Uncertainty. Fear. Changes in Behavior. These are just some of the reasons why clients come to NFRC during a family transition. It’s hard to know what to expect during divorce and family change. You don’t have to go through it alone.

There is no one-size-fits-all form of therapy because individual family circumstances make each and every family change unique. As a result, there may be certain issues that cannot be fully addressed in group therapy. To help explore and deal with such issues, NFRC offers individual, couples and family counseling (for parents and their children ages three and older).

NFRC therapists work with younger children through play therapy, storytelling, sand trays and other means to help children express their feelings, work through challenges and learn ways of coping with change. Children ages 6 and older as well as teens benefit from having a safe place with a therapist they learn to trust. Parents are first seen by the therapist to gather a history about their child’s development and to discuss their concerns about their child. When appropriate and without breaking their child’s confidentiality, the therapist may make helpful recommendations to the parents to reinforce the progress their child has made.

Therapy for teens involves building a trusting relationship, developing a safe space and working with the teen on goals he/she states are important to work on. Through reflective listening, cognitive behavior behavioral interventions, working on building healthy relationships, teens gain confidence, coping skills, reduce stress and feel empowered to impact their lives.

Teen therapy groups normalize teens’ concerns, create empathic environments conducive to learning and practicing how to make positive changes.

NFRC therapists work with outside providers to bring needed resources to children and teens, as needed, and work with parents to support their parenting through difficult times., without breaking the children’s confidentiality.

Couple’s may seek counseling to strengthen their relationship, explore and agree to realistic expectations prior to and during a committed relationship.

Trained therapists customize their interventions based on couples’ goals, challenges they bring and what they need. Communication, conflict resolution, handling emotions such as anger and sadness, mental illness, major decisions to make, children, children’s challenges are some of the couple issues that are addressed.

It takes time and hard work to blend families. Bringing losses and challenges from the past, love and hope for the present and future, couples blending a family come in many different

“shapes and sizes.” Based on a couple’s goals, NFRC therapists work on couple’s expectations, agreed upon parenting and co-parenting roles, engaging with extended families, when appropriate, working with past partners and focusing on fostering parent-child relationships.

Therapy groups for youth are based on age and the ability of group members to interact with each other and be supportive to each other. Groups help to normalize challenges for children and teens; they see that they are not alone, can learn from others as well as provide support to each other. Sharing concerns, giving and receiving feedback to and from others help children and teens begin to have confidence to make needed changes in their lives, learn to maintain healthy peer relationships and build confidence through peer support. Group facilitators at NFRC model healthy relationships, maintain constructive group norms and build hope and resilience.

Groups for men and therapy groups for women focus on providing support and interventions during times of transition. From being a single parent, to constructive co-parenting, to dealing with mental illness and learning about resources in the community, these groups provide hope, specific coping skills and comradery during difficult and stressful times.

Sometimes it takes some added time to figure out all of the co-parenting challenges.

NFRC provides co-parenting consultation to assist co-parent communication, child focused decision making and parent plans. NFRC staff work with diverse family compositions and continue to work with parents as they work through challenges with children, modify agreements based on changing needs and perhaps form blended families.

Co-Parent Program

Reunification involves both parents and a child who has had challenges with one parent. These “resist and refuse” situations can result in refusing to spend time with a parent, refusing to follow an agreed upon access schedule. Sometimes, children may fear being with a parent as they have had problems with that parent prior to family transition.

NFRC requires both parents to first meet separately with an NFRC therapist to obtain a family history, then the counselor brings parents together (virtually) for one or two sessions to assess how well parents can get along and communicate about their child and most importantly, support the reunification work. Then the NFRC therapist meets with the child(ren), separately. The NFRC reunification counselor determines the frequency of meetings.

The cost for reunification is $250.00 and hour. It is not therapy, so it is not insurance reimbursable.

Play therapy is a theoretically-based approach that allows children to share their thoughts, feelings, needs and experiences in an alternative way. Developmentally, children often lack the verbal language skills to express themselves effectively. Play therapy provides a natural method for them to reach healthy solutions for their problems and identify ways to think about, feel, and articulate their needs.

Play therapy provides a warm and inviting setting for children to explore and facilitate self-expression by providing a wide array of play materials carefully selected for play therapy, including games, toys, play materials and creative expression tools.

Teen Therapy Group for High School Students is the other program we are offering. Group sessions will meet for eight consecutive Wednesdays. This group will be formed around what goals each teen has, and we will assist them in working toward establishing connectedness and empathy with each other and supporting needed changes.

Teens learn to face their issues and issues in their families, learn skills to express concerns, feelings, and practice problem solving approaches to build resiliency and experience healthy peer support.