Jenna Knauss, M.S., LMFT

Couples Therapy or

Parent Consultation

 
Photo by fizkes/iStock / Getty Images

Photo by fizkes/iStock / Getty Images

My approach is to help a couple better understand past and current difficulties as well as how each individual contributes to their shared experience. Within a couple-ship exists a creative and dynamic space whereby each individual brings unique aspects of themselves that can both challenge or enhance the partnership. Through the couple therapy process, couples are better able to make decisions about where and how they want to approach their relationship. On occasion, this leads to amicable parting. Other times, tremendous growth occurs, both as individuals and as a pair.

I also offer targeted, time-limited consultation for parents who may already have a child in individual psychotherapy and would benefit from additional support as they learn to navigate their child and couple needs through the parenting process. I also work with parents and families around co-parenting challenges and blended family integration. During an initial consultation, I will make recommendations regarding a treatment time line and the dynamics and strategies we can expect to address together.

 

Individual Therapy

 
 

When we first meet, we will work together to develop an initial understanding of what you are struggling with, how you have tried to cope with these difficulties, and where you are feeling at an impasse.  We may look together at your life history and important relationships to consider their influence on your personality, identity, and how you think about your experience.  Through this collaborative process, we may also use our relationship as a way to better understand interpersonal dynamics and/or challenges that exist in other areas in your life.   After several sessions, I will share an initial assessment with you, including if/how further treatment could be helpful to you and what it might entail.  

 

Child & Adolescent Therapy

 
 

Children may first express challenges or difficulties through new, unexpected behavior or even through physical complaints. This may be the child's way of communicating distress or asking for help without having the actual words to do so.  We may work together through play or through conversation in order to put words to these challenges.  The goal is to develop healthy and life-sustaining social-emotional intelligence.  When appropriate and during certain phases of treatment, I work collaboratively with important adults in the child's life.  We may work all together as a team in order to support the child as they learn to put language to thought, feelings, and behavior.  Often, this involves a careful assessment of how the family contributes to the child's growth and development. Work with adolescents is often centered around issues connected to identity, self-expression, and self-awareness, especially as one approaches adulthood.  Keeping in mind important aspects of adolescent brain development, this is an especially critical time to sort out one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors especially where this may be interfering with one's ability to thrive and transition into young adulthood.

 
 

Family Therapy

 
Photo by SDI Productions/iStock / Getty Images

Photo by SDI Productions/iStock / Getty Images

I work with families from a systems and psychodynamic perspective. Together, we may examine aspects of family history, current environmental stressors, or other dynamic and often complicated processes that may be contributing to both group and individual difficulties. Oftentimes, work within a family system leads to lasting change for future generations.