Understand where your patterns came from and feel like your own person again.
Therapy for estrangement and family conflict in Steamboat Springs, Craig, and online
Is your family the hardest relationship in your life right now?
Maybe it happens the moment you walk in the door, or three sentences into a phone call. Perhaps you're carrying anger toward a parent and don't know what to do with it, or guilt for feeling it at all. Maybe you went no contact with a parent or sibling, and you still wonder whether it was the right call. Perhaps someone in your family has cut you off, and you can't stop going over what happened. You may be the peacekeeper, the responsible one, or the one who never asks for anything. Or you've realized that the way you handle conflict was learned long before you chose it.
Whatever it is, you may notice it showing up in your life now:
Slipping back into old roles with family, even when you've grown past them
Feeling resentment you don't know where to put, followed by guilt for feeling it
Struggling to set limits with the people who raised you
Carrying beliefs you picked up as a kid, like "don't make waves," into your friendships and partnerships
Grieving something you wanted from your family and didn't get
Going over the same conversations, looking for what you could have done differently
Dreading holidays, birthdays, and phone calls, or the silence of no contact
Swinging between wanting to fix it and wanting to step back
you can understand where your patterns came from.
You can set limits you can live with, whether you're staying in contact, stepping back, or thinking about reaching out.
You can make different choices than the ones you were raised with.
Therapy for family conflict and estrangement can help you -
Make sense of what happened, without blame or shame
Make room for grief, anger, guilt, and love at the same time, without judging yourself for any emotion
Decide what you want next (contact, distance, limits, or reaching out) and how to follow through, including how to support someone you love without losing yourself
My approach comes from a place of compassion for everyone involved, including you. I don't take sides, and I'm not here to blame you or your family. Whether you were the one who pulled away or the one who was pulled away from, there is pain on both sides of an estrangement, and you deserve support with yours. I won't steer you toward reconciliation or away from it. That decision is yours.
If you're a parent of an adult child whose choices worry you, the work is often about caring for someone without rescuing them, setting limits you can keep, and looking after yourself while you wait. Many people also notice the patterns they learned growing up showing up in new places: how they handle conflict, how they parent, how they love. Together, we will look at where those patterns came from, so you can make a different choice when it matters.
Estrangement, resentment and guilt don't have to be your whole story.
FAQs
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No. We'll make sense of how your family shaped you, including the hard parts, but the focus is on you and what you want now, not on assigning blame.
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No. This therapy is one-on-one, and your family doesn't need to take part. Many people find that changing their own responses changes how things feel, even when family doesn't change.
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Yes. Your adult child doesn't need to take part. I can't treat their addiction or make their choices for them, but I can support you: how to care for someone without rescuing them, set limits you can keep, and look after yourself.
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No. You set the pace. We focus on what's affecting you today and only go back as far as it's helpful.
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Yes. Many people who've pulled away carry grief, guilt, and doubt, even when they know why they did it. You won't be judged here, and I won't push you toward reconnecting or away from it.
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It depends on you and what you want to work on. We'll check in regularly so you always know where we are.
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Getting started is easy—just book a consultation call. We'll talk about what brought you here, I'll answer your questions, and we'll both get a sense of whether we're a good fit.