Going through a divorce is difficult on every member of the family. From husband, to wife, to children, and even in-laws— a divorce takes a toll on every person who has been a part of your married life. When you’re going through big life changes, especially when they can be traumatic, counseling can prove to be particularly helpful. By taking the entire family to counseling, you can help them to express their feelings, process the divorce, and open up in a safe space. For this reason, family counseling is highly suggested to divorcees, and the people close to them.
Family Counseling During Divorce: Safe Spaces and Processing Trauma
First of all, as you face a divorce, there are five different stages of grief that many people go through. From denial, to anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While you might not experience every single one of these things, many people experience them all. Processing these emotions, especially for your children, can come at different times— and requires special care.
Your children might feel confused, shocked, and like their future is out of their control. While we as parents can do plenty of different things to help, we aren’t perfect. This is where a trained professional can make such a difference for your family. By encouraging your children to open up to a safe source, they might begin and endure their healing process more healthfully.
Family counseling can help all of you sort through emotions
No matter how good you are at expressing your feelings, you’ll undoubtedly run into some issues when trying to cope through divorce. Family therapy is designed to aid every member of the family, as well as the relationships you have with one another. By using family counseling during a testing time for your family, you might help to reinforce those bonds and relationships which can be questioned in moments such as these.
This might help you save money and time with your lawyer
By processing your emotions outside of mediation, and time with your lawyer— you might find yourself saving money. Not to mention, by dealing with the anger and resentment you have for your spouse outside of the legal space might lead to your ability to make decisions more easily when the time comes. By coming to peace, and letting out those feelings often, you might notice that this process becomes easier.
Remove doubt
When you’re considering a divorce, or starting the process of one, it can be easy to become doubtful. Do I really want to put my family through this? Is our relationship really coming to an end? When the divorce gets tough, it can be easy to wonder whether you’re making the right decision. While family counseling is a great option in this instance, so is ‘discernment counseling’.
Discernment counseling is a type of therapy that focus on this issue, and helping you take a look at the marriage and make a final decision. Most people will take this step before making the decision to separate and start proceedings. However, use this tool when you need it.
There’s nothing breezy about dealing with divorce. In fact, it can be one of the single most traumatic times of your adult life. However, there are plenty of coping mechanisms that are available to all family members, and across a number of mediums.
