Family Counseling Techniques That Actually Work

Each family is a unique social system and unit that possesses its own unique structure and pattern of communication. The patterns are dictated by various factors and aspects of the family like the personality of each member within that unit or parenting styles and values as well as how much or little the extended family influences the members. Over the past few years, more and more people have considered going for and have gone for family counseling for it is seen more as a beneficial option than a taboo. The primary objective of mental health counseling in the form of family counseling is to achieve a healthy level of functioning and harmony within the family unit.

Here are some family counseling techniques that actually work:

Communication - One of the main reasons that families face problems is due to lack of or fault communication between members. Counselors or therapists adapt various different techniques to bring about a better sense of communication amongst members and repeatedly emphasize the importance of sharing, talking and expressing within the family.

Photographs/Throwbacks - Very often, the problem of the moment clouds happy memories that make family members perceive situations as worse than they actually are. When family members forget what it felt like to be happy within that family unit, they also forget that the family can go back to being happy. Reviewing old family photographs or important family events can remind family members of happy and wonderful memories that are associated with those photos or events.

Genogram - A genogram is helpful for the counselor to understand the history of the family. A genogram records important and necessary details pertaining to the family like names, birth dates, anniversaries etc of family members which serves as a record for the family’s history and story. This helps the counselor understand the family better and ultimately help the family better.

Re-framing - Counselors offer family members a different, unique and healthy perspective to view their problems and how they can be solved better.

Empty Chair - This is a method of role play offered by a mental health psychologist that allows members to understand the basis of family matters better. Members are asked to pretend to be another member of the family, preferably the one with whom they’re facing an issue and carry out an act. This helps the counselor understand how the member perceives the problem and gather valuable information.