Adoption and Foster Care Therapy

Conflicted Emotions After Adoption and Foster Care

Children that are placed in adoption or foster homes often experience conflicted emotions with regards to their past. They may not express it all the time, but the uncertainty of the future coupled with stress related to current events can work towards making the child feel overwhelmed. Through adoption and foster care therapy, it is possible to explore these issues with your child. Even those children taken into loving and caring homes, often experience stress related to life events and find it difficult to cope with moving on in their lives. It is important to engage them in an atmosphere designed to help them recover from past traumas , and adoption and foster care therapy can do that for them.

Understanding the Child's Past

Understanding where the children come from in their past can provide a clearer perspective on the issues they deal with on a daily basis. It is often the parents who cannot afford to raise a child, or those who believe that their child would be better off with someone else – are the ones who give their children up for adoption. Similarly, children placed in foster homes are often taken away from neglectful parents by Child Protective Services. While some of these children do find placements long term with a loving and nurturing family, most of them move from institutions to group homes, or between multiple foster families, until they grow old enough to leave the system. And not all foster homes are pleasant either – sometimes, it is possible for an adult in the foster home to abuse the child. A study revealed that one in three alumni of the Child Protective Services program said that they were abused at least once by an adult in the foster care system. A child can face abuse in multiple homes as well, and with the high case loads the Case Worker has to deal with, they may not notice the signs of neglect as well as abuse. Sometimes, a report that this is happening is also not provided, thus showing no evidence that anything is wrong.

Attachment Issues and Adoption

Due to the high number of placements and transitions a typical child may experience prior to finding a long-term home, attachment issues and related concerns are common. In addition, some children may exhibit serious behavioral issues as a result of early trauma and a lack of structure and consistency in their lives. These behavior problems can impact the entire family system and may also result in increased placement disruption in foster or adoptive homes.

Trained Counseling

Adoption and Foster Care therapy places the child in the same room as a trained counselor who specializes in resolving any issues the child might face because of their turbulent past. Often, children in adoption and foster care homes experience distress related to not knowing who they are or where they come from. There is a need to help them explore their identity and help them realize that they are entitled to a good life. Sometimes children who are placed even in happy homes, still continue to fantasize about their biological parents and siblings. As a result of this, they might become oppositional, angry or anxious. Exploring relevant issues related to both their identity as well as their past can help to resolve this matter. And therapy and counselling could provide a safe place to vent their feelings and express themselves. The environment will be confidential as well, ensuring that they feel safe and secure as they walk on the path towards recovery.

Family Therapy

Therapy is generally recommended for families seeking to foster or adopt a child. In therapy, a family can prepare for any issues that might arise, and learn how to cope with a child's particular or special needs, including any behavioral or health issues. With the child, they can discuss any concerns about behavior or developmental issues and work as a family to establish bonds and trust. Families who adopt or foster a child with significant behavioral or developmental concerns may find their situation challenging and consider giving up the child once again. Some of these issues may be resolvable with work in therapy, preventing further disruption to the child's life.

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon, Florida.

Marriage and Couples Counseling

Does Your Relationship Need Help?

Signs You Might Need a Marriage Counselor:

• When you aren’t talking.
• When you’re talking, but it’s always negative.
• When you’re afraid to talk.
• When affection is withheld as punishment.
• When you see your partner as an antagonist.
• When you keep secrets.
• When you contemplate (or are having) an affair.
• When you are financially unfaithful.
• When you feel everything would be OK if he would just change.
• When you’re living separate lives.
• When your sex life has shifted significantly.
• When you argue over the same little things over and over again.
• When there are ongoing relationship issues.

Deciding that your relationship needs work, and it might be a good time to try out a therapist is the right direction on the path to fixing your relationship. A lot of people choose to wait for long periods before they seek marriage and couples counseling, and by then it may be more difficult to save the relationship. The sooner you go to see a therapist to fix your problems, the more likely that those problems will be resolved for you. Different counselors take different approaches when it comes to dealing with marriage and couples counseling. Find the right therapist for you and your partner, and you are all ready to go.

How Does Marriage and Couples Counseling Help You?

By allowing yourself to be exposed to an environment where you can freely voice your opinions, you let a lot of the problems that are plaguing you, fall past your shoulders. Having an open conversation with your partner, in the presence of a neutral third party who is there to help and guide you, come with many benefits. Not only is your therapist trained in the art of fixing relationships, he can help you with any latent problems that you may have in your own relationship. Good and beneficial communication is the foundation of any relationship – and in the therapist’s office, the idea is to get those communicative juices flowing. The right kind of therapy will look at all the problems you have in your relationship, though communication will take the primary focus. There are many times in our lives when we behave passive aggressively, or engage in cold behavior with a loved one. Locating where your problems come from is an integral part of any therapist’s job. Some of the first things you might learn at couples counseling involves learning how to control your emotions and communicate effectively.

What Are You Looking for From Marriage and Couples Counseling?

The success of the therapy depends entirely on how willing you and your partner are towards making your relationship work. A couple that in actively working towards improving their bonds will find the sessions with their therapist enlightening, and can more readily work towards a fixed relationship. From learning how to communicate with each other, to discovering what was not working in their relationship, and striving to fix them, a good therapy session can do wonders for any relationship.

How Long Do You Need Therapy?

This depends entirely on what situation your relationship is in. If your relationship was not in a bad place to begin with, and you find yourself solving your problems quickly and moving on, then it was not such a long process. However, if your relationship needs time to improve, then expect to invest at least once a week with a therapist. Some therapists also offer individual supplementary sessions, so if you think that you need one – be sure to ask the therapist about it. Remember that the human psychology needs time to heal, and let yourself work towards a smooth resolution with your partner.

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon, Florida.

Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Trauma

Emotional and Psychological Trauma Causes

Emotional and psychological trauma can be caused by:

• One-time events, such as an accident, injury, natural disaster, or violent attack
• Ongoing, relentless stress, such as living in a crime-ridden neighborhood or battling a life-threatening illness
• Commonly overlooked causes, such as surgery (especially in the first 3 years of life), the sudden death of someone close, the breakup of a significant relationship, or a humiliating or deeply disappointing experience

An event can lead to trauma if:

• It happened unexpectedly.
• You were unprepared for it
• You felt powerless to prevent it.
• It happened repeatedly.
• Someone was intentionally cruel.
• It happened in childhood.

Living with trauma is never an easy thing. And more often than not, the victims of trauma were not responsible for the situations that placed them there. Most people, at some point in their lives, will have to deal with a traumatic event. This could be anything from an accident to abuse, neglect, war, natural disasters, the sudden death of a loved one, and many others. When people are under trauma, they find themselves in a scary place where it feels as if the world has gone out of control. They no longer feel as if they are in control of their own lives, stress and anxiety increase, as does feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. For some people, with the help of family and friends, they are soon able to leave their traumas behind and move on to lead more happy, fulfilling lives. But this is not the case for everyone. Some people find that they are leading a life where the trauma never left – and exhibit great signs of emotional distress. Going to a therapist can help alleviate their problems however. By working together with a trained professional who will do their best to remove the trauma from the patient – the individual stands a greater chance of recovery.

What exactly is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and do you have it?

In order to understand what exactly is wrong with you, a therapist may put you through various tests to determine your mental condition. If you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, then counseling or therapy is definitely a good option for you. What this disorder essentially entails is that, even after a certain traumatic event has passed – the effects of that continue to create ripples in the life of the person who suffered through it. An individual with PTSD might find that resuming a normal life is hard for them. Take war veteran and soldiers for instance – the trauma they face in a battlefield scenario is one they risk harboring for the rest of their lives. Many soldiers come back distressed, feeling as if they are out of place, or with their anxiety levels sky high. It takes a good therapist to counsel their mental health back to a place where they can go about leading normal lives. Now that the traumatic event has happened, it is impossible to go back in time to change it. The effects of that will continue to be felt. But by working with a therapist, you can learn effective coping mechanisms and work out how to live your life, struggle free.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms

Symptoms may include nightmares or flashbacks, avoidance of situations that bring back the trauma, heightened reactivity to stimuli, anxiety, or depressed mood.

• People may experience: Behavioral: agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, or social isolation
• Psychological: flashback, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust
• Mood: loss of interest or pleasure in activities, guilt, or loneliness
• Sleep: insomnia or nightmares
• Also common: emotional detachment or unwanted thoughts

What Does Emotional and Psychological PTSD / Trauma Therapy Entail?

When you go to a therapist to deal with PTSD, they may offer Psychotherapy to you, as it is the most effective way to deal with this disorder. In addition to that, they may help you to better understand what you are going through, develop coping mechanisms and make you feel equipped and ready to take on the world. Healing may take time, and you need to give it that. But by going to a therapist, you ensure that you are taking a step in the right direction.

Collaborative Therapeutic Services (CTS) seeks to maximize clients’ options by offering a variety of services, hours, locations and service providers with diverse specializations. We offer evening & weekend appointments. Have questions? Contact Us Here or Call 813-951-7346. Locations in Tampa & Brandon, Florida.

Photo By Marines from Arlington, VA, United States (Battling PTSD) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons