Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about Family Counseling. If you need more information or have specific questions, please call 713.335.6461.
What services are available for parents & children?
- A Family Team of 6–7 skilled therapists, led by Greg Curnutte and Mary Ring, are ready to serve your family as the need arises.
- Assessments are available to determine what type of service would best suit your family’s need. A child’s behavior is only a symptom of a needed change. If the focus of treatment is solely a change in behavior, we might change the symptom but not completely deal with the root of the problem.
- Treatment processes are used to help the relationship improve among family members or help your child adjust to life changes or emotional difficulties that come into his/her life.
- At times we may ask parents to participate in “parenting seminars” as part of the treatment process and provide biblically sound information and support for developing a parenting strategy as you go through the various stages of development with your child(ren).There are three options available:
- Personal Parenting Seminar — This is a parent session to discuss the parenting seminar information. These sessions would take place between your child(ren)’s sessions.
- Personal Parenting Seminar with Online Seminars — This is a parent session to discuss the parenting seminar information that you watched in the online seminars. You will meet with the counselor to discuss concepts and answer questions on how to apply topics covered.
- Group Parenting Seminars — These are parent sessions in a group setting with other parents. The groups are age-based (Birth-4yrs, K-4th, 5th-8th, 9th-12th) and based upon your family makeup (Biological, Foster/Adopt, Blended, Divorced). These groups will be formed based upon need. Your children would be in a therapy group during this time based upon the before mentioned criteria.
- Family Camps provide an opportunity to spend a day enriching your knowledge base for your specific parenting style, while your child has an opportunity to experience sensory-rich activities with other children of similar age. Another part of this camp experience is multi-family group times, where each family has great experiential times together that enrich the family relationships. Family camps are based upon the type of family formation present, such as foster/adopt, blended or biological. For more information and dates, visit the Counseling Retreats page.
What issues does the family team serve?
- Anxiety/Depression (not medication)
- ADD/ADHD coping and management skills (not medication)
- Anger/Aggressiveness
- Relationship issues, either familial or social
- Grief situations
- Inferiority/Incompetency
- Selective mutism
- Foster/Adopt issues
- Behavioral management
- School concerns
- Divorce/Blended family
- Sexual abuse or unhealthy exposure
These are some of the main issues, but others come up and are treated because of the many various kinds of life experiences that can happen.
What can I expect when I make the call to the center?
- Information will be taken about your need. To provide a cost-effective
process an appointment will be set up for you as parents to attend an
informational meeting about our family counseling process. At this meeting you
will receive information about our treatment process, have the opportunity to
ask questions, and fill out forms needed by the family team therapists to begin
the official parent intake. At the end of the meeting you will be scheduled for
a parent intake with a specific family team member.
- The parent intake is a session without children present. You
will meet with one of our Family Team members who will gather all the pertinent
information needed to determine what assessments are best for your
child(ren)/family. At the end of this session, we should be able to schedule
any additional assessments needed.
- Once the assessment is finished, a feedback session will be
scheduled with the parent(s) only. The purpose of this session is to develop
the treatment protocol that will be used either with your child(ren) or as a
family, depending on the concerns needing to be addressed.
What are the various types of therapy used to serve children and/or families?
- Theraplay – Theraplay is a modality that helps create a
balanced and meaningful relationship between parent and child, as well as among
other family members. All Family Team members are trained in Theraplay
principles, and Mary Ring is certified as a Theraplay therapist and trainer.
- Experiential/Sand/Art/Play therapy – All team members are
trained in various types of experiential therapies and consult with one
another, and obtain supervision as needed to assure the best possible
treatment.
- Neurofeedback - is a type of therapy that uses electrodes to
read how the brain is “firing” in specific areas. This information is then used
to provide training protocols to help the brain optimize its performance in
that specific area.
- Safe and Sound Protocol - The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP)
is a research-based therapy developed by Dr. Stephen Porges based on Polyvagal
Theory. It is a five-day auditory intervention designed to reduce stress and
auditory sensitivity while enhancing social engagement and resilience.
- Talk therapy – Talk therapy is used at times with children
but many times they do not have the ability to express the depth of their
emotions regarding a particular situation because meaningful therapy of this
nature can require a higher brain developmental level than is present in the
current stage of growth. Experiential therapies accomplish this in a more
effective manner and resolve the issue for the child at a deeper level.