How FCA Began

Dr. Brooke Farrell and Tamara Ancona, LPC, CPCS, in their efforts to address the increased complexities of their clients’ families, developed the Family Connect Assessment tool in 2015. 

This comprehensive assessment focuses on attachment, communication, boundaries, and conflict resolution patterns in families.  The findings detailed therapeutic interventions to address areas of dysfunction within each family system.  This information provided parents and clinicians with a directive path towards healthier family relationships. 

After multiple years of conducting the Family Connect Assessment, feedback from families and clinical professionals highlighted the need to make this unique tool more accessible to a broader audience in a user-friendly format.

The Family Connect Assessment online is the result of this endeavor.

  • Tamara Ancona, LPC CPCS

    FOUNDER

    Tamara Ancona has a Master of Arts in Psychology and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (GA). Her professional background includes counseling individuals and families in acute residential care, corporate settings and in private practice prior to launching her educational consulting practice in 1999. As founder of TAG Counseling, she utilizes a comprehensive approach to assessing the unique needs of each of her clients and particularly in the midst of their most disruptive spiral. She brings skill and expertise to helping families find the most suitable therapeutic intervention and educational setting to help shift the developmental trajectory of their struggling teen or young adult child. She also has vast experience facilitating therapeutic, educational and experiential groups with both the adult and teen populations. Industry professionals continue to recognize her contribution for pioneering and facilitating exceptional client and family care.

  • Dr. Brooke Farrell

    FOUNDER

    Dr. Brooke Farrell is the co-founder of Family Connect Assessment (FCA) and founder of Unify Families, a transition support program for teens and young adults transitioning from a treatment setting. Having worked with children and families for over 18 years, Brooke’s experience includes clinical positions in psychiatric, wilderness, and residential settings as well as in academia as a university professor. Her education in Mental Health Counseling (M.S.) and a Ph.D. in Child & Family Studies, both from the University of Tennessee, have created a foundation from which her clinical expertise has continued to grow. With additional training in attachment theory, family systems, research and assessment, polyvagal theory, and trauma, Brooke assists clients in addressing blocks in the partner and parent-child relationships so they can achieve greater connection and security.

  • Sara Eden, LCSW

    ASSOCIATE

    As a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), Sara has acted as a therapist at a child and adolescent counseling center, a grief counselor for children and teens, and most recently, as Director of Upper School counseling at Pace Academy, an independent private school in Atlanta. During her 13-year tenure in this role, she created a counseling department across all divisions and gained experience supporting adolescents through mental health challenges including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, and gender and sexuality.

    Currently, Sara is an associate with TAG Counseling, focusing on educational and therapeutic consulting. She helps families navigate the mental health system when their children need support beyond what local resources can offer and acts as a liaison between programs and their clients. Sara looks forward to integrating her skill set and working with and supporting families throughout their journeys. " After working with many families throughout my career, I noticed there was a gap between a child's therapeutic work and family therapy. The FCA is the missing link to understanding how to build a stronger family system."