Family Systems

I've worked with families for the past 11 years and have experience with foster/adoptive, racial minority and LGBTQ families, adult children and families experiencing major life transitions.

No matter where we come from, all family systems are complex. Our original families play a big part in our current families. Or maybe we are having a hard time creating the partnership or family we want now because of what we have been through in life. Exploring the historical components that impact our relationships is key to increasing our healthy functioning.

We all exist within a group, a family, or a community! The family system lens provides us with a visual map of our emotions, communication interaction patterns, and directions. We will see clearly where the boundaries need to be rebuilt, where the wall needs to be brought down a little bit, and where it needs to be renovated and made more cozy!

My degree from LIOS/Saybrook University includes a focus in Systems Therapy. The Family Systems we are exposed to during our development informs how we look at the world, our sense of ourselves, and how the two interact. Our Family System especially informs our behavior, and learning more about how that works, and how to change our interactions with and perspectives on our family unit helps lead to change in our own behavior.

In my work with families experiencing relational conflict, my clients find that employing an approach rooted in attachment theory allows me to help them learn about the communication patterns within the family unit. Through this work, members of the family typically report that they understand where their own communication patterns come from, how their family system operates as a whole, and their role in improving communication within that system.

In my work with families experiencing relational conflict, my clients find that employing an approach rooted in attachment theory allows me to help them learn about the communication patterns within the family unit. Through this work, members of the family typically report that they understand where their own communication patterns come from, how their family system operates as a whole, and their role in improving communication within that system.

Family Systems are a multigenerational/historical approach to understanding emotional and behavioral disorders. Rooted in the notion that the self needs to be differentiated from the family system with clarity, insight, and evaluation of the transmission processes one can have a reduction in anxiety, depression, and symptoms related to family processes and can become highly individualized engaging in the extended families system.

Whenever I work with a child or teen, I work with the parents as well. Parenting is so hard and we can all use a little support on learning new ways to support our kids and ensure we have strong connections with them.

It can be incredibly empowering and liberating to learn about how your family's structure, patterns, and experiences (even through the generations!) are impacting the way you move through the world and your current position.

A guy goes to a therapist and says, "please help me, my brother thinks he's a chicken". The therapist says, "well, did you try telling him he's a human?" The guy says, "I would but we need the eggs." (Woody Allen)

We explore the patterns and structures present within the family that impact relational patterns that can lead to individual behavioral and emotional struggles, as well as communication challenges. We work to build healthier patterns of interaction, and reinforce healthy structure within the family to improve the function of both the individuals and family as a whole.

I specialize in family systems therapy, exploring how family dynamics, roles, and communication patterns shape individual behaviors and relationships. By addressing these interconnected systems, we work to resolve conflicts, enhance understanding, and strengthen bonds. This collaborative approach empowers families to create healthier interactions, promoting growth, harmony, and well-being for every member.

I graduated with distinction from my Master's program in the study of family systems. Where traditional psychology looks inward towards the individual, family systems says the individual cannot be known until we know what systems they belong to. These systems start with the family, but also expand into community, state, country, and all manner of cultural systems. Exploring through a systems lens can often help an individual understand their identity in a stronger way.

I am adept with working with in family and the complicated patterns of behavior that can exist between members. I am particularly adept at help adult parent/adult child estrangement - helping the parent understand why a child would choose estrangement, and working towards healing that relationship.

Systems Theory doesn't have to mean bringing in your entire family. A look at your family system gives info into how and why you are the cog shaped the way you are, just like in a clock. We look at how all the cogs work together & by changing only one of the cogs (you), all the others are affected. Understanding your family system and how you function(ed) in it is key to lasting change for yourself, since we tend to find people (or cogs) that looks just the ones we already know.

Understanding family patterns can help us understand how we got to where we are today. Along with attachment theory, I use family systems to help clients build a picture of their past so they understand who they are in their relationships today, and can make choices about how they want to grow in relation to themselves and others.

Individuals do not exist in isolation and are intricately connected within the complex web of family dynamics. I believe that understanding these intricate relationships and patterns is crucial for promoting healing and awareness of how your family of origin, family dynamics and upbringing, have influenced you today.

Everybody had or has some form of family, whether you born into it, choose it, or found yourself in a situation with others that essentially represented a family. I use the Systems approach to change the perception of who you are and why you do the things you do by looking at how you were shaped and influenced by the people in your lives as you developed. We were all set up to think and believe and act the ways that we do because of those around us as we developed.