Parenting is a challenge no matter your child’s disposition, general obedience or stage of life. Certain children come to a family with the added challenges of psychological, neurological, and behavioral issues. Other challenges may come with personality differences between parent and child, differences in values between parents, and even challenges within a community. Whether you need general parenting tips, or more sophisticated ways to be a “therapeutic parent,” the Cherry Hill counselors are here to support you. Here are a number of theories and interventions we commonly use at Cherry Hill Counseling to assist parents:

Communication problems can arise in any family whether or not other mental health issues are present. Effective communication helps to alleviate all sorts of stressful issues for the whole family or between specific family members. If communication is a problem in your family, the therapists at Cherry Hill can help. Here are some theories and interventions we use to understand familial communication problems:

In the fast moving, high stress of modern life, marriages often slide into distress, conflict and anger. Partners experience each other as the blame and allow their vows to first love to fade. Family discord, separation, and divorce follow, leaving husbands, wives and children wounded, angry and scared. A core part of Cherry Hill’s mission is standing in the gap with families to bring healthier communication, understanding, caring and forgiveness. We want to help marriages heal and thrive. Here are a few theoretical approaches and interventions we use to tackle separation and divorce at Cherry Hill:t.

Has a member of your family fallen ill? Did someone recently lose their job or home? The multitude of crises that can arise within a family is vast. Whether your family crises are common or complicated, Cherry Hill can help sort through the fear, stress, confusion, conflict and anger surrounding them. Here are some theories and interventions we use at Cherry Hill to tackle family crises:

Though children are resilient, changes to the status quo can often cause problems. When the change is welcoming a ‘stranger’ into the family in the instance of blending families, the problems between families can become extensive. We can help your children navigate the confusing emotions that crop up when blending families, including feelings of self-deprecation, loneliness, loss, worry, confusion, and mistrust. Here are a few theories and interventions we use to tackle blending families:

As each generation lives longer, it is becoming more common for children to care for their aging parents. In addition, due to the difficult economic times we have been experiencing, it is often financially difficult for children to launch or necessary for family members to share resources or provide care. This care can be in the form of emotional support, navigating medical decisions, monitoring finances, assisting in major life and death transitions, providing housing or providing for daily needs. The demands can be intense with little time or energy for the care-taker to consider his/her own needs. In addition, the emotional connection makes it difficult to have clear vision at times. The therapists at Cherry Hill can provide the outside perspective needed to find balance. Many have personal experience as care-givers and understand the emotional struggles involved in making decisions or setting limits. We can provide the support needed to help you care for your family as well as yourself.

Families who have been formed by adoption or guardianship often struggle to establish a healthy parent/child bond. The child’s past experiences of neglect, trauma, and/or significant breaks in their attachment to caregivers at a young age has a negative impact on the child’s ability to connect with others. Parent often give up on trying to connect, especially when the child exhibits many negative behaviors such as lying, stealing, aggression, defiance, and lack of eye contact. At Cherry Hill, we utilize the following theories and interventions to address these families: