Through its Center for Children and Families and its Center for Stepfamilies, the National Institute of Relationship Enhancement offers a wide variety of counseling services for families including family counseling services for parents and adolescents, family counseling for parents and young children, and specialized family counseling services for stepfamilies.

NIRE utilizes the research-based and proven effective Relationship Enhancement^® approach to family counseling. Counseling is generally short-term in nature and focuses not only on helping families resolve current family issues, but also empowers families by teaching family members skills for improving communication and developing the ability to cooperatively and effectively resolve family conflicts which develop in the future. Relationship Enhancement family counseling is generally appropriate for children 12 or older. For younger children, NIRE offers Filial Family Therapy.

Filial Family Therapy is a research-based and proven effective family therapy model in which parent are involved in the treatment of their own children. The Filial Therapy model is generally appropriate for families in which children are between the ages of 2 and 12. Parents not only learn ways of helping their children overcome current problems, but also learn child management techniques and other skills which can be used to prevent future problems for developing.

Stepfamilies have special needs and special problems. NIRE offers a variety of specialized stepfamily counseling services and psychoeducational programs to help make the transition easier for parents and their children, as well as to work with stepfamilies in which serious problems have already developed. These services are offered through NIRE's Center for Stepfamilies include:

• Marriage counseling for stepcouples
• Family counseling for stepfamilies (parents and adolescent children)
• Filial family counseling for stepfamilies (parents and young children)
• Stepparent counseling
• Individual counseling for stepchildren
• Individual adult counseling focusing on stepfamily issues

NIRE offers each of the types of counseling in an intensive multi-hour format for families which are in crisis and need to resolve serious issues quickly, as well as in cases in which families are traveling from a great distance or cannot attend counseling or therapy sessions on a regular basis. Scheduling of "marathon" Relationship Enhancement family counseling and therapy sessions is flexible and weekend scheduling is frequently possible.

For more information about counseling services or psychoeducational programs offered by NIRE please call us at (301) 986-1479.