Family Therapy

with Wendy Brown, MFT, CGP*

General Family Therapy

I enjoy working with adult families, adult children with aging parents, and adult children with their parents. For example, mother-daughter therapy or father-daughter can be very powerful.

Family Therapy for End of Life Issues

When you or a family member is given a terminal diagnosis, your world changes. This is usually a time of great overwhelm. You may feel flooded with emotions. Many people feel that they don’t know how to cope with all the changes and new questions. Clients often say to me, “I don’t know what to do. What happens next? I can’t make decisions.”

Depending on where you are in your life, individual, couples or family therapy may help you navigate this challenging time which is often an intense and complicated. Often the issues that come up at this time are family issues. By family, I mean, either the family you were born into or the family you created.

Some families have unspoken traditions of not talking about unpleasant feelings. Therapy offers a safe place to talk about difficult topics. Family therapy can help you work as a team to care for your loved one. I often hear patients say “I don’t want to be a burden”. The adult children complain, “He won’t tell me how I can help.” Therapy helps!

Old issues and unfinished business tend to come up when illness intrudes. Family therapy provides a safe place to sort through difficulties together. Families often need help dealing with differences of opinion. A skilled therapist’s facilitation increases understanding between family members. This process gives family members new communication tools for talking about tough topics, including anticipatory grief and eventually, mourning. It also helps people feel more supported and connected.

Caring for a terminally ill loved one often takes a physical and emotional toll. If you are a member of the sandwich generation, with both children and parents that you are caring for, while working, you are in an especially challenging situation! It is always difficult to face the challenge of losing a parent.

Therapy is a great place to get the support you need. I can help you and/or your family sort through or even address old hurts that may be complicating care decisions. One common topic is the division of labor and avoiding resentment. I help families work together and support each other.

Sometimes it takes a little work and a lot of support to make the loving, dying and saying goodbye process the best it can be. Getting help can reduce the amount of stress and trauma experienced, heal old hurts, and increase closeness and connection for everyone involved. This conscious and intentional work helps each member of the family through the grief process. We will work to make the time you have together more meaningful.

Please call me with any questions that you may have @ (415) 753-5800, or contact me via email.

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• Specialties
  

  I provide individual psychotherapy, couples, family and group therapy. I have specialties within each type of psychotherapy.