Blended Families
Children - Teens - Couples - Single Parents - Individuals
Approximately 75% of the 1.2 million Americans who divorce each year will eventually remarry. Many have children and even with the best of intentions can find step-family life more complex than they ever imagined.
Having survived and moved on from a painful divorce or separation, it can be a wonderful time when we find new love and are positive about our future. We enter into relationships with the best of intentions and with the greatest of hopes. When families “blend” to create stepfamilies, though, things rarely progress smoothly. Some children may resist the many changes they face, while parents may become frustrated or disappointed when the new family doesn’t function like their previous family.
If you are reading this, chances are that your family is not relating and bonding in the way you had hoped. While changes to family structure require some adjustment time for everyone involved, with the right guidance and realistic expectations, most blended families are able to work out their growing pains and live together successfully. Open communication, positive attitudes, mutual respect, and plenty of love and patience all have an important impact on the success and longevity of a blended family.
Trying to make a blended family a replica of your first family, or the ideal nuclear family, can often set family members up for confusion, frustration, and disappointment. Instead, I can help you embrace the differences and consider the basic elements and strengths of each member and the group as a whole that will set you on the path to forming ‘your family’.
As an adult adoptee who experienced the divorce and remarriages of both my parents, and step parented two children into adulthood I understand from both a personal and professional perspective that divorce and repositioning of one’s family of origin can run deep into the core of who we think we are, so much so that it can inhibit a realistic and positive sense of self. Through my own personal journey, my academic training and clinical experience I believe strongly in the premise and the promise that the potential for growth and positive change is available to anyone. We and our children can overcome early loss, form secure attachments and thrive in the present to create a new future for our loved ones and ourselves.
I offer a variety of services to meet the needs of children ages five and older, teens, and adults. My style is individualized in an environment that is empathetic, supportive and strengths based. I include a blend of conventional and alternative approaches, drawing upon a variety of styles and techniques to incorporate what would be most helpful for each client.
