Family Temperament Counseling

Family Temperament Counseling is a therapeutic approach that involves the whole family, including relationships between individual family members. This type of Counseling examines how specific issues impact the family dynamic and each individual member. Because families are systemic units, any member experiencing a problem will influence the entire family.

Family Temperament Counseling looks into each family member’s individual temperament and how that plays out across the entire family. It can reveal if a particular family member’s needs are not being met and how that influences the behaviors of others. Counseling can identify the specific issues and how these can best be remedied keeping in mind other members’ needs and behavior patterns.

What can Family Temperament Counseling help with?

Family Temperament Counseling can help with most emotionally-based issues within a family unit and it can be used with one or more members of the family. This type of Counseling can also improve communication, strengthen bonding, ameliorate connectedness, foster nurturance, build compassion and aid in handling stressful situations.

Family Temperament Counseling can address a variety of issues, including:

  • Adoption

  • Anger

  • Attachment disorders

  • Behavioral challenges

  • Blended family

  • Communication challenges

  • Conflict

  • Death

  • Disability

  • Domestic violence

  • Emotional challenges

  • Grief

  • Infertility

  • LGBTQ challenges

  • Physical health concerns

  • Race, ethnic, or cultural challenges

  • Relationship difficulties

  • Religious challenges

  • Self-harm

  • Transitions

  • Unemployment

Family Temperament Counseling is an excellent way for a family to gain connectedness, harmony, mutual respect and understanding. To achieve these results, however, it is often necessary to work on setting boundaries, defining individual member’s roles within the family, ameliorating family problem-solving skills, teaching coping strategies, and confronting dysfunction as well as uncovering marital problems and inconsistent parenting.

 

Inquire About Family Temperament Counseling

Who is Family Temperament Counseling best suited to?

  • Parents

  • Children (7-11 years)/ Preteens/Teenagers

  • Siblings

  • Half-Siblings

  • Adoptive Parents and Adoptees

  • In-Laws

  • Grandparents

  • Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins

  • Extended Family

  • Stepparents and Stepchildren

  • Blended Families

  • Partners or Ex-Partners

What to Expect

At the beginning, it is important for all of the family members who are experiencing an issue to attend the first few sessions. This gives the Counselor a sense of who the various members are and their opinions of the problem. After that, the Counselor will determine if all the members need to be in attendance or whether a certain few should be present. There may be times when it is beneficial to meet with only the parents or the children or the entire family. This may vary from week to week depending on the progress made and the objectives of the family.

The main family members will be asked to complete the online Temperament Questionnaire. Time will then be spent explaining the different temperament traits of each member and how these interact with those of the others. Lots of questions are asked and each member of the family gets a chance to describe their relationship, thoughts, emotions, behaviors, needs and wants, and expectations as well as their perspective on the family dynamic.

After that, the Counselor works on a treatment plan and schedule that may vary from week to week. Unlike Individual Temperament Counseling where the client attends on a regular basis, Family Temperament Counseling may be more sporadic in that specific members attend only if the Counselor requests it.

Each treatment plan is specific to the family, its needs and issues. This approach allows the Counselor to uncover problems and to facilitate important discussions that move the family closer to their goal of general conflict resolution, emotional harmony and wellbeing.

If you think you could benefit from Family Temperament Counseling, schedule an appointment or free consultation
by calling 571-490-1795 or sending us a message via the “Inquire about this Service” form.