FAMILY COUNSELING
At the Julianna Poor Memorial Counseling Center at Houston's First Baptist Church we have developed a “Team” approach to meeting the needs of the families that come in for counseling. Often when a family has issues or a crisis one or two individuals are the focus. We have come to believe that the best way to see those individuals succeed and for the family to succeed is to get everyone involved. We see the family as a team with each person having an important role in change. Parent(s) are the leaders who often need some more specific direction in how to deal with their children. Children are still growing and learning and need some help sometimes expressing what they need or how to relate to siblings. Our goal is to help parents understand how to relate to their children in a way that is beneficial for both and provide a safe way for children to express themselves.
Our approach as a “Team” starts with a parent intake. This is a meeting with one or both parents that allows us to get background information for a child or children. In the case of divorced families we need divorce papers that show who has the right to consent to counseling. After that our family team which consists of counselors who feel called to work with families will meet together to decide who will be the best fit for working with the individual and/or family. Once that has been decided the counselor will contact you to let you know what will be next step. Often this is still some more information gathering time such as seeing how the child interacts with parent(s) and how the family interacts as a whole.
Mary Ring who has been counseling for 25+ years oversees the program and meets regularly with the team for consultations and continuing training. She is a registered Play Therapist and Trainer as well as an LPC Supervisor. Mary has led training seminars here in the United States and over seas. Her desire to see the family unit succeed is shown in her continual pursuit of what is the latest research and treatments in the field today.