Individual Counseling
At some point in all of our lives there comes a time when we feel stuck, are in need of help, or just don’t know what to do next. Whether you know what’s wrong or something “just feels off,” talking with an independent person with no ties to the situation is often very helpful; especially if that person is a therapist. The point of therapy is not always about digging into your childhood, but rather it is to help you understand yourself better and give you the skills, knowledge, and ability to move yourself successfully through challenges in life.
While understanding your childhood, your parents, or your relation with them is often important, we try to focus on the here and now. What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish in your life? Where have you been successful? What’s holding you back? What’s happened for you since our last session, and how has this impacted the reason you came to therapy? These questions and so many others are one’s we’ll address in individual counseling.
People often think of therapists as “givers of advice.” As the therapists, we are foremost a facilitator, so we’ll never tell you to directly do something, or give you a piece of advice and say “if you do this, it will make it better.” Instead, we’ll explore what’s significant for you, why it is meaningful, and how you can incorporate more of it into your life to achieve the outcomes you want.
Pricing: $160 per session — Click for more details
Couples Counseling
Couples Counseling (also called therapy) is for any two people in relationship with each other who want to make that relationship better. A couple can be two people who have been married many years, or two who have just started dating. You might just be friends or might be newly-engaged and wanting per-marital counseling. Regardless, if both of you in the relationship want to make the relationship better, then couples counseling can be helpful. Atlanta Family Therapy utilizes evidence-based therapies and tools to help couples identify and meet the goals they bring to therapy.
Many rely on their relationship as a source of comfort, closeness, and safety. Whether you are experiencing some troubles in your relationship or you and your partner are doing well, couples counseling can provide support and teach skills to build lasting happiness. Using some of the research from the Couples Institute, here are some things to think over before and during couples counseling:
No good relationship exists without conflict. And learning to be successful in your relationship is not about eliminating conflict. Rather, it is how you manage conflict that predicts your success. Therapy aims to improve conflict management while examining and challenging the barriers to effective conflict resolution.
A healthy relationship is dependent on each person taking responsibility for their own actions, boundaries, identity, needs, and health. Therapy helps couples make lasting change, by accept that success in a relationship is as much about changing yourself as it is needing something different from the other person.
Listening, empathy, and understanding are the foundation to a healthy relationship. In therapy, a couple can improve in these fundamental skills and in turn create the paths needed for effective communication.
Sometimes our past gets in the way of our present. It may be trauma from our past or unresolved conflicts from early in the relationship. In therapy, individuals can begin to better understand themselves, each other, and their relationship. The magic happens when each individual applies this knowledge to change maladaptive or harmful patterns of interaction.
Both individuals have their own experiences and perceptions of reality. Each person’s experience of what occurred is valid. Learning in therapy to validate both your partner’s experience and yours in therapy facilitates progress toward your mutual goals.
There are often behaviors we are unaware of that undermine safety and connection within a relationship. Counseling is helpful in identifying, acknowledging, and changing those behaviors to actions that will build the relationship and create a safe space where each person feels safe and secure.
Pricing: $170 per session — Click for more details
Family Counseling
Families can consist of many different individuals, different generations, different experiences, and different lifestyles. Families may include only blood-relatives or people you’ve chosen to join with that have no genetic link. Regardless of what it looks like, a family is what you say it is. Like couples counseling, family counseling (therapy) helps family members create better relationships with each other. Family counseling can also address many various stressors that occur within a family, and often does so by examining and working within the group dynamics of the family. No member of a family exists in a vacuum, so when problems occur, including the whole family can be most effective in making the necessary improvements. Often families will seek counseling due to behavioral or emotional issues with children; however, family therapists are also trained to address and assist with much more, such as:
- Boundaries and identity
- Divorce or family blending
- Change in family situation or moving
- Loss and Grieving
- Depression and anxiety
- LGBTQ+ issues
- Domestic violence
- Infertility
- Marital conflicts
- Substance abuse
Family Therapists often will address these issues in the following ways:
- By observing how individual family members interact with the group
- Observe, identify, and resolve relationship issues
- Diagnose and treat psychological disorders or problems within the context of a family
- Lead family members through tough or difficult life transitions (i.e. birth of a child, death of a parent, change of job, moved to new place, etc.)
- Identify and provide potential solutions for unhealthy behaviors
- Treat individuals and the family through a holistic approach
Family therapy aims to provide families with better communication, improved skills for handling tough transitions, problematic patterns of behavior, and provide a sense of safety and security for all family members.
Pricing: $175 per session — Click for more details
Pricing
Individuals: $160 Per Session
Couples: $170 Per Session
Families: $175 Per Session
Each session is approximately 50 minutes; longer sessions are possible for an additional fee.
Reduced Fee Assistance (RFA) is available
While not guaranteed, if you qualify for RFA, it may lower your per session cost. You may request the RFA form to complete with your intake package, or you may request it any time after that. RFA reductions are based on household income, financial situation, family size, and other circumstances, and can vary among clients. RFA may not be available when requested, and is not guaranteed. RFA is not available for intake sessions.