(818) 200-9513
Office Hours:
Daily in-office counseling available serving Los Angeles, Burbank, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Glendale, and Sherman Oaks, California and South Carolina
(818) 200-9513
Office Hours:
Daily in-office counseling available serving Los Angeles, Burbank, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Glendale, and Sherman Oaks, California and South Carolina
Family relationships can be among the most meaningful connections in our lives, but they can also be some of the most complicated. When communication breaks down between parents and adult children, unresolved hurt, misunderstandings, and emotional distance can gradually create a divide that feels difficult to overcome.
For parents who have lost contact with an adult child, the experience can bring profound feelings of grief, confusion, anger, and uncertainty. For adult children, distance may be the result of painful experiences, unmet needs, or a desire to establish healthier boundaries.
Regardless of how the relationship reached this point, family estrangement can be emotionally challenging for everyone involved. Therapy offers a supportive environment to explore these experiences, better understand relationship patterns, and consider what a healthier path forward might look like.
Jeannette York provides compassionate therapy for estranged parents and adult children in Burbank and the greater Los Angeles area. Whether you hope to repair a strained relationship together or need individual support navigating estrangement, therapy can help you find greater clarity and emotional well-being.
Estrangement between parents and adult children can develop for many different reasons. Sometimes, it follows years of unresolved disagreements, communication difficulties, or repeated misunderstandings. In other situations, a significant event or ongoing pattern of behavior creates emotional distance that eventually leads to limited or no contact.
Parents may struggle to understand why their adult child has withdrawn, particularly when they feel they have made repeated attempts to reconnect. They may experience feelings of rejection, sadness, shame, or frustration, especially when they are no longer included in important family events or their grandchildren's lives.
Adult children may have their own experiences of hurt, disappointment, or difficulty establishing boundaries. What one person views as an attempt to reconnect may feel overwhelming or unwelcome to the other.
There is rarely a single explanation for complicated family dynamics. Parent-adult child estrangement therapy provides an opportunity to explore these experiences without automatically assigning blame or assuming that one person is entirely responsible for the relationship breakdown.
Family estrangement therapy provides a structured, supportive setting to better understand longstanding relationship patterns and explore opportunities for change. The goal is not to force reconciliation or determine who is right or wrong. Instead, therapy focuses on understanding each person's experiences, improving communication, and identifying healthier ways to move forward.
When both a parent and adult child are willing to participate, therapy can help them begin addressing the issues that have contributed to their strained relationship.
Sessions may focus on:
With professional guidance, both individuals can have an opportunity to express their perspectives and feel heard. Over time, this process may help create a foundation for a healthier relationship.
Reconciliation can be a meaningful goal when both people are willing to work toward it, but it is not guaranteed. Sometimes, progress means establishing a different kind of relationship that includes more realistic expectations, greater mutual understanding, and healthier boundaries.
You do not have to wait for your adult child to agree to therapy before seeking support.
In fact, therapy for estranged parents can be especially valuable when an adult child has stopped communicating, declined contact, or is not ready to participate in family counseling.
Individual therapy provides a confidential space for parents to process the emotional impact of estrangement and explore how to move forward. It can help parents:
Having a space to work through these complicated feelings can make a meaningful difference. Rather than remaining caught in a cycle of worry, frustration, or repeated attempts to reconnect, parents can begin focusing on what they can control and how they want to approach the relationship moving forward.
Not every family is ready for reconciliation, and not every strained relationship involves complete estrangement. Some parents and adult children maintain occasional communication, while others experience periods of connection followed by renewed distance.
Therapy can help families navigate these complicated situations by establishing realistic expectations and healthier boundaries.
This may include exploring what appropriate communication looks like, recognizing when additional space is needed, and finding ways to interact without repeatedly revisiting old conflicts.
The goal is to help individuals develop healthier ways of relating, even when the future of the relationship remains uncertain.
Family therapy for parents and adult children provides an opportunity to work through difficult relationship dynamics with professional guidance. Sessions can help participants slow down reactive communication, understand different perspectives, and identify patterns that may be contributing to ongoing conflict.
The therapeutic process is tailored to each family's circumstances and goals. Some families may focus on rebuilding communication and trust, while others may need help establishing boundaries or addressing specific unresolved issues.
Importantly, therapy does not require everyone to agree on what happened in the past. It creates space for different experiences and perspectives to be explored with greater understanding.
If an adult child is unwilling to participate, parents can still benefit from individual support. Therapy can help them process their emotions, consider their options, and develop a healthier approach to the relationship without pressuring the other person.
Estrangement can leave parents and adult children feeling stuck between the desire for connection and the pain of past experiences. Moving forward may take time, patience, and a willingness to approach the relationship differently.
Working with a therapist can help individuals better understand their emotions, recognize unhelpful patterns, and make thoughtful decisions about their relationships.
Whether the goal is to repair a family relationship, improve communication, navigate limited contact, or find peace with an uncertain situation, therapy offers a supportive place to begin.
Family estrangement does not have to be something you navigate alone. Whether you are a parent struggling with the loss of contact with your adult child or an adult child hoping to address longstanding family conflict, professional support can help you find clarity and a healthier way forward.
Jeannette York offers compassionate, thoughtful therapy for estranged parents and adult children, helping individuals and families work through complicated relationship dynamics without judgment or assumptions about who is at fault.
Jeannette York, LMFT offers in-person therapy in Los Angeles, including Burbank, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Studio City, Glendale, and Sherman Oaks, California. Video therapy is available in all parts of California as well as South Carolina. Contact Jeannette today to schedule your appointment or learn more – call (818) 200-9513.
Jeannette YorkJeannette York is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist located in Burbank, California. Before moving to California in 2006, Jeannette worked in hospice care in Minnesota. There she helped families and individuals manage issues concerning terminal illness and impending death. Later she worked at Neighborhood Involvement Clinic in Minnesota counseling young adults who had experienced sexual abuse in their childhoods and early adolescents. After moving to California, Jeannette worked at Southern California Counseling Center, where she worked with a diverse population of clients from all walks of life.
In 2009, Jeannette opened her own private practice in Burbank. Her focus is families and couples or individuals who are dealing with communication and relationship issues. In addition to those specialties, she also works with people who are grieving a loss and those dealing anger management issues.
Serving the Toluca Lake Community: Burbank, Glendale, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, North Hollywood, Encino, and Van Nuys.