Family Systems Orientation
Viewing Struggles from a Whole System Perspective
We work with the individual client and the client’s family members to understand and heal the family system as a whole. Families function as a system of relationships and working within this system is an important part of our approach. Our clinical team acts as an extension of your family system to provide the extra support families need to get unstuck, heal, and evolve. Family evolution happens when we learn to be present and stay in relationship, especially when real life stressors drive us into past patterns of communication.
Parent coaching is a key part of family systems work. Parent coaching emphasizes emotional awareness and processing work for the parent. Parent’s emotions (conscious and unconscious) create behaviors that impact the system/relational bond with their children. Our work is about helping increase parents’ awareness and healing of their emotional distress so they can show up with more mindfulness and empathy, and cultivate strong, healthy relationships with their child. Improved relationships serve as a foundation for safety, open dialogue, trust, and collaboration. Parent coaching offers a transformative approach that empowers parents to navigate their unique parenting challenges with confidence, openness and compassion. By investing in parent coaching, families can reclaim their connection, rebuild relationships, and cultivate a supportive environment for everyone to thrive.
Relational Therapy: Real World Attunement in Action
From our Colorado Team Leader, Jeannie Morrison, LPC
“It’s not uncommon for my teen clients to begin session with resistance and being withdrawn. I am frequently picking them up for session from home or school. They may be holding emotions from conflict at home or a hard day at school. I notice their “shutdown” as low mood, low motivation, minimal conversation and often with edge, and often extra fidgety. I honor this and keep interactions light and minimal. Being in Colorado, one of my favorite things to do is go on hikes with my clients. As we get on the trail, even when they are resistant, clients start moving alongside me and bit by bit I see their shutdown dissipate. They loosen their movement, smile and laugh a little more, and begin sharing more authentically about what is going on for them. They deepen their personal exploration of thoughts and feelings and engage with me more. There seems to be alignment in our movement and energy. This shutdown dissipation tends to happen quicker the longer I work with a client and trust and safety are built up, but honestly, I’m happy with whatever pace they bring. Attunement is about not having an agenda and building from where my client is able to connect. That’s why I love the work I do with Wonder because it gives my teen clients a chance to connect in a safe way and that’s where healing begins.”
Behavioral vs Relational Therapy: What's the difference?
Behavioral therapy and relational therapy are two distinct approaches within the field of psychotherapy, each offering unique perspectives on understanding and treating psychological issues. Behavioral therapy, rooted in behaviorism, focuses on observable and measurable behaviors. The primary goal is to identify and modify maladaptive behaviors through a systematic and goal-oriented approach. Behavioral therapy is often time-limited and solution-focused, concentrating on changing specific behaviors rather than exploring deep-rooted emotions or relational patterns.
Relational therapy, on the other hand, emphasizes the significance of interpersonal relationships and their impact on psychological well-being. Rooted in psychodynamic and humanistic traditions, relational therapy focuses on the dynamics between individuals and their social context. Relational therapists explore the client’s current and past relationships, aiming to understand patterns, conflicts, and the impact of relational dynamics on the individual’s mental health. The therapeutic relationship is a central component of relational therapy. Trust, empathy, and collaboration between the therapist and client are crucial for fostering positive change. Relational therapy often involves a more in-depth exploration of emotions, past experiences, and the influence of significant relationships on the client’s self-concept and worldview.
Because, at Wonder, we utilize a relational approach, we track progress by how teen clients engage with authentic relationships with parents, teachers, and peers. Many of our clients have struggled with “behavior” throughout their lives and it has been the source of conflict and distress. We aim to address behavioral struggles through the relational connection. As our clients feel heard, understood, and safe in relationship, behavior begins to shift naturally. We aim to help parents feel the same especially in connection with their struggling child.
Activity Based Coaching and Therapy: A Conduit to Relationship Dynamic
Farmers Market and Ocean Cliff Walk - San Francisco Activity
How a Wonder coach utilizes activity in their therapeutic work: “Working in Northern California, I am lucky to be surrounded by beautiful nature. One of my favorite activities to do with clients blends both social emotional learning, interpersonal skills, and contemplative time spent in nature. First I head to the weekly farmer’s market with my client where we sample fresh fruits and produce, engage in brief, friendly and low-stakes conversations with vendors, practice decision-making skills and financial planning tools (Should we get a pupusa or a smoothie? What can we afford to buy today?), and witness and partake in various forms of interpersonal interactions and community engagement. After, delicious snack in hand, we head to a hike up to the ocean cliffs overlooking the sparkling Pacific waves and enjoy some contemplative, meditative time in nature. My favorite cliff hike even has a spiral made from stones overlooking the ocean so I am able to engage my clients in a meditative, intention-setting practice that evokes spiraling inward to explore their inner emotional state. Often we are climbing down from the cliffs just as the sun is setting and it is truly an incredible, awe-inspiring way to connect with the beauty and rhythms of nature while discussing whatever is coming up for the client in the moment.”
Why Change the Dynamic of Traditional Talk Therapy?
Many of our clients express that while traditional talk therapy was initially helpful, it has limitations and their child no longer engages. Getting their child to go to a session often becomes such a battle, on top of all the other battles, that disengagement and therapy fatigue becomes the norm. That’s why Wonder opts for another pathway to connection with kids.
“Experiential therapy” has many forms but for us it is an Activities Based Approach to therapy that enables clients to experience themselves in various types of situations or interactions in the real world, whether at home or in the community. This allows our clinical team to engage with kids in the moment struggles arise in real time. Our team utilizes a heightened type of attunement because there are many more factors affecting kids in the real world. We see the subtle moments kids engage in relationship and work from there.
Many young people benefit from this type of therapy because it encourages curiosity and openness to emotional experiences. An understanding of how different contexts and activities evoke different behavior patterns in each of us allows individuals to chose from a broader range of more adaptive options.
We often use activities, such as hiking, rock climbing, art work, or other types of play to foster connection and trust in the therapeutic relationship. Our clinicians meet with clients in the community and in-home to help them explore their environment with a receptive and more confident approach to living.