Our Premium Selection of Top Online Family Therapy Programs

While blood may be thicker than water, that does not mean that family bonds can be taken lightly. Family relations are as rich, profound, and complex as they come. They can also be quite painful in certain cases. All of us wish for a happy family, one that supports us and helps us grow to be even better. A family that keeps us safe even in our most vulnerable moments. However, having a harmonious family is often challenging to maintain. Most of the time, it takes hard work, good communication skills as well as being able to see problems from a different perspective. Naturally, these aren’t the skills that everyone possesses, hence the need for therapists. Online family therapy programs offer a very convenient and practical solution for keeping everything together.

But what exactly is family therapy and what does it involve? What are the stages, types, and techniques that family therapy counselors use? Consumer Opinion Guide is here to answer all those questions in addition to offering a premium selection of marriage and family therapy programs.

What does online family therapy involve?

Online marriage and family therapy programs as well as online family counseling sessions are forms of psychotherapy that are there to help families and spouses resolve conflicts, improve their communication, and make the family ties even stronger. This practice is usually led by a qualified mental health professional (psychologist, licensed professional counselor, licensed social worker) who also have extensive training and experience in family therapy. Ideally, they will also be accredited by the AAMFT (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy).

For the most part, family therapy online is usually a solution-focused endeavor as well as a short-term one. Most families report resolving their issues and accomplishing their goals in twelve sessions or fewer. But, as with any other form of therapy, it can be long-term as well.

Since family therapy needs to involve all of the participating family members, online family counseling is a lot more convenient than traditional family therapy. There is no need to drive to the counselor’s office, for one. The expenses are also lower, meaning that some family members might be more interested in online therapy.

It is also possible for individual family members to schedule one-on-one sessions with their therapist, as they will receive a unique treatment plan designed around their family profile, objectives, and issues.

Why choose online family therapy over traditional family therapy?

Without mentioning the pandemic (which is a strong reason for choosing online over in-person), the main reason why families choose online counseling is due to how easy it is to set up. Traditionally, going to family therapy sessions involves the entire family going to the counselor’s office, which can be quite difficult to schedule. With an online approach, there is no need to travel and the therapy sessions can be attended from the comfort of your own home.

This comfort and safety that your own home provides is the second most important reason why online therapy, in general, has gained so much momentum. There is no need to put yourself in stressful situations if you can talk to other family members and the therapist over a video call.

Then there’s the fact that in-person therapy is usually restricted to once-a-week therapy sessions. Whereas online therapy usually involves messaging and other forms of communication between sessions. Online therapy is also more affordable for families that do not have sufficient insurance coverage. But most importantly, online therapy allows you to choose from thousands of qualified therapists that are not restricted to your location or timezone.

Benefits and goals of online marriage and family therapy programs

There are numerous benefits that a family can reap from online family therapy, depending on their situation and other factors. That being said, almost every family will see improvement in:

• Communication
• Mutual trust
• Enhanced compassion/empathy
• Conflict resolution
• Resilience and coping skills

Apart from that, the simple fact that you are improving your relationship with your family may lead to improvements in all other areas of your life. A happy family is a foundation for your overall wellbeing, after all.

Goals

When it comes to the goals of family therapy, they are as diverse as families are. The first thing that a therapist will ask is what is everyone’s goal in-depth before they start developing a plan for treatment. Some goals are more common than others, and they include:

• Reconciling or healing a relationship
• Improving rapport
• Solving immediate issues
• Reducing tension and conflict in the house
• Improving family’s long-term problem-solving skills
• Asking for forgiveness
• Establishing healthy boundaries
• Getting over a specific hurdle
• Anger management
• Rebuilding trust
• Preventing future conflicts
• Diagnosing and improving maladaptive family styles

As you can see, there is a lot of issues that family therapists can help with. Most families have numerous goals for their therapy sessions, spread out among individuals. Furthermore, the very best online marriage and family therapy programs have an extremely high rate of success, even more than traditional therapy solutions. Sometimes, an online environment may make it a lot easier for the family members to “open up” and talk about their issues. As family therapy all but requires the presence of all affected members, talking via a voice chat can sometimes make all the difference.

All that being said, online family therapy is not there to fully replace traditional family therapy. Some families will simply not be able to communicate online and that is perfectly fine. But those families who have no problem with online communication will be able to benefit from lower costs, greater flexibility, as well as the ability to choose from thousands of qualified online therapists.

Recommended online marriage and family therapy professionals:

• Calmerry
• Talkspace
• Online Therapy

Stages of online family therapy

Online family counseling is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Professional therapists design unique treatment plans for each family. Most of them adopt a sequential approach, with distinct stages. Most commonly, family therapy online has an initial (preparation) stage that has the following steps:

• Defining the problem
• Assessing the family and creating a hypothesis
• Formulating family goals
• Developing a unique treatment plan
• Seeking mutual acceptance
• Making a formal contract

After this first stage, both the family and the therapist move to the “middle stage” where the hard work begins. This stage differs from family to family, depending on the factors that were set in the initial stage. After the middle stage is over and the family is ready to handle their problems on their own, online family counseling goes to the “termination phase”. It’s always possible that after a while, the family will need an additional session or two. But for the most part, all the problems should be solved by now.

Types of online family therapy

Depending on the family’s goals and needs, there is a variety of approaches that an online counselor can use. The therapy modalities that have proven themselves to be most effective are:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) – This therapy type focuses on changing unhealthy behaviors or thoughts. Changing them has a direct effect on the health of the relationships within the family. However, for it to work, all family members need to be willing to put in hard work throughout the process.
• Supportive family therapy – When families have difficulties expressing their feelings, this is the most common therapy type counselors use. The therapy helps family members express themselves and have meaningful conversations about family issues. Supportive family therapy relies on supportive, safe, relationships between family members, as well as their counselor. Therefore, it is extremely important that a counselor is a person that everyone can trust implicitly.
• Structural family therapy – This form of online family counseling focuses on interaction patterns between family members, as well as the overall family organization.
• Solution-focused family therapy – This is the most “straightforward” therapy type, as it focuses on the immediate goals and on the future, instead of focusing on the past.

As you can see, each approach is specifically designed to help in certain situations. These are not the only forms of family therapy online but are the most common ones. It is entirely possible that a family requires a unique approach.

A few other notable forms of family therapy are psychodynamic therapy which is based around unconscious processes, as well as specialized couples therapy. A good therapist gets to know your family first, then suggests a treatment plan that will cover your and your family’s specific needs.

Techniques

During the therapy sessions, counselors utilize a variety of techniques to personalize treatment plans even further. Depending on the family, a therapist can choose to combine behavioral, structural, psychodynamic, and strategic techniques. All of these techniques work well on their own, of course, but most accomplished therapists combine a few of them into their sessions.

Furthermore, these techniques can be combined with games to tailor the sessions to families that have different age ranges and abilities between their members. Here are some of the examples of family therapy techniques:

• Therapists ask a “miracle question”, where each family member reveals their wish (and by doing so, their fundamental needs).
• A genogram, where extra information in a family tree is mapped.
• Scavenger hunt, where family members collect objects that will reveal what matters to them the most.
• Family gifting, as a form of provoking discussion
• “Emotions Ball” technique, where family members describe their emotions by using a ball game.
• Mirroring activity, where family learns to have more compassion for each other and learns to work better together.

Counselor’s role in online family therapy

Whether you want to enroll in family therapy or try one of the best online marriage and family therapy programs, your counselor is one of the most important factors. They need to facilitate successful communication by being wise and compassionate. Before a therapist can start helping the family, they need to first build a rapport with every family member, as well as rapport between the members of the family. They then use that rapport to discuss conflicts, evaluate existing strategies for dealing with those conflicts, clarify the conflicts themselves, as well as help the family members understand each others’ perspectives. Ultimately, it is the counselors’ job to bring the therapy sessions to a resolution that is to everyone’s liking.

A good counselor needs numerous skills to make this happen. There are several notable roles that the counselor needs to assume during online family counseling, such as:

• Interpreter
• Educator
• Challenger
• Activator
• Parent figure

And the difficult part is that the counselor needs to switch between these roles “on the fly”. Therefore, choosing the right therapist for your family is of the utmost importance.

How to select an ideal therapist?

The first thing you need to ensure is that your therapist has all the necessary credentials. They need to have specialized training and possibly a degree in the relevant field. You want an individual who has experience with family therapy, specifically.

The next step is making sure that you and your family members are comfortable talking to the therapist. You can arrange a phone or video call before you commit to therapy sessions, making this part rather easy. Even a brief encounter with your therapist can tell you a lot, so you will want to pay attention. After the talk with the therapist, ask yourself the following:

• Did the therapist interrupt you frequently?
• Who did most of the talking?
• Did you feel that the therapist was a good listener?

The fact of the matter is that online therapy sessions can feel awkward at times. It is very important to pay attention to what your intuition, or “gut feeling” is telling you.

Lastly, take your time when choosing a therapist. If you have a problem that you need to solve right now, then you can simply go with the first qualified individual you find. You will have no problems setting up online training sessions in any case. But for the best results, you will want to talk to several therapists and see which one suits your family the best. It is perfectly alright to communicate with more than one therapist and go with the one that your family likes the most. Of course, you can save a whole lot of time and stress by going directly to the best of the best online therapy companies based on reviews.