The Family Therapy Vacations treatment model is deeply informed by work such as Sue Johnson’s, as well as that of Daniel Hughes’ Attachment Focus Family Therapy and the Integrative Couples Therapy model of treatment. Common to all of these approaches is recognition that at the core of a good relationship is a strong emotional attachment and that at the core of virtually all relational struggles is emotional disconnection and vulnerability. At FTV our work centers on the restoring of trust, emotional openness and the ability to join in avoiding the patterns that lead relationships towards painful and destructive defensiveness. As couples grow in their awareness of their negative patterns of interaction (in Johnson’s terms their Devil Dialogs) they grow in their sense of safety and openness to more in-depth emotional sharing and deeper connections.
Increased understanding of one another’s underlying emotions and how we have intentionally and unintentionally deeply hurt the other is a first step to the healing process of seeking and offering forgiveness. Moving away from the destructive pattern of placing blame, towards recognition of our own part in the painful dance of strife and/or withdrawal allows for new beginnings, renewal of a sense of emotional safety and hope.
Our model concentrates on the issue of emotional attachment and tends to focus on the here and now of the relationship, as opposed to extensive reworking of old hurts.
This said there is some degree of historical work in better understanding both your own and your partners attachment history and the way in which it may set traps of vulnerability within your current relationships.