Estranged Families

The concept of estranged families has received much press recently. We are in an age where there is less dependence on extended family and more geographic distance amongst family members. Many years ago, families would maintain unhealthy connections because it was necessary for economic and survival needs. As people have become more independent and aware of unhealthy patterns, a common way of healing and coping is to not have contact with certain family members. This has mixed results on a family system. It can bring some types of peace while also bringing painful losses.

If both parties desire to bridge the gap and re-establish a relationship without the unhealthy patterns, counseling can help with that so that problems are addressed to prevent falling back into the unhealthy patterns. The process would include learning ground rules and boundaries in the beginning so further harm is not done. Then we’d move into learning how to listen to each other so that each feels heard. While there is a need to examine what happened in the past, the purpose is to understand each person’s needs and how to forgive. The goal is to create a new way of being together that is founded on mutual respect.