Family Therapy Services in Westchester & NYC
Strengthening Relationships & Building Better Family Communication
At Everyday Parenting, we provide specialized family therapy services designed to help families improve communication, resolve conflicts, and navigate challenging transitions together.
Our experienced therapists create a supportive environment where all family members can be heard, understood, and valued. Through collaborative therapeutic work, we help families build on their strengths while developing healthier patterns of interaction.
When Family Therapy Helps
Family Conflict & Communication Issues
When misunderstandings, recurring arguments, or communication breakdowns create tension within your family, therapy provides a structured setting to address these patterns. We help family members express their needs more effectively, listen with greater understanding, and develop new ways of resolving disagreements.
Major Life Transitions
Families often benefit from additional support during significant changes such as moves, job transitions, births, graduations, or losses. Therapy helps families navigate these changes together, ensuring that each member's adjustment needs are addressed while strengthening family cohesion.
Blended Family Adjustments
Merging families brings unique challenges as new roles, relationships, and routines are established. We help blended families build understanding, respect boundaries, and create a sense of unity while honoring each person's experience of the transition.
Supporting a Family Member with Special Needs
Families caring for a member with mental health issues, chronic illness, or developmental differences face unique stressors. We help families develop sustainable support systems, improve communication, and ensure that all family members' needs are addressed.
Parenting Differences
When parents have different approaches to raising children, these differences can create tension and undermine effective parenting. We help parents develop a unified approach that incorporates both perspectives while meeting children's needs for consistency and security.
Our Approach
Systems-Based Family Therapy
We view the family as an interconnected system where each member influences and is influenced by others. Rather than focusing solely on individual behaviors, we help families understand their patterns of interaction and how these patterns can be adjusted to benefit everyone.
Practical Communication Tools
We provide concrete, usable strategies to improve family communication, including:
Active listening techniques
"I" statement formulations
Family meeting structures
Conflict resolution frameworks
Emotion regulation skills for family discussions
Creating a Safe Space for All Voices
We ensure therapy provides a balanced environment where each family member—regardless of age or role—has the opportunity to express their perspective. Our therapists skillfully moderate conversations to ensure that quieter voices are heard and all contributions are respected.
Building on Family Strengths
Every family has unique strengths and resources. We help families identify and leverage these assets while developing new skills to address challenges. This strengths-based approach builds confidence and promotes sustainable positive change.
Why Choose Everyday Parenting?
Specialized Training: Our therapists have advanced training in family systems therapy, bringing depth of understanding to complex family dynamics
Diverse Family Experience: We work with traditional, single-parent, blended, LGBTQ+, adoptive, and multi-generational families
Flexible Scheduling: We offer evening and weekend appointments to accommodate busy family schedules
Solutions-Focused Approach: While we explore underlying issues, we emphasize practical strategies that create positive change
Whole-Family Perspective: We consider the needs and experiences of each family member while addressing the family system as a whole
Meet Our Specialists
Jeanette Sawyer Cohen | PhD, MPhil, MS, PMH-C, IMH-E®
Dr. Sawyer Cohen is a Columbia University-trained psychologist with extensive experience in family dynamics and parent-child relationships. Her approach to family therapy draws from her training in developmental psychology, attachment theory, and relational interventions. Dr. Sawyer Cohen is particularly skilled at including children in the family therapy process, using developmentally appropriate techniques to ensure all family members can participate meaningfully. As a Certified Provider in Collaborative and Proactive Solutions, she helps families develop more effective ways to resolve conflicts and navigate challenges together.
Layne Raskin | PsyD, MA, PMH-C, IMH-E®
Dr. Raskin is a licensed clinical psychologist who brings over 15 years of experience working with families navigating transitions and challenges. She uses a developmental, relational, and trauma-informed lens to help family members understand how their past experiences influence current interactions. Dr. Raskin's approach to family therapy is influenced by her training in Internal Family Systems, which helps family members identify and understand different aspects of themselves that emerge in family dynamics. Her warm, collaborative style creates a safe space for families to explore difficult patterns and develop new ways of relating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everyday Parenting provides compassionate mental health care for families and individuals at every stage of life, specializing in maternal mental health, child development, family therapy, and individual care.
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In most cases, we recommend that all household members participate in at least some sessions. However, the configuration may vary depending on the specific issues being addressed. Sometimes we may work with different combinations—parents together, siblings together, or individual sessions—as part of the overall family therapy process. We'll discuss the most beneficial arrangement during your initial consultation.
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The duration varies based on the complexity of the issues, family goals, and how actively members engage in the process. Some families achieve significant improvements in 8-12 sessions, while others with more complex challenges may benefit from longer-term support. We regularly review progress together and adjust our approach as needed.
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While full participation is ideal, we can begin working with family members who are willing to attend. Often, as some family members begin making changes and experiencing benefits, reluctant members become more open to joining. We can also provide strategies for communicating about therapy in ways that might reduce resistance.
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While individual therapy focuses on one person's internal experience and personal growth, family therapy addresses the interactions and relationships between family members. Family therapy views problems as existing within the family system rather than residing in any one individual. Both approaches can be valuable, and sometimes we recommend a combination of family and individual therapy.
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Yes, we provide support for families navigating separation and divorce. Our focus is on helping families maintain healthy communication, develop effective co-parenting relationships, and support children's adjustment through these transitions. We take a neutral stance and work to ensure that all family members' perspectives are respected.