Therapy for Blended Families And Step-parents

The term ‘blended family’ may not be familiar until you are in one, and you find out there is a term for it. You and your new partner may look for counseling before you move your families in together. You may also be considering adopting or have already adopted and are feeling the challenges of your new family.

Blended families today can include step-children and adopted children. It may also not be children from one previous marriage, but also from others.

In today’s world there is an integration of families in different ways, and it can take quite a lot of navigation and work! I chose to create a specific service when it comes to therapy for blended families resulting from my personal journey with my own blended family.

Whether you are about to officially blend (move in together) or have already blended, I can help you with the healthy recipe for your blended family that is uniquely yours. Together, we will look at the following areas and more as a family or only with you and your partner:

• Deciding where to live
• How to approach and address resistance from children
• Decisions on discipline and rules
• Boundary setting with the family unit
• Explorations and approaches to each co-parenting arrangement
• Nurturing the relationship with your partner in a blended family

In the adoption space:

• Develop approaches to working through an adopted child’s adjustment and yours
• Prepare emotionally and practically for the transition to become adopting parents
• Explore and address feelings before, during and after the adoption with you and your child

How Can Therapy Change The Family Dynamic?

Through the use of blended family therapy, everyone will be able to understand themselves and each other better. As it is an impactful transition, the use of therapy allows families to understand how each other is feeling and allow for empathy to grow within the new dynamic. Through the open communication facilitated in therapy, each family member can open themselves and become vulnerable so that each member understands everyone’s motives behind their actions and be able to properly respond coming from a loving perspective. It also allows the family to work as a team. As each family member understands the other family member’s struggles and concerns, they can work together to determine how to best handle certain situations based on how your specific family dynamic works.

Blended family therapy also allows for many issues that typically arise to be settled much quicker than before. As you learn each other’s motives and can then identify that a family member is trying to bond with another, it allows you to practice patience. Understanding that it is all a process and that change won’t appear in a day, allows for less unnecessary conflict.

While each family member brings forward their concerns, it allows for an open space to learn about each other’s emotions and learn about possible mental illnesses and how to identify them. In the end, each family member will be able take away the tools that they learned how to communicate and be able to apply them to their professional relationships and friendships.

Let’s start creating your recipe for a healthy blended family. Call me today!