As a professional therapist, Jay Brandenburg-Nau counsels clients in different stages and scenarios of life who aim to improve their well-being and achieve a healthier overall lifestyle. Often, he recommends family therapy to help families heal from trauma and learn to function as a more complete unit, and he shares the benefits of this style of therapy below.
Jay Brandenburg-Nau
Jay Brandenburg-Nau applies years of counseling and mental health research to client cases ranging from individuals and couples to larger groups such as families. As an experienced professional counselor, he helps them all find their footing towards a happier, healthier life and teaches them new habits to follow for lasting results.
Often, he encounters families who have undergone some form of trauma, which can take on a variety of different shapes depending on each family’s situation and history. Trauma can result from a death in the family, moving to a new location, having a parent go off to war, experiencing a divorce, poor child development and more.
“Not every client situation will require the same solution or process of healing,” says Jay Brandenburg-Nau, “but any family struggling as a whole will find a world of benefits in group therapy.”
Through therapy, Jay Brandenburg-Nau believes families can uncover underlying problems or causes behind certain behaviors. It can be used to treat mental health concerns, which take on forms like excessive anger, eating disorders, substance abuse, depression and more. It allows for each member of the family to tell their story and help the others in their unit gain a better perspective of each individual.
Behavioral problems in children are often a big concern for parents who struggle with everyday challenges or deep, underlying problems. Through family therapy, they can bring those hidden instigators to light and talk out a healthy solution that works for everyone and helps improve behavior in their children.
The goal of family therapy is to promote understanding within the group and to teach collaboration so that families can tackle future concerns as a more wholesome, healthy unit. The skills taught within family therapy can later be applied in other areas of their lives and will teach individuals respect for others and to function better in society and groups in general.
The method of family therapy will likely change from case to case, as every family comes with its own set of problems that need to be addressed. Most approaches borrow from systems theory, which helps the individuals learn how they affect each other and the group as a whole. Psychological approaches like experiential, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic may also factor in. Regardless of the approach, family therapy will improve overall communication, coping mechanisms, and problem-solving skills for everyone.
“It’s a lot more than helping families achieve balance through therapy,” says Jay Brandenburg-Nau. “It’s about improving the individuals so they can function in any group more successfully––especially within their family.”
