Many parents think that their children are being rebellious when they do not comply with the “house rules” or follow what the parents ask them to do. This is not always the case. Sometimes children rebel from their parents because they feel unsafe. It is common to work with families who have a child who behaves well at school or when participating in clubs and social activities but is obstructive or defiant in the home. When parents take the behaviors of such a child personally and do not recognize the behavior as a sign of some real (albeit subjective) wound on the part of the child, little progress can be made.
Personal wounds between family members can create significant barriers toward greater emotional intimacy. After all, who wants to be intimate with someone who has hurt us? We work with families to identify and heal sources of conflict in the family so that a more durable connection can be built between family members, creating an opportunity for the family to have a more solid foundation upon which to build a healthy family culture.