Family Counseling Services in Wolf Trap, VA.

As a Marriage and Family Therapist I strongly believe that there is no one way to handle a problem. I work with my clients to highlight what works and use that knowledge to help improve what seems to not be working. I genuinely enjoy seeing the entire family in session since it provides rich information on how a family interacts and provides insight on the resources they have to tackle whatever problems come their way.

Robyn began her career working with at-risk youth. She has worked extensively with older children and adolescents. Her approach goes beyond behavioral interventions and resolving negative school performance. Robyn believes the key to successful adolescent therapy is tapping into the strengths of the family system and helping the youth and each family member to grow and thrive as individuals and as a cohesive unit. Robyn's approach to adolescent therapy unites and coheres the family.

Said one grieving mother, "Being estranged from your children and grandchildren is harder than surviving suicide. It's like experiencing a funeral, but they are not dead." Said another, "Many of my friends are excitedly anticipating visits from their relatives. They are shopping for them, planning meals and activities. I am truly happy for them. I want the same for myself, but I can't have it..." I work with parents and their adult children who have become estranged. My goal is to bring about reconciliation. If you have a need in this area, please feel free to call me to discuss your situation.

Most family therapists inadvertently create more chaos through their well-intentioned efforts to assist a family move through a change process. Why? Brains are inherently deregulated (all of us, may I add) and most talking and dialoguing misses brain-centric problems that need more intensive help. Many times the emotional trauma created by years of solving problems ineffectively can wreak havoc on the brain's parasympathetic nervous system, not ever giving the family a break from flight or fight thinking. Contact us for an innovative neuroscience solution to family dysfunction. Kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

Family therapy is indicated especially if the couple also is looking for help out of an emotionally difficult place. Family stresses can also provide stresses on each member of the couple. Through therapy, we work together to find the causes of the family stress, and then create strategies for managing the negative emotions and creating positive ones. Then we practice the strategies so that when similar stresses arise, each family member knows how to work within their family dynamic, keeping things calm.

Parents and teenagers must navigate a difficult process as the teenager begins to separate from the parents and form his or her separate identity. I work with both parents and teenagers to help in this process in terms of developing strategies for communication, conflict resolution and ways to begin connecting more effectively. I help both the teenager and the parent find ways to better understand and to develop greater tolerance for one another. More than any other developmental stage, the teenage years necessitate that parents alter their typical ways of parenting, become more flexible, more patient, more emotionally attentive.

Christian counseling can benefit marriages, individuals struggling with personal issues, and families experiencing difficulties. Christian counseling is for those who want to honor God in their personal life, marriage, and family by aligning with God's truths and becoming fully reliant on God. God is our ultimate healer, and Christian counseling is one avenue that God has provided to those who need healing and life change.

In addition to marriage counseling, I have also helped with parenting issues, relationships between aging parents and their adult children, as well as between twins (I'm a twin). I see family conflict as normal and inevitable part of a growing and changing family. The key is how we communicate and resolve our tensions. Using Bowen family systems and emotionally-focused family therapy, I facilitate safe and open communication while being sensitive to the family hierarchy.

Sometimes family members find it very difficult to communicate with each other. Adolescents may offer challenges that the family finds overwhelming. Parents may be sandwiched between grandparents and their children. One member of the family may have a mental illness that causes a lot of stress. There are many reasons why a family requests family therapy. This therapy may be short term. It can include all members of the family or some members of the family. I help the family develop skills they can use to improve relationships and move through stressful times.

I would say that about 25% of my coaching is in the family scope. This area sometimes takes the most time. It has so many fascist. I ask each party for the one "big" problem and we start at that point. Resolving one step at a time. In any area of the home, there is commonly layers of bad thinking that brings things people to the edge. In the past I did testing, but I have found by the 38 years of history that you and I must get in the middle of the "stuff". Testing can really be a cop-out for the lack of experience in a field.

Are you and your spouse at odds as to how raise children? Are there power struggles in the home; Children vs. Parents? Families are more than groups of people who share the same address and genes. Although conflicts occasionally arise, a family should be a source of Christian love and support. My objective is to counsel family members on how to strengthen the family with characteristics of a Christian home; love, joy, peace, patience...fruits of the Spirit. Counseling may include all family members, or just those able or willing to participate. Single parents are encouraged. I look forward to working with you, and applaud you for taking the first step towards a peaceful coexistence!

Have any of your family members recently graduated from high school or college? I provide career counseling and coaching to young adults that may need guidance to get them on the right career path. Or they may feel stuck and as a parent we don't always know how to help them. Feel free to reach out and contact me to learn more. I always provide a free phone consult.

The focus of my family therapy work is the family as a whole. Working on the relationship between family members is more effective than just treating the person that is supposed to be in need of treatment. From my perspective, family therapy work sees individuals in relationships to others. As a result, the attention shifts from the symptomatic individual and problem is seen as the family as a whole. The goal of my family therapy work is to help establish a “functional family” – one in which needs and the desired goals of closeness, identity, self-expression, and meaning are met.