, we believe that healing is a crucial part of mental health recovery. As such, we use family therapy as a primary treatment modality. We understand the complexity of mental health disorders, and supporting an individual through this can be difficult for those connected to them daily, from partners, spouses, and parents to siblings and extended friends and relatives.

Our team works with each family to address specific behavior patterns and issues while providing a structured yet compassionate environment for families to build a healthier dialogue going forward. Our experience and expertise in various evidence-based therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI), and family-centered framework, allow us to create tailored care and treatment programs to help individuals and their families on the road to recovery.

Throughout the process, our goal is to improve communication skills, rebuild trust, address resentments, and strengthen family bonds so everyone can heal together.

Mental Health Disorders Affect the Entire Family

North Atlanta Behavioral Health believes that mental health disorders affect the entire family. It can affect those around them as well as multiple generations when there is a family history of mental health disorders.

To address this, our goal is to bring all members together as part of the therapeutic process, with each session tailored exclusively to individual and family needs and dynamics. We assess how problematic behaviors have impacted relationships, offer guidance on how healing can start, and provide practical tools and skills to allow everyone to move forward.

Benefits of Family Therapy in Mental Health Treatment

Our goal is to provide family members with the opportunity to express their feelings and emotions in a safe space and an understanding atmosphere while providing the following benefits:

• Improved Communications: Family therapy offers an opportunity for family members to learn how to communicate effectively with each other and
  understand the underlying issues that are causing problems within the family.
• Establishing Trust: A safe space is created where family members can openly express their feelings and emotions without fear of criticism or judgment. This creates an opportunity for everyone to establish trust and heal the damage caused by mental health disorders.
• Reconnecting Families: Mental health disorders often cause quite a bit of
  strain on relationships within families. Through family therapy sessions,
  connections are rebuilt so the entire family can begin the healing process with a deeper understanding of mental health and its impact on the family unit.
• Increased Support Network: Family therapy provides access to other support networks, like family support groups, to allow participants to share their experiences.
• Establishing Boundaries: Family therapy helps family members establish and maintain healthy boundaries with each other.
• Accountability: Family therapy allows participants to help each other with
  accountability and provides a safe space to discuss any differences or problems
  that come up during the process.

Other Services for Family Members

North Atlanta Behavioral Health provides other services for family members as part of a family-focused treatment plan. Participants can take advantage of psychoeducation and process groups, a form of group therapy for family members. In this setting, they can hear stories from other families in similar situations, learn more about what to expect during mental health treatment, and learn how having a peer support system from other families can be beneficial. These services are available for family members every Tuesday.

Addiction and Mental Health Resources for Family and Friends

Another valuable service we off family and friends is access to addiction and mental health resources. These resources further support the recovery process and help the family learn more about mental health disorders, what they can do to help without enabling, and how to encourage their loved one to start rehab.