John offers and helps actively co-create tools for enhancing communication, establishing appropriate role clarification, and establishing an environment for efficient and effective family functioning. “Family” therapy can be for one or all involved in a home. We all act and interact within a cultural system when living in the same home. We all are part of co-creating that cultural system. While each person has a responsibility in co-creating that system, each person also has some control. In family therapy participants learn what roles they play, how their interaction affects the culture of the home, and how changes can be made toward desired relationship and personal goals within a family setting. Family therapy does not have to be sought only when members feel there is some “problem.” But also when families want to enhance their family relationships from good to great. Often, families go through a myriad of transitions. These transitions often are met with role changes, resistance by one or many family members, and a lack of rites of passage. Rites of passage are traditionally where transitions are clearly marked from one time in one’s life to the next. An example is graduation from high school or marriage. While these are clear rites of passage, transition from twelve years old to becoming a teenager is far less clear in role expectations. Marriage involving merging families where each of the couple has children from previous marriages does not always have the clear rites of passage for the children involved. One child may have been the oldest and now finds him or herself as the middle child. All of these examples and many more have the potential to create chaos. Family therapy can yield incredible results in preventing turbulence during various transitions that accompany being a part of a family.
