Why Somerset County families look for a family therapist
Somerset County mixes old towns like Somerville and Bernardsville with fast-growing suburbs in Bridgewater, Hillsborough, Franklin Township and Basking Ridge. Many parents work long days in corporate offices along Route 287 and Route 22, or commute toward New York, while kids juggle demanding schools, travel sports and part-time jobs. Calendars fill up, and the family conversations that matter most get postponed.
Families usually reach out when a pattern has hardened. A teen has stopped talking at dinner. Parents disagree about rules and end up arguing in front of the kids. A divorce, a move or a death has shifted everyone's role, and no one knows how to talk about it. Sometimes a past trauma, whether a parent's or a child's, is quietly shaping how the whole household reacts to stress.
A family therapist looks at those patterns as a system rather than blaming one person. That shift alone often lowers the temperature at home.
What family therapy with Dr. Audrey looks like
Dr. Audrey's doctoral specialty is family systems, the idea that each family member's behavior makes sense in the context of the whole. Sessions are structured but conversational. She helps everyone speak, slows down the moments that usually escalate and translates what each person is really asking for.
Assessment and goals
Early sessions map what is happening: who is involved, what has been tried, what a better month would look like. Some families meet together from the start. Others begin with parents alone, or with a teen individually, before bringing everyone into the same session.
Skills the whole family can use
Families leave sessions with specific tools: a script for a calmer bedtime conversation, a plan for handling phone rules, a signal for taking a break before an argument boils over. As a C-DBT certified clinician, she often teaches emotion regulation and validation skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which help both teens and parents.
When trauma is part of the picture
Trauma rarely stays with one person. A parent's unresolved childhood experiences, a teen's assault, a frightening medical event or domestic violence can ripple into every relationship in the home. Dr. Audrey treats PTSD and complex PTSD and can combine individual trauma work with family sessions so that healing happens in the relationships, not only inside one person.
Is online family therapy practical for Somerset County?
For many families, it is the only way everyone can attend. Dr. Audrey's practice is 100 percent online, so there is no New Jersey office, no waiting room and no evening spent in traffic on Route 202. Each person clicks a secure, HIPAA-compliant link that opens in the browser; there is no app to download.
Family members can join from different places. A parent can log in from a home office in Warren, a college student from a dorm, and a teen from a bedroom down the hall. She holds a New Jersey Licensed Professional Counselor license, so participants need to be physically located in New Jersey, New York or Texas, where she is licensed, during the session. Scheduling for New Jersey clients runs on Eastern Time. You can read more about how online sessions work in New Jersey.
What happens in the first few family sessions?
The first meeting is mostly listening. Dr. Audrey asks each person what feels hard right now and what they would like to be different, and she sets a few ground rules so nobody gets cornered. Younger children may join for part of a session and then step out so adults can speak freely.
Over the next sessions, she shares what she notices about the family's patterns: who tends to pursue, who withdraws, where a conversation reliably goes sideways. Seeing the pattern laid out is often a relief, because it shows that the problem lives between people rather than inside one "difficult" person.
From there, you agree on two or three concrete goals. One family might focus on reducing morning arguments before school. Another might work on how to talk about a parent's remarriage, or on helping a teen return to classes after a period of anxiety. Small, specific wins tend to build momentum faster than broad promises to "communicate better."
Between sessions, Dr. Audrey may suggest a short experiment, like a weekly ten-minute check-in or a new way to respond when a sibling fight starts. Families then bring back what worked and what did not, and the plan adjusts. Progress is measured in real moments at home, not in how a session felt.
Who family therapy can help
- Parents of teens dealing with withdrawal, defiance, school stress, anxiety, self-harm or screen-time battles.
- Parents of younger children who need parenting strategies for behavioral challenges, ADHD, autism spectrum needs or sensory processing differences.
- Blended and co-parenting families working out new roles, loyalties and household rules across two homes.
- Couples whose relationship strain is spilling over onto the kids.
- Adult children and aging parents facing caregiving decisions, grief or long-standing resentments.
- LGBTQ+ youth and their families who want an affirming space to talk about identity, coming out and acceptance.
Dr. Audrey works with children, teens, young adults, adults, couples and whole families, and she adjusts how sessions run to fit the ages in the room.
Research and resources worth knowing
Family therapy is a well-established approach. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy publishes consumer information about how relational therapy works, and the World Health Organization describes mental health as closely tied to the environments where people live and grow up, families included.
For support between sessions, NAMI runs education programs for family members of people living with mental health conditions, and the National Association of Social Workers shares guidance on finding community services. These resources complement therapy; they do not replace it.
About Dr. Audrey Kteily
Dr. Audrey holds a PhD in Family Studies from Texas Woman's University, a master's in Counseling from Dallas Baptist University and a bachelor's in Psychology from Texas Woman's University. She is a Certified Family Life Educator through the National Council on Family Relations and a published author on family dynamics, which is why parents often say her explanations make immediate sense.
She is licensed as a Professional Counselor in New Jersey, a Mental Health Counselor in New York and a Professional Counselor-Supervisor in Texas, and she is C-DBT certified. She has more than two decades of clinical experience. Her practice is LGBTQ+-owned and affirming. Learn more on her biography page.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or 911. Dr. Audrey's practice is not a crisis service.
Getting started with family therapy
Dr. Audrey is an out-of-network provider. She provides a superbill that you can submit to your insurer for possible out-of-network reimbursement, so check your plan's out-of-network mental health benefits ahead of time.
To begin, send a secure appointment request with a short note about what your family is facing. She replies within one business day. You can also browse the New Jersey online therapy overview or start from the main Dr. Audrey site.
Request an appointment, or text or call (917) 905-3183. Texting is easiest; please leave health details out of your message.