Christian family counseling sessions are seen as restorative for many reasons by enabling family members to navigate unresolved individual conflicts or a single problem that faces the whole family.
People of all ages are confronted with situations that cause stress, and these often result in problems in daily family life. Our goal as counselors is to help each member of your family overcome these events for a more joyful, stronger family life.
Richardson Christian Counseling offers professional help with faith-based values. Our family counselors seek to provide peace and restoration and witness the maturing and improvement of relationships.
Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(469) 943-2626
Understanding the network of relationships and atmosphere within a family is a key part of Christian family counseling in Richardson, Texas. It will often involve the whole family meeting together at each session. By using clinical skills, assessments, and talk therapy, the counselor equips the family to function in a way that brings glory to God.
Reasons Families Need Counseling
There are a fairly wide variety of reasons families choose to benefit from counseling. Some common issues addressed in family therapy at Richardson Christian Counseling in Texas include:
- Frequent arguments between siblings, or sibling rivalry that unravels family peace
- Complex situations of blended families
- One child’s behavior affects the other family members
- Substance abuse or mental disorders affect one or more members of the family
- Parents struggle to harmonize their parenting styles with a detrimental effect on their children
- There is a difficult transition for the family to process, like moving
A trained Christian counselor is skilled in recognizing these issues and helping families work through them to the benefit of each family member.
A family unit is made up of individuals, each vulnerable to their own stresses in life. The family unit is affected by this strain. This is especially noticeable when members suffer from mental illness. They may have had to deal with challenges from outside their family or from those that arise inside, such as divorce. There are so many reasons families decide to nurture and grow their relationships with one another, and Christian family counseling can help.
Goal of Family Counseling
Family relationships are woven together over time yet can also unravel. Counseling tightens the weave among each family member. While increased unity may not result in perfect alignment, it will help to create a more peaceful and nurturing home environment.
Each counselor incorporates their own style in counseling. The counselor may identify the strengths and weaknesses of each family member or ask for assessments to be done between sessions. Similarly, the goal of counseling is that of openness and sharing so a solution can be woven into the family tapestry around each member of the family unit. Each person’s point of view is used to construct a solution that heals hurt, removes barriers to progress, and grows robust bonds of trust and love between family members.
The surge of emotions you and your family feel when trying to work through family problems is a challenging situation for resolving issues. By asking for the assistance of an experienced and professionally trained counselor in Richardson, Texas, your family will be helped to work through a stormy time or topic. A mediator offering unbiased direction founded on biblical principles can introduce a lasting peace into your family.
During the discussions your counselor will encourage each member of the family to openly share hopes and dreams as well as hurts and fears. The counselor will work to clear lines of communication and understanding between every family member.
As your family is guided on how to rebuild trust and emotional ties, each member will understand how these ties have been broken down, and how to ensure they stay strong in the future. The counselor will gently nurture your family to bond through healing and hope.
An in-person counseling session will take between 45 minutes to an hour each time. The initial assessment will start in the first session, when the counselor is able to understand more about the family and decide how to progress.
Some sessions will have only the children or parents present. Each counselor has their own preferences to ensure a fruitful time. Parents and older children will be required to complete any paperwork in good time before the session so that the counselor can familiarize themselves with your family.
Children will find it helpful for parents to have already explained the concept of counseling and what to expect in the upcoming session. Be sure to affirm the idea that honesty is important during the counseling sessions. As parents vary in parenting styles, so counselors have their own style, which can vary greatly. This variety offers your family the opportunity to enjoy learning from someone who is tuned into your dynamic.
Parents’ Relationship
The dynamic between spouses sets the tone for the family. Continuous fighting between parents erodes the foundation of their family. A counselor will help you understand the effects of different parenting styles on a child, how past hurt impacts your current relationship, and more so that you are equipped to set a better pattern for your children’s future. You are affected by your family tree, and how you impact the generations coming after you is worth serious consideration.
Parent-Child Relationships
The unrelenting pressure many parents feel reverberate in children. Performance pressures relating to a child’s academic or social life often require parents to provide support and love despite often not being able to understand their child. A child who feels unloved or unsupported is far more vulnerable to greater problems. A qualified counselor can show how behavior patterns in your family may inhibit relationships between children and parents. The safe counseling environment will give the family unit an opportunity to work through these issues together.
Extended Family Relationships
The assistance of a family counselor is sometimes required to get to the bottom of conflict between your immediate family and extended family of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. The primary relationships in a nuclear family can be disrupted by unhealthy extended family relationships. Having an impartial professional provide biblically based guidance can often be the key to developing a healthy approach to relationships between extended family members.
Grief
Parents and children are bound together, so if one of them passes away, each member grieves, even over a family pet. Parents are required to handle their own grief while supporting and caring for their children who are often confused. Family counseling for grief can support parents and provide a better understanding of the situation to children. A counselor is equipped to teach tools and practices for handling grief as the family journeys forward together.
Health Problems
A family member’s ill health, especially experienced over a long period of time, can change how family members relate to each other. A shocking event, chronic condition, or physical or mental disability is often difficult to process, so sorting out feelings and coming to understand what is most important is often very helpful. During a counseling session the family unit can ask questions and talk through doubts or insecurities relating to any topic without fear of judgment. The counselor will work with the whole family to move closer to acceptance, improve family interactions, heal from hurts, and find rest.
Addictions
If an addiction has control over one member of the famil, it hurts and affects every other member too. It is often difficult to observe the true nature of this hurt or how each family member interacts with the addict. During the session hard questions may arise, such how family members are contributing to the problems in the family and how the addict can be held accountable for his or her actions.
Addictions come in many forms including substance abuse, food addiction, sex or porn addiction, and gambling. However intimidating these may feel, counseling will bring hope and each family member will better understand how to break dysfunctional relationship patterns.
If you think Christian family counseling would be a good solution for your family, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today for more information. We would love to talk with you about how a Christian family counselor can help your family heal and thrive.
Get connected with a Christian Counselor
Please contact our reception team at
(469) 943-2626
