Alcohol or substance-abuse in the family is often a central theme around which the entire family is organized and operates. Yet, substance-abuse treatment is often individual focused and does not actively involve the entire family. State of the Problem Family members with substance-abuse are often treated in separate silos. For example, it is commonplace for…
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FST Techniques blend the many approaches to family systems therapy.
One of the most difficult challenges that a therapist can face is when a child or teen is brought to treatment and their parents are engaged in a bitter or difficult divorce.
For the first time in more than two decades, suicide is killing more teenagers than homicide.
It takes a village to raise a child is an old African proverb.
Why is Nutrition Not Typically Part of Trauma Treatment?
You will be surprised to know that nutrition is an X factor to help a child’s traumatized brain.
Our kids are not all right. Children and adolescent anxiety and depression after stabilizing in the 1970s and ’80s and declining in the early ’90s have started to rise and they haven’t stopped. In fact, anxiety disorders are by far the most common psychiatric condition in children. And today’s parents are as anxious as their children. Anxious…
Relapse occurs when our clients initially get worse before they get better. It is like stretching a rubber band that will snap back as soon as we let go. Over time, a child’s problem symptoms (i.e., self-harm, aggression, anxiety, extreme disrespect, etc.) that are caused by a traumatic event often become the new normal in…
High parent involvement is the key to your trauma treatment success.
Children and adolescents with oppositional and defiant behavior (ODD) are often referred to treatment because of extreme emotional or behavior problems.
Traumatized families with traumatized children often remain stuck in “now what?”
In working with mental health professionals around the world, they often tell me they are seeing increased anxiety in their clients.
Everywhere we turn, there seems to be another book or article on trauma treatment with the individual child. But there are three missing core pieces.
Great therapy is both process and content.
How do you integrate this knowledge to move from treating the traumatized child to treating the traumatized family?
As COVID-19 continues, stress and anxiety are on the rise.
We’ve all been there. We make progress with traumatized clients and their families and then the forward momentum stops.
Mental health is a vast profession with hundreds of specializations and numerous types of clients.
We’ve all worked with difficult parents.
“Contrary to popular belief, trauma can be healed… without long hours of therapy; without painful reliving of memories; and without a continuing reliance on medication.”
As mental health professionals, we know traumatized families often are stuck in negative thinking.
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” First coined by the philosopher Aristotle, this idiom embodies the spirit of the FST approach.
You know family relationships are complicated.
Mental health professionals tell me it can be difficult to translate traditional talk therapy to online therapy.
Your traumatized family can retell their trauma story by using an experiential technique called strongholds to bring about deep healing.
Your traumatized family can retell their trauma story by using an experiential technique called strongholds to bring about deep healing.
This particular topic on how to motivate tough parents to cooperate is by far one of the most challenging I’ve had in my career.
Here are five questions that we did in our research that you can use in your practice.
“Let’s find out what’s causing your stress.”
This episode of Family Trauma Step-by-Step Tools covers how to get therapy progress to really stick.
An approach that does not include the entire traumatized family can lead to relapse.
Treatment with traumatized families and children will often fail when the trauma therapist fails to both troubleshoot and conduct dress rehearsals.
Sixteen-year-old Lucy and her family are hopelessly stuck in the weeds.
I will never forget the phone call.
Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?
We have to get out of the weeds.
“Knowing is half the battle.” — GI Joe
What causes traumatized children and families to get stuck and unable to move forward?
Failure to Launch describes young adults who are struggling with the transition to adulthood.
When we think of creating family legacies and preserving family traditions, we focus on positive connections and joyous occasions. But often joy is only part of the family story.
When treatment ends, how do we prevent our traumatized children and families from relapsing?
