Family Therapy

Families are complex systems where each person affects and is affected by everyone else. When tension, conflict, or disconnection takes root, it impacts the entire family. At Hasbrook Therapy, we help families navigate challenges, improve communication, and rediscover the love and support that brought them together in the first place.

When Families Seek Our Help

Families come to therapy for many reasons. Some are dealing with a specific crisis—a teen's behavioral problems, a betrayal of trust, a major life transition, or grief after loss. Others experience ongoing patterns that create stress: constant arguing, poor communication, feeling like you're walking on eggshells, or family members who've become emotionally distant.

We work with families navigating parent-teen conflict where communication has broken down and every interaction becomes a battle. We help blended families integrate after divorce and remarriage, managing complex dynamics between step-parents, step-siblings, and co-parenting relationships. We support families adjusting to major transitions like relocation, job loss, illness, or a child leaving for college.

We also work with families where mental health challenges (anxiety, depression, addiction, ADHD) in one member affect the entire system, families healing from trauma or loss, sibling conflict that creates household tension, multigenerational issues involving grandparents or extended family, and communication breakdowns where family members feel unheard or misunderstood.

Our Approach to Family Therapy

Family therapy recognizes that individual problems often reflect larger family patterns. A teen's anxiety might be connected to family stress. A couple's conflict might intensify when extended family gets involved. One person's addiction affects everyone. By working with the family system, we can create change more effectively than addressing individuals in isolation.

We create a safe space where every family member feels heard and valued. Our role isn't to take sides or determine who's "right"—it's to help you understand each other's perspectives, identify destructive patterns, and develop healthier ways of relating.

We utilize approaches including Internal Family Systems (IFS) adapted for families, emotionally focused family therapy that addresses attachment needs, structural family therapy that examines roles and boundaries, and narrative therapy that helps families rewrite limiting stories about themselves.

What to Expect in Family Therapy

Family therapy sessions typically last 60-90 minutes to allow time for multiple perspectives. Depending on your situation, we might meet with the entire family, parents alone, specific subsystems (like siblings), or rotate between configurations.

In early sessions, we'll hear from each family member about their concerns and hopes for therapy. We'll identify patterns that aren't working and strengths to build upon. Every family has resilience and love—sometimes it's just buried under frustration and pain.

As we progress, you'll learn communication skills like active listening, expressing needs without blame, and de-escalating conflicts. We'll explore family roles and how they developed. We'll address specific issues while strengthening overall family functioning.

Age Considerations

We work with families with children of all ages, though our approach adapts to developmental stage. For families with young children, we might use play therapy techniques or focus primarily on parent coaching. For families with teens, we balance adolescent needs for autonomy with parents' legitimate concerns and authority. For adult families, we address differentiation while maintaining connection.

When One Family Member Refuses Therapy

Ideally, everyone participates, but we can still create meaningful change even if one family member refuses to attend. Sometimes the resistant member becomes more willing once they see positive changes in others. We'll work with whoever is ready to participate.

Confidentiality in Family Therapy

Unlike individual therapy, family therapy doesn't guarantee individual confidentiality—what's shared in session is shared with everyone present. However, we do maintain confidentiality about the content of family sessions with people outside the family (except in cases of safety concerns).

Building Stronger Families

Our goal is to help your family develop skills that last beyond therapy: communicating effectively even during conflict, understanding each other's needs and perspectives, setting healthy boundaries while maintaining connection, solving problems collaboratively, and supporting each member's individual growth while strengthening family bonds.

Family therapy is an investment in your most important relationships. The patterns you establish now will influence your family for generations.

Serving families throughout Orange County, including Mission Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, and surrounding communities.