“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is a saying which is often used to describe the importance of understanding the family when treating clients in therapy.  Sometimes an issue, behavior, or concern has great significance in context of the family setting.  Said another way, the family pattern impacts the presence and frequency of certain negative or dysfunctional behaviors in one or some of its members.  This is especially true in many matters involving children and adolescents.  In these situations, family counseling may be the preferred unit of treatment.   

Family counseling generally requires that the whole family meets for treatment.  Sometimes, if issues exist between two members of a family system, there may be a few meetings between those two individuals.  The goal of family counseling is to discover the role of a dysfunctional behavior in a family system, reduce conflict and negative communication patterns, and to improve behavior and mental health concerns by bolstering the functionality and communication of the family. 
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Here are some of the issues which are well served by Family Counseling:

• Blended Families
• Family Based Therapy for Eating Disorders
• Positive Parenting and Discipline
• Families Coping with Mental Illness and prescribed Medication
• Trauma, Crisis, Depression, Self - Harm, and Suicide
• Launching to College
• Family Adjustments, Grief, and Transitions
• Communication and Functional Relating in the Family
• Social Media and Bullying Issues
• Failure to Launch
• Adolescent Entitlement
• Family Adaptation to the COVID-19 stressors