What is Family Communication?
What is Family Communcation?
Family Communication is the way verbal and non-verbal information is exchanged between family members. Communication involves the ability to pay attention to the spoken and unspoken, for yourself and others. It involves navigating emotions, identifying needs, and transitioning these into accurate words that heal and connect. Family communication is in the subtleties of our language. Our words can say one thing when our bodies, tones, and actions can be saying another. Our minds and bodies pick up on these misalignments and saying this outloud to one another is the first step.
Family Communication is framework for processing our thoughts, beliefs, words, and body language to be congruent and effective with our family members. There can be a lot of unspoken rules and invisible roles playing out within our family relationships that spill over into other aspects of our lives that create a cycle of harm and hurt for ourselves and others.
Receiving Family Communication support and education can be really helpful in preventing harm, creating safety and trust with one another, and healing from deep-rooted family wounds.
We all get holiday cards in the mail every year of people showing off their families. We’ve been conditioned into thinking what a “picture perfect family” looks like. There is so much pressure to be this family. Everything can look “normal” or “pretty” on the surface but how we speak, look, touch, and relate to one another in the day-to-day interactions is usually messy, confusing, and sometimes even intensely hurtful.
Let’s put aside that “picture perfect family” ideal in those holiday cards and start defining what feels right, safe, and happy for us!
You might think, “all families have these problems” or “no family is perfect” and while these statements are true, they can also sometimes minimize or dismiss deep pain we all feel within the family system. Abiding by these beliefs can really keep our relationships stuck and even perpetuate more hurt with one another. The issue might not be what you think it is and communication truly makes or breaks relationships.
I’d love to help you discover more loving and healing ways to communicate that lead to more connection within your family system.
FAQ's
Therapy is more about processing feelings to heal the past and relieve emotional distress while Family Communication Support (FCS) is more about learning how to communicate in the present in a way that prevents more harm. Past feelings and events are always important to acknowledge in Family Communication Support, however FCS focuses on how to move forward and create healthy relationships, while possibly even preventing future therapy needed.
Absolutely! Family communication and therapy or life coaching can be excellent complimentary resources that feed off one another.
Nevertheless, there are many new schools of thought coming out that there is so much lacking in “traditional therapy” these days. It is my hope that support and education in Family Communication can mitigate some of this and fill in the blanks where people need help!
Therapy can be so healing, but it does not always help in how to communicate in the present moment with partnership language or how to invite others into more healthy connection with you. There are also individuals I’ve worked with that have been in therapy for years and never learned these skills or new ways of being.
If therapy didn’t really work for you, or it worked on some level and yet there is still something missing in your family dynamics or romantic partnerships, I highly recommend giving Family Communication a try! I really believe you will be glad you did.
The goal of Family Communication Support is to help individuals learn to uncomplicate their complicated relationships. The goal of our sessions is to better understand what your own unique definition of safety and connection mean to you and what communication options are aligned with that definition.
It requires self-honesty and openness along the way, but healthy family relationships where everyone feels safe, seen, and heard are indeed possible.
This is unfortunately a common occurrence. It can create a lot of disorientation, anger, and sadness.
However, working with individuals on their own can still result in deep healing and help them shift other relationships in their life where it breaks unhealthy relationship dynamics with others. Even just focusing on one relationship can help better other relationships in your life, whether it is now or in the future.
Even if not all parties are open, there are lots of healing options for the person seeking them.
Family Communication is such a passion of mine because my own education and support in the field has deeply transformed my own family relationships where I personally feel a safety I’ve always been yearning for. It is still a work in progress, but you can read more about my personal story here.
Our beliefs, senses of self, and worldview are all significantly influenced by our mothers, fathers, siblings, romantic partners, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. Since these relationships affect so many aspects of our own lives, it’s hard not to get passionate about something so important!