The Benefits of Online Therapists & Counseling

Reasons Your Family Might Benefit from an Online Therapist & Counseling

Families go through a lot together. From divorce to blending new families, to dealing with illness or addiction, to supporting each other with each person’s mental health challenges, there are often many hurdles that make family relationships difficult to navigate. If you’re contemplating searching for an in-person or online family therapist to help you work through some of the experiences your family is having in a healthy and productive way, you’re already in the process of taking the important first step.

Below are some of the different reasons why people might seek out family and relationship counseling and ways that it might be beneficial for you and your loved ones.

Feelings of Disconnection

Have you been feeling recently that your family is disconnected? Are your children having a hard time talking about themselves and their day, and are they constantly glued to their devices? Do you feel like you rarely have full conversations with your partner and that you’re just going through the motions? Often feelings of disconnection from loved ones are tied to challenges with communication. Seeing a qualified mental health expert can support you and your family members in developing communication techniques that will help you reconnect with one another and maybe even grow closer.

New Family Dynamics

Whether you’re going through a divorce with a current partner, or a new partner has entered into the picture, shifting in the family unit can often cause a great deal of anxiety, stress, and emotional upheaval. New family dynamics can definitely be a challenge to navigate as often it’s not just the lives of adults who are being impacted, but children as well. Stability and honesty are important things when it comes to blending a family or dealing with the aftermath of divorce, and a family relationship counselor can support developing positive communication techniques and coping mechanisms to deal with these types of changes in a healthy way.

For children, family therapy can also provide a structured space for them to be honest and voice questions or feelings in a safe and supportive environment.

Growing Kids

While you might think that all teenagers require therapy, that’s not necessarily the case. Teenagers are packed with big emotions, hormones, and feelings, so it’s not uncommon for behavioral changes to happen during this time of growth. In fact, most people have challenges with emotional regulation until the ages of 22-25, when their brains are more fully developed.

If you do notice however that your child or teenager is having frequent emotional outbursts beyond the norm of what seems reasonable for their age and growing mind, then it might be a good time for them to speak with someone. Things like frequent and intense emotional outbursts can often be a sign of other underlying challenges, so it’s always a good idea to find a third party who is open to listening and providing a space for your child or youth to be heard and have their feelings validated.

Coping with Grief

Loss and tragedy can impact families in many different ways. Whether it’s the loss of a parent or a child, there will inevitably be stress and sadness impacting the bonds of the other remaining family members. Often, for parents who are grieving, it can be hard to focus energy on the other relationships in your home such as those with your partner or other children. These new family dynamics can be very challenging to navigate, especially when each member is dealing with the loss in their own way, and having a qualified mental health professional support you and your family in how to be there for each other and work through the grief together can be a huge assistance.

Dealing with Addiction 

Another reason why many might seek out family counseling is if one or more members of the family unit are dealing with addiction. This might not be just the nuclear family; it might even be an extended family member as well. Illnesses like addiction impact family members in a way that often other illnesses do not as they might often involve things like interventions, theft of money or property to support the illness, rehab services, and even just volatile emotions and behaviors.

Having a family counselor guide you and your loved ones in learning how to support each other during this time, but also in how to maintain strict boundaries can be really valuable for families who have someone amongst them struggling with addiction.

Family Secrets

While it’s definitely common for people to have some secrets here and there, there are of course certain secrets that might have a large impact on the family unit. Things like debts, affairs, medical history, addictions, and even criminal history, if kept hidden from the beginning, might have a serious impact on the family when revealed. Even if these things do remain hidden, chances are that more impactful secrets will have greater levels of control over those who are keeping them, and possibly even leading them to act or behave in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise.

Changes in behavior might manifest through the individual carrying the secret in turn creating distance and barriers with other family members or even lashing out. A family counselor can help in a number of ways when it comes to things like impactful secrets- they can help the one who was shouldering the information communicate to their family what happened and why they kept it, and can also support the other family members in dealing with the aftermath.

Overall Benefits

A qualified and expert in-person or online family therapist can support you and your family in developing enhanced communication skills, implementing and navigating boundaries, and identifying ways to support one another during difficult times. If you’re searching for this type of support, get in touch with us at ACT Teletherapy. Our professional mental health experts will work with you and your family members to address whatever your family’s needs are in a safe and supportive way. Get in touch and book your next appointment with us today.