Family Therapy in Bellingham, WA
Every Family Goes Through Difficult Seasons
move through the hard times together.
Therapists now accepting new clients.
Therapy for Families
You've been holding this family together for a long time.
You’re the one who notices when something is off. The one who tracks the tension, manages the moods, smooths the edges between people who love each other but can’t seem to stop hurting each other.
You’ve read the books. You’ve had the conversations. You’ve tried to stay calm even when everything felt like it was falling apart.
Still, something isn’t working.
Maybe it’s conflict that keeps cycling back no matter how many times you resolve it. A child or teen whose struggles are pulling at the seams of everything else. A family that lives under the same roof but feels miles apart.
You’re not here because your family is broken. You’re here because you love them, and you’re ready for things to be different.
That’s exactly where we start.
We Help Families With:
- Recurring Conflict
- Communication Breakdown
- Parental Separation, Divorce, and Blended Family Adjustment
- Trauma/PTSD
- Addiction
- Co-parenting challenges
- Disconnection
- Grief, Loss and Transitions
- Difficult Behaviors
- Navigating different parenting styles
- Supporting neurodiverse family members
- Sibling conflict
Our Approach
How Family Therapy Works at
Inside Passage Counseling
Family therapy is not about finding who is at fault. It’s about understanding the patterns, dynamics, and cycles that have developed over time, and gently, deliberately shifting them.
At Inside Passage, we look at the whole picture. Every person in a family plays a role. Every behavior makes sense in context. Our job is to help each member of your family feel genuinely heard so the family as a unit can find new ways of relating that actually hold up at home.
Family therapy at Inside Passage is structured, purposeful, and collaborative. Sessions may involve the whole family, subsets of the family, or individual members depending on what the work calls for at each stage. You will never feel pushed faster than you’re ready to go.
Depending on your family’s needs, sessions may include:
- Mapping the patterns and dynamics that are keeping your family stuck
- Learning and practicing new communication tools in real-time
- Creating space for each family member to feel heard, including the ones who have gone quiet
- Working through a specific transition, loss, or rupture together
- Supporting parents in getting aligned so the whole family feels the difference
- Building a family culture that can hold conflict without falling apart
At Inside Passage Counseling, we draw from evidence-based modalities including:
Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), Structural Family Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), attachment-based therapy, Trauma-Focused CBT, the Incredible Years Parenting Program, and Mindfulness, tailored to your family’s specific structure, needs, and goals.
A Note About Sessions
Every Family is Different
Every family is different and family therapy doesn’t always mean everyone in the room at once. We work flexibly depending on what your family needs:
Some families begin with the parents or caregivers before bringing in children or teens. Some start with the whole family and narrow over time as the work becomes more focused while others move between family sessions and individual sessions for specific members.
We will talk through what makes the most sense for your family before your first session so you know what to expect.
Meet Your Family Therapists
- Family Therapy
Autism Spectrum, Neurodivergence, Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, Trauma, Adjusting to Divorce, Behavioral Problems, Parenting Support
ADHD, Trauma and PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Disruptive Behavior Problems, Adoption, Blended Families, Parenting and Parent Management Training (PMT)
EFT Couples Therapy, Gottman Method Couples Therapy, Anxiety, Depression, Sexual and Gender Identity, Trauma, Relational Conflict, Communication, Infidelity and Betrayal,...
Couples therapy focuses on the relationship between two partners. Family therapy looks at the broader family system — the relationships, roles, and dynamics between all members, including children and teens. The two can overlap, and sometimes we move between both, but they have distinct goals and structures.
Not necessarily. We work flexibly based on what the work requires at each stage. Some sessions may involve the whole family, others just parents or caregivers, and others individual members. We’ll discuss the right structure for your family from the start.
This is common and it doesn’t mean therapy can’t help. We can start with whoever is willing. Often the work that happens with part of the family ripples outward and creates openings for others to engage over time. We’ll talk through how to approach resistant family members thoughtfully.
Family therapy tends to be more focused than individual therapy. Many families experience meaningful change in 8–16 sessions, though more complex situations may take longer. We set clear goals together and check in regularly so therapy stays purposeful and moving forward.
Family therapy is a private pay service only. In family counseling, we identify all members of the relationship jointly as our client. We do not identify an individual client with a mental health disorder diagnosis. This means that our couples and family counseling services are not considered to be “Medically Necessary” by insurance companies and are not covered by insurance.
Our rates for 50-minute individual and couple’s therapy sessions range from $160-$215, depending on the provider. 80-minute sessions are available upon request and cost 1.5 times the 50-minute amount. Please inquire about rates for individual and couple’s therapy intensives.
