Family Therapy
Family Therapy in Austin
When the same conflict keeps cycling through your home, it is rarely one person's fault. Family therapy looks at the whole pattern, so everyone can see it, slow it down and try something different together.
Seeing the pattern instead of a problem person
It is easy to see one person as the problem: the teen who will not talk, the child who melts down, the parent who yells. A marriage and family therapist is trained to look at the whole system instead: who reacts to whom, and what keeps the loop going. A teen's withdrawal, a parent's frustration and a sibling's acting out can all be parts of the same cycle. When we map it together, blame can loosen, and change becomes something everyone shares.
- The same fight at the same time every day
- Parents who disagree about rules or consequences
- A teen who has gone quiet or keeps slamming doors
- Siblings pulled into a parent's conflict
- Holidays and transitions that reliably go sideways
Parenting power struggles and the Incredible Years approach
When every request turns into a negotiation or a standoff, parents can end up either giving in or escalating. I draw on the Incredible Years parenting approach, which focuses on clearer boundaries and a response you can actually use in the next hard moment. We practice those responses in session, talk through what happened at home, and adjust. The aim is less yelling and calmer follow-through, built on a relationship your child can trust.
If the two of you parent from different playbooks, that tension can matter as much as anything your child does. Getting on the same page as parents is often part of the work, and couples therapy is available if the marriage itself needs attention. It is not about deciding which parent is right. Who attends which session is something we decide together, starting with the free consultation.
Teens in the room
I work with a mature 10 and up. My style is mostly talk therapy, with some written and art activities, so maturity matters for younger kids and tweens. In family work and in a teen's own sessions, I keep parents appropriately informed about how things are going while protecting the teen's sense that the room is genuinely theirs. Without that, a teen has little reason to talk. We agree on how it works up front, so nobody is surprised later.
Safety always comes first, and that is part of what we agree on at the start. I also respect your family's parenting and faith values, and the work is shaped to fit within them rather than around them. If your teen would benefit from sessions of their own as well, the page on teen therapy in Austin explains how that works.
Weekly family sessions or a family intensive
Family sessions are $275 for 80 minutes, which leaves time for more than one voice to be heard. Some patterns need even more room. Family therapy intensives offer extended time to slow a pattern down, understand it and practice a different way forward: 4 hours for $800 or 6 hours with a 30 to 60 minute lunch break for $1,250. Neither format is better, and we decide together which one fits.
An intensive can also make sense when family members are traveling to Austin, or when a weekly schedule is hard to sustain for everyone at once. Longer does not mean forced. Breaks and pacing are built in, and everyone's capacity still guides the day. The intensives page compares the formats side by side if you want to look before we talk.
Where families meet
Family sessions happen at my office in Southwest Austin, 5900 Southwest Pkwy, Building 5, Suite 230, on Fridays and some select other times and days as schedules allow, or by telehealth anywhere in Texas when everyone is located in Texas. Sessions are available in English and Spanish, which can matter when different generations feel more at home in different languages. The page on terapia en español has more for Spanish-speaking families.
Before any of that, there is a free 15-minute phone consultation. You can tell me who is in the family, what has been hardest lately and what you have already tried. From there we work out together whether family sessions, an intensive or a different starting point makes the most sense, and who should be in the room for the first appointment.
Common Questions
What age does my child need to be?
I work with a mature 10 and up. My style is mostly talk therapy with some written and art activities, so maturity matters for younger kids and tweens.
Will I know what my teen talks about?
I keep parents appropriately informed about how the work is going while protecting the teen's sense that the room is genuinely theirs. We agree on how that works up front, and safety always comes first.
How much do family sessions cost?
Family sessions are $275 for 80 minutes, after an 80-minute initial assessment at $275. Family therapy intensives are $800 for 4 hours or $1,250 for 6 hours with a 30 to 60 minute lunch break.
The consultation is free and there is no obligation on either side.
Request a Free Consultation