Family Counseling Rockville MD

Lindsey Hoskins & Associates offers family counseling in Rockville, Maryland for those who are going through conflict or distress. Our staff of highly trained therapists can work with you and your family members to work out important issues. Whether or not your family members live together, it is common to experience conflict. Rockville family counseling can help resolve that conflict in an environment that is safe and positive.

What is family therapy?
This is a common question. Lindsey Hoskins & Associates provides family counseling in Rockville, MD that aims to assist family members to improve interactions with one another. There may be one or more specific issues that the family wishes to address, or there may be an overall need for working on loving and positive communication between members.

While it is ideal to have all of the affected family members present in the room, that is not always possible or practical. A therapist on our staff can use tools during the session that family members can benefit from, regardless of their location.

Opportunities for Family Counseling
The idea of family can be defined in many ways. One’s family can comprise of a few members, or many. The topics dealt with in therapy can be related to addiction, emotional issues, day-to-day struggles, and so much more. Any issues that cause serious conflict among family members are all valid reasons to explore family counseling. Some of the most common reasons why families seek counseling from Lindsey Hoskins & Associates include the following:

• An event or circumstance that impacts one or more family members. Counseling can offer support for the member who is primarily affected, or address all who are equally impacted when it’s a broader issue. Examples of the latter include a major job change or move. Substance abuse or domestic violence can also trigger the need for family counseling.
• The death of a family member.
• A family member is struggling with an addiction or mental illness.
• Divorce.
• Child and parent conflicts.
  

Seeking Family Counselling in Rockville, MD
There are many reasons to seek Rockville family counseling in MD. We live in a stressful time and it can be difficult to deflect the negativity that is often a part of our daily lives. The pursuit of optimal mental health is important to living a more fulfilling and well-balanced life; especially when there are many people, such as a family unit, involved. Therapy can be beneficial regardless of the motivation for making the appointment. Mental health is as important and works in tandem with physical health and overall well-being. Often, the most difficult part to seeing a qualified therapist is taking the first step.

What is the first step?
It may be unclear where to start. Finding a therapist who is appropriate for each of you, can be downright overwhelming. Your relationship with your therapist is important to the efficacy if your treatment. After all, for therapy to be most beneficial, it is important that all members have some sort of trust with the therapist; thereby, allowing each of you to be open and honest about yourself and one another.

The first step may be as simple as searching for therapists in your area. A simple search can get you to a list of mental health professionals including a brief bio on each professional. You should also consider whether you would feel more comfortable with a male or female therapist to guide you through MD family counseling in Rockville.

Additional key things to consider are the therapist’s background and the type of therapy that they offer. In looking into the training and client experience of mental health professionals in your area, you can better determine which person resonates with you. Another option may be to fill out a questionnaire in an effort to narrow the list down to the most appropriate person for your needs.

What should one expect during the first appointment?
While each therapist will have his or her own routine and procedure for the initial session, the first appointment will be an opportunity to get to know the therapist on a professional level. Each participating family member can ask any questions or share any concerns that you may have. One way that you can prepare for the first session is to have a clear idea of why you are seeking treatment in the first place. This can just be a starting point for your desire to see the therapist.

For example, difficulty concentrating or feelings of anger, depression, or anxiety. Sometimes, even that can be difficult to identify and put into words. That is okay. The therapist can help guide each of you by asking important questions that will ultimately help you to peel away the layers of your mental state and assist in getting to a point of understanding. Then you can begin to rebuild with a clear idea of how to reach a healthier and more fulfilling approach to your daily life and the people in it.

Ultimately, as a family unit, you owe it to yourself and to one another to be happy and have a sense of balance in your life. That balance comes from understanding your own thought process and learning how to deal with negativity, stress, and difficult emotions in a more analytical and empowering way. It takes courage and strength to seek therapy, but with the importance of what makes a family in mind, you can begin Maryland family counseling.

The Benefits of Family Counseling
There are many potential benefits of engaging in counseling at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates. After your initial consultation with one of our trained staff members, your family’s goals for counseling can be clarified. Many families have benefited from counseling in these ways:

• Enhance existing positive relationships and encourage healthy dynamics.
• Learn ways to identify and support healthy boundaries.
• Understand family patterns of behavior, group and interpersonal dynamics, and existing communication styles.
• Develop tools for effective and peaceful communication among family members.
• Improve problem-solving techniques.
• Promote understanding and empathy among family members.
• Minimize conflict among family members.
  

Effective Family Counseling
If you and your family are interested in exploring the benefits of family counseling, call us to speak with a trained staff member. We can provide short or long term sessions depending on your family’s needs. Contact Lindsey Hoskins & Associates to learn more about how family counseling can benefit your family.

Breaking Your Painful Relationship Patterns in 3 Easy Steps
You cheat yourself out of life, love, and wonder if you tiptoe around your relationships. Although it takes practice to make progress, you can achieve the healthy relationships you desire when you are strong, self-confident, and allow yourself to expect goodness. At Lindsey Hoskins & Associates, family counseling can help you identify and change your unhealthy relationship patterns, so you (and your relationships) aren’t doomed to repeat them over and over.

Here are some of the things that can help you to heal and rewire your brain before you move into the next relationship: 

• Observe your innermost thoughts. What are those thoughts, and what are they based upon? Identify those that no longer serve you. Your thoughts can help you recognize the source of your problem or habit. Our clinical psychologist can help you through exercises to heal past experiences. This can free your brain to create new patterns instead of staying in a repetitive destructive loop.
  
• Release the emotional baggage. Once you recognize the underlying issues, you can work to release their emotional baggage. Ditching the baggage can ensure that you won’t be triggered by old stuff in your next relationship. In other words, you can’t fall into the same old unsuccessful patterns because you’re driven by emotions you’ve experienced in the past.
  

There are many methods which help to release emotional baggage, including:

• Meditation
• Mental Emotional Release (MER) therapy
• Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) 
• Journaling
• Affirmations
• Prayer
  

Explore, engage, experiment, immerse, and find what works best for you. Once you’re no longer controlled by emotions from your painful past, take the next step.

• Learn new skills. This is the step which you will continue to use regularly. It requires that you be willing to learn new skills, new ways of communicating, new thoughts, new ways of having faith in yourself and others, and new brain constructs about relationships. The skills you will need to learn from Rockville, Maryland family counseling will depend upon what you discovered about your expectations and beliefs, and what patterns you fell into because of them.
  

You can accomplish this in numerous ways, including attending classes, reading books, practicing with friends, or joining a support group. What really matters, in the end, is that you do something to learn and strengthen the necessary skills that will help you break your unsuccessful relationship patterns and dynamics.

Three Common Types of Therapy Used By Clinical Psychologists

Asking what type of therapy practitioner practices is a common question. Indeed, therapy can seem like a bit of a mystery. There’s a clinical psychologist, some comfy seating in a safe environment, tissues, a clock, and you. So, now what? There are numerous types of psychotherapy. Some therapists practice one kind alone, while others learn several therapeutic practices and blend them. Most psychotherapies originate from a fundamental idea: sharing your thoughts and feelings with someone can help you gain perspective, become more self-aware, and feel more confident and content.  

Three of the most well-established and widely-used therapies include Psychodynamic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Our therapists at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates understand these different therapies, and can share a little bit about each one:

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
This practice assumes that the unconscious mind controls much of what individuals do and feel. Sometimes people don’t recognize it, but they are not mindfully in control of their emotions and choices. They may feel like life and its circumstances dictate what is happening to them, instead of realizing that their unconscious mind is reacting to the situation. Psychodynamic therapy provides a safe space for an individual to be open and curious about their experiences to gain more significant personal insight.

Psychodynamic therapy provides a framework to explore a person’s childhood relationships to help them understand how they are unconsciously impacting their current relationships and actions. It also provides a framework for discussing the relationship between clients and therapists, to provide greater insight into the unconscious messages an individual sends to others. People can gain a better understanding of themselves and their motives, resulting in a more profound sense of confidence and self-compassion.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
This practice focuses on the relationship between a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. People often come for Family Counseling in Rockville because they feel emotionally “overwhelmed” and want to find a healthy form of relief. Others see a therapist because they feel stuck in a specific behavioral pattern. CBT gives people practical tools to help them slow down and carefully examine their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By breaking down the matter into individual parts, people can gain insight into their underlying beliefs and begin an exploration into ways to change their patterns. 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
This practice was created by Marsha Linehan, a psychologist who was searching for a way to help individuals who were chronically suicidal. In its original form, DBT is an intense treatment protocol which involves individual therapy, a 90-minute weekly skills group, and therapeutic coaching calls weekly. This form of intensive treatment is not always necessary for the average client. However, elements of DBT training can provide a clear, step-by-step road to more confidence, increased assertiveness, improved boundary-setting skills, emotional distress management, and becoming a more effective and focused person at work and in relationships.

Get Help from a Rockville, MD Family Counseling
Either do the work you need to do on yourself before you get out there and into a new relationship, or you will be stuck and doomed to an ongoing loop of pain, with as many failed relationships in your future as you have in your past. What you are seeking in a partner is out there looking for you as well. 

Get prepared, and when you find each other, you may have the skills to enjoy your union for many years to come. We have the experience and qualifications to help you break down the destructive habits of the past and learn the new skills that you’ll need moving forward. Contact us to schedule Maryland family counseling at Lindsey Hoskins & Associates today.