Family Therapy · Families and Teens
Family Therapy
Systemic family therapy looks at the household as a living set of interactions. Rather than locating the trouble in one member, the work traces the cycle everyone is participating in, and where it can be interrupted.
60-minute sessions · $250
In Her Words
Family therapy is a type of psychotherapy done to help family members improve communication and resolve conflicts. Family therapy is often short term. Your specific treatment plan will depend on your family's situation. Family therapy sessions can teach you skills to deepen family connections and get through stressful times, even after you're done going to therapy sessions.
I work with all family members or just those most able to participate. Sessions are customized for the specific needs of the family.
Who It's For
Households in Transition or Conflict
Families come in around a struggling teen, repeated conflict between parents and children, a transition that has unsettled everyone, or a communication breakdown that has become the household's normal.
Athena's approach is warm and direct, and LGBTQ+ affirming. Everyone in the room gets to be a whole person rather than a role, including the parents.
She does not treat substance abuse, grief, or OCD; if one of those is central for your family, she will say so and help you look toward a suitable referral.
Family therapy sessions can teach you skills to deepen family connections and get through stressful times, even after you're done going to therapy sessions.
The Focus
What We Work On
Interactional patterns
Who reacts to whom, in what order, and what each move is trying to accomplish.
Cycles that no longer serve
Dysfunctional loops (escalation, avoidance, triangulation) named plainly so the family can see them from the outside.
Change that holds
Adjustments the whole household practices, so a single person is not carrying the shift alone.
Before You Book
The practical details
- Session length
- 60 minutes · $250
- In person or telehealth
- In person at 24 South 600 East, Suite 2, Salt Lake City, or by telehealth anywhere in Utah.
- Starting point
- The contact form, before any first session is scheduled.
- Licensure
- Athena is licensed in Utah only, so you need to be physically located in Utah for sessions.
24-hour cancellation policy. Athena does not treat substance abuse, grief, or OCD, and therapy does not come with guaranteed outcomes.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much is a family session?
- A family session is 60 minutes and the fee is $250.
- Who should come to family therapy?
- That is decided together in the first conversations. Sometimes it is parents and a teen, sometimes the whole household, sometimes a shifting configuration depending on what is being worked on.
- Our teen is the one struggling. Why does everyone attend?
- In systemic therapy, a symptom is read in context. Bringing the family in is not about assigning blame: it is because the people around a pattern are part of how it is maintained, and part of how it changes.
- What does 'change that holds' mean?
- Change that ignores the system around a person often slips back once the old cycle restarts. When the household's interactions shift alongside the individual, progress has somewhere to live.
- Is telehealth an option for families?
- Yes, when everyone attending is located in Utah at the time of the session. Athena is licensed in Utah only.
- How do we get started?
- Start with the contact form and share a little about who is involved and what has been happening.