Topic hub

Couples, family and teen therapy resources

A focused library for clinicians working with relationships, families, children, and teens. Start with the population and clinical task that best fits the session ahead.

Illustrative: a therapist facilitates a calm family therapy session with a parent, teenager, and younger child.

About this library

Couples, family, and adolescent sessions ask clinicians to hold more than one perspective at once. These family and teen therapy resources bring together practical guides for relationship work, family systems, child and teen sessions, and population-specific planning. They are organized by the question you need to answer next: what to do with a couple in conflict, how to work with a family pattern in the room, how to shape a developmentally appropriate child or teen session, or how to begin with a clearer intake and plan.

For a broad family-systems starting point, begin with family therapy techniques. If the next hour calls for a contained practice task with two partners, use communication exercises for couples. For work with adolescents, adolescent therapy techniques helps you consider privacy, caregiver roles, alliance, and developmental demand. When a child communicates more readily through play, play therapy techniques offers a focused place to start. Choose one guide that fits the live clinical task, then adapt it to the people and setting in front of you.

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A practical first read

Five faceless wooden family figures connected by rods on navy, with one coral cut-paper collage linking the family system.

Family Therapy Techniques for the Next Session

Choose family therapy techniques for the next session: model, session move, example line, and when to use each one with the family in the room.

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Lamp-lit macro photo of paired blank prompt cards with a coral dialogue-loop motif.

Communication Exercises for Couples You Can Run This Hour

Communication exercises for couples you can run in the hour: speaker-listener, a soft start-up, appreciation, and a capped daily check-in.

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Empty armchair and closed notebook on a low table in a calm therapy room

Adolescent Therapy Techniques: Stage-to-Session Guide

Choose adolescent therapy techniques by developmental stage, alliance, safety, and caregiver context, with worked examples and a printable selector.

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Wooden animal toys, an arch, stones, and a scoop in an outdoor sand tray, linked by marigold path marks.

Play Therapy Techniques You Can Run This Hour

Run play therapy techniques with a child this hour. Each activity has a goal, age band, materials, steps, and the line you say to the caregiver.

Read the guide →

Couples, family & teen

Couples and relationship work

Use this section to choose a focused move for the relationship in front of you, from a contained communication exercise to a conflict or attachment-oriented frame. Keep the task small enough to observe and debrief in the hour.

Two pairs of wooden conversation blocks facing across a marigold double arrow

CBT in Couples Therapy: Four Core Interventions

Run CBT in couples therapy with communication training, problem solving, cognitive restructuring, and behavior exchange, each with a session plan.

Warmly lit wooden house model with stacked open floors and a coral roof-and-wall outline

Sound Relationship House Theory: Seven Levels You Can Run

Use sound relationship house theory in the couples hour: seven levels, two walls, what each looks like, and one intervention you can run.

Photo of an empty couples room with paired stones and a small sage repair-arc illustration.

Couples Therapy for Conflict Resolution: The Session Card

Run couples therapy for conflict resolution when the fight is already in the room: de-escalate, name each need, then one repair to review next session.

Lamp-lit macro photo of paired blank prompt cards with a coral dialogue-loop motif.

Communication Exercises for Couples You Can Run This Hour

Communication exercises for couples you can run in the hour: speaker-listener, a soft start-up, appreciation, and a capped daily check-in.

Illustrated brass links across a brick field for couples therapy ground rules.

Ground Rules for Couples Therapy: What You Say in Session 1

Set ground rules for couples therapy in the first hour: no secrets, a pause with a return, no blame, one check-in, and safety, with the line you say.

Two facing chairs beneath three linked empty speech bubbles in a turn-taking sequence.

Imago Therapy Dialogue for the Couples Hour

Run an imago therapy dialogue in the couples hour: mirror, validate, empathize, with your prompts, a filled exchange, and when to slow the turn.

Two empty upholstered chairs angled toward a round oak table in a warm, sunlit therapy office

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Techniques

Use emotionally focused couples therapy techniques to map negative cycles, stage interventions, document response, and choose one reviewable next move.

Four wooden chess knights and a mended ceramic heart on coral, with one navy repair-heart collage.

Gottman Four Horsemen Worksheet for the Hour

Coach each Gottman horseman this hour: what it sounds like, the antidote, a practice line, and which Sound Relationship House floor is thin.

Couples, family & teen

Family systems and session tools

These guides focus on patterns among family members rather than locating the problem in one person. Find session moves, maps, and model overviews for planning what to do with the family in the room.

Oblique ink-teal floor with a spread cluster of plum discs and a tighter hoped-for cluster linked by a saffron arc

Family Sculpting in Session: Sequence and Note Line

Run family sculpting in session with a sculptor, distance marks, reactions, one hoped-for re-sculpt, debrief questions, and a note line.

Quiet clinic chairs arranged as a pair with a third outside a sage boundary line

Boundaries in Family Systems Theory

Work clear, rigid, and diffuse boundaries in family systems theory: how each shows up in session, and one structural intervention for that line.

Two life-size wooden chairs face each other in a family room while a third chair sits back, joined by a navy directional arc

Enactment Therapy: Three Steps in a Family Session

Use enactment therapy in structural family therapy: set up who talks to whom, let the sequence run, then intervene on one move and note what it showed.

Sunlit clinic corridor and waiting area with one navy route mural connecting four colored markers for home, school, peers, and clinician.

Multidimensional Family Therapy for This Adolescent Hour

Use multidimensional family therapy this hour: four domains, the session move, the three stages, and the official training link.

Two larger and three smaller wooden blocks on sage are grouped by one connected marigold boundary-and-bracket collage.

Structural Family Therapy Techniques: Session Map

Draw the structural map in session: boundaries, coalitions, hierarchy, and the enactment that follows. A filled example for the clinician in the room.

Five faceless wooden family figures connected by rods on navy, with one coral cut-paper collage linking the family system.

Family Therapy Techniques for the Next Session

Choose family therapy techniques for the next session: model, session move, example line, and when to use each one with the family in the room.

Four wooden family pieces flank a navy maze with one coral redirect arrow on sage paper.

Strategic Family Therapy Techniques for This Hour

Run strategic family therapy techniques this hour: one reframe, directive, paradox, or ordeal, with the line to say and when to stop.

Wooden figures arranged in three generations and two household clusters on an oak table between empty therapy chairs

Family Therapy Genogram Template: Clinician Guide

Use a family therapy genogram template with a symbol key, three-generation map, worked example, and consent and privacy prompts for clinicians.

Couples, family & teen

Child, teen, and caregiver sessions

Child and adolescent work changes with development, privacy, caregiver involvement, and the young person’s readiness to participate. Start with the guide that matches the age, setting, and clinical task for this session.

Adult and child hands rolling a wooden toy car along a coral play path

Filial Play Therapy: Train Parents to Run Play Hours

Use filial play therapy to train a parent to run child-centered play sessions: phases, four skills, 30-minute structure, and the note you write after.

Wooden animal toys, an arch, stones, and a scoop in an outdoor sand tray, linked by marigold path marks.

Play Therapy Techniques You Can Run This Hour

Run play therapy techniques with a child this hour. Each activity has a goal, age band, materials, steps, and the line you say to the caregiver.

Three TF-CBT phase bands for stabilize, narrate, and consolidate beside a PRACTICE sequence session card

TF-CBT Trauma-Focused CBT Guide: Sequence PRACTICE

Sequence a TF-CBT course with a child and caregiver: PRACTICE order, when to start the narrative, conjoint sharing, and a printable pack.

Empty armchair and closed notebook on a low table in a calm therapy room

Adolescent Therapy Techniques: Stage-to-Session Guide

Choose adolescent therapy techniques by developmental stage, alliance, safety, and caregiver context, with worked examples and a printable selector.

Couples, family & teen

Population-specific intake and plans

Use these planning tools before treatment starts or when the work needs a clearer shared direction. They cover intake questions, family context, and practical ways to describe goals for couples and family work.

A rust school backpack on a clinic waiting-room chair with a violet conversation icon

Eating Disorders in Teens: Session Assessment for Therapists

Assess eating disorders in teens: warning signs, teen and parent questions, same-day medical referral, family-based treatment, and what the note records.

Couples Therapy Treatment Plan Example (Gottman and EFT Modality Framing)

Couples Therapy Treatment Plan Example (Gottman and EFT Modality Framing)

Couples therapy treatment plan example with relationship-as-patient framing, Gottman and EFT conceptualization, and conjoint billing ethics.

Adolescent Therapy Intake: Form Template & Family-Systems Guide

Adolescent Therapy Intake: Form Template & Family-Systems Guide

An adolescent therapy intake form template plus a family-systems guide to consent, confidentiality, school context, and risk screening for teen clients.

Family Therapy Intake Form: Template & Family-Systems Guide

Family Therapy Intake Form: Template & Family-Systems Guide

A family therapy intake form template plus a family-systems guide to consent, confidentiality, the identified-patient trap, and pre-session orientation.

Frequently asked questions

Use these links to choose a guide for the next clinical or practice task.

Which guide should I use first for a couples session?
Start with the clinical task, not a favorite model. If the couple needs a bounded practice round, use communication exercises for couples and choose one exercise to run and debrief. If the immediate need is a shared frame for conflict, the couples and relationship section offers more specific starting points.
What can I use when a family is stuck in the same interaction?
Begin by describing the interaction sequence instead of deciding who is at fault. The family therapy techniques guide organizes live session moves by model and includes examples of what a clinician might ask people to do together. Choose one move that the family can complete safely in the room.
How should I balance teen privacy with caregiver involvement?
Make the privacy conversation explicit before deciding who joins which part of the work. The adolescent therapy techniques guide helps clinicians consider alliance, developmental demand, safety, and the home-school-clinic context. Local law, policy, custody documents, and the agreement with the family still guide what can be shared.
What belongs in an intake for family therapy?
An intake should give you a usable picture of who is involved, what brings them in, and how each person understands the problem. The family therapy intake form is a practical place to begin when you need to organize household context, goals, relationships, and the next conversation.
How do I choose an approach for a younger child?
Choose a task the child can join without turning the session into an adult conversation with toys nearby. Play therapy techniques offers concise activities, materials, steps, and caregiver debrief language. Follow the child’s pace, and keep safety, consent, and caregiver communication clear throughout the session.
Where can I find help mapping family relationships?
A visual map can be useful when household structure, alliances, or recurring patterns are hard to hold in conversation. Start with the family therapy genogram template to organize who is connected, who lives where, and which relationships may need closer attention. Treat the map as a planning aid, not a conclusion about the family.

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