What Is in-Home Family Therapy?

In-home family therapy is a type of counseling performed in a family’s home instead of in a therapist’s office or a family therapy center. Several different types of family therapy may be included in in-home services. For instance, this type of therapy may involve a family therapist visiting the home to help the family as a unit or it may involve couples therapy. Some in-home family therapy services even extend to counseling and educating children who have serious emotional and mental health issues.

For many people, in-home therapy is preferred because the home is often a more comfortable environment for working out conflicts between family members. The home setting may also be less intimidating to children who have suffered severe emotional trauma, such as bullying, sexual abuse or a devastating loss. In-home family therapy is also sometimes preferred by people who have serious privacy concerns, such as a high-profile couple who is seeking help from a marriage and family therapist but does not want the public to know.

Children with seriously delinquent and disruptive behaviors are often referred to family therapy programs in an attempt to treat the underlying causes of such behavior. Often, these patients are referred to counselors using in-home family therapy particularly when the child is too disruptive to participate in public settings. Treatment approaches for these children might include multiple home visits per week in an effort to correct these behaviors.

Before a family therapist begins to offer in-home family therapy options, most undergo special training. As a patient’s home environment is different from the clinical setting that most therapists are trained to work in, it is important for therapists to participate in additional training to learn how to provide services in this unique environment. For instance, additional training can help therapists learn effective ways of setting professional boundaries when treating patients outside of the usual office or clinic environment.

Among the many benefits of in-home family therapy is that it allows a therapist to get a feel for the environment that an individual or a family regularly lives in. Often, this information can provide valuable insight into the problems a client may be experiencing. In-home family therapy may also help clients relax and open up to a therapist more so than she or he may be inclined to do during an office visit.