Over the years as a therapist, I have come to gravitate toward this interesting and ambitious clinical focus. As a systemic therapist and thinker, cultivating attuned relationship responsiveness is at the core of my work. Whether I'm working with an individual, a couple, or adult siblings, we are striving to create a more caring atmosphere and competent relational responses. Adult sibling relationships are often complex due to a number of factors, including experiences of favoritism while growing up, overall familial dynamics or other sibling dynamics, and caregiver struggles, as well as different coping skills and environmental factors. Family discord, generally speaking, is influenced by many factors, and, often, sibling relationships can become a casualty early on and especially when caregiver issues are not adequately acknowledged or addressed.

One of the first questions I ask during an introductory call is "Why now? What's been going on lately that prompted you to begin therapy at this time?'

Clients often reach out when it feels they've arrived at a painful impasse with a sibling and can no longer make progress without some form of outside intervention. Some are battling with the painful and perhaps slow realization that these individuals, who were once thought of as "family," have somehow become more akin to distant relatives or acquaintances over time. Others, still, view it as a last-ditch effort to explore and possibly shift what they consider an important, yet failing, relationship in their lives. And I am the "unbiased and unconditional" loving figure tasked with the mighty work of healing what might have felt broken for decades.

Success in adult sibling therapy might not look the same for all members. Part of the work involves identifying what........

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