Even If Your Marriage Is Happy now, many marriages are in crisis. Marriages can exacerbate mental health issues and marriage can allow you to find happiness and fulfillment. The case for proactive couples’ therapy, or counselling, is crucial. We grow up believing that marriage is happy yet filled with a degree of discord. None of us is really prepared, even those couples attending pre-marriage counselling, although it is an excellent [...]
We have a continued issue of abusive relationships. Most of the time it is the woman who is the victim of an abusive affronting man. I do use the term 'man' very loosely as a man would never be abusive, a male however may. We hear the question, why would she stay or keep going back to him? There are many reasons we find this and most of the time we [...]
Learning how to communicate respectfully with your partner is something most of us are not taught. While we expect it to become natural, I wonder why there are so many couples struggling with this exact issue. We learn to communicate usually from our parents. If we had parents who spoke respectfully, demonstrated compassion, love and kindness, and resolved any issue with a calm level of mediation before reaching an agreement, [...]
My gorgeous husband and I were recently interviewed about how writing Love Notes to each other allows us to continue a rich, happy and fulfilled relationship. The story is about taking a moment to write a note, an expression of love, of appreciation and recognition for the person you love. I hope you enjoy reading and I encourage you all to participate in this little act of kindness for the [...]
This is the 1st part of the information I will post regarding communication counselling. Communication seems to be the main reason couples attend counselling. The main issue I hear is 'we can't communicate'. Couples often want to rekindle their love, that spark they initially felt after meeting, when life was wonderful, joyous and exciting. As time proceeds and life takes over, demands creep in, and we think we know this [...]
Future of Family - Technology. The past ten years have seen an extraordinary change in the way children are developing in this new world. What changes can we expect for our children and families? Never before have toddlers been attached to devices like they are now. I am not saying this is all bad, what it is - is life. As a Family Futurist I can see there is going to [...]
Put your thumbs down and open your ears. How incorrect text language can destroy your relationship. We all do it, multiple times a day. Texting our partners about everything from how our day is to the logistics of family life. But what if all this texting get you into a bad habit of always texting, especially when you should really be talking in person? We've all experienced those texts that were [...]
Can you remember when you last held your baby in your arms, the feel of them, their smell, their sounds? Article I wrote for Mums Delivery - on page 4 Our children grow so quickly. While we have a loving, tender memories of them when they are babies over time those memories become something we are looking at, from a distance. As a new mum we can recall these memories [...]
So you cheated on your partner, now what? You can't change it or take it back. Do you tell your partner or not? Was it a mistake? Should you leave or stay? These are the questions I get asked by people that have cheated on their partners. From both men and women (did you know the statistics tell us that almost the same amount of women cheat as men?). For [...]
The was a recent groundbreaking study examining relationships and health outcomes of couples over a 20-year span. These results may surprise some. This study included how several factors link relationship quality with our health outcomes. The study looked at data from 1995 through to 2011, using several thousand participants. They looked at people who were married or in a long-term relationship. The study found a connection between positive health outcomes [...]
Arranging Finances after Separation. Once you and your partner have made that decision to separate, there are a few first priorities you need to do. Issues to sort after separating often involve your money and finances. The finances are what takes the largest hit and causes the biggest threat, it is what can escalate conflict. If you can make an effort to discuss this issue logically to avoid the emotional amplification, [...]
Most people in a relationship seem to argue, right? We seem to believe this is healthy, normal and everyone does. I wonder, is it really healthy to argue, can arguing help a relationship and what type of arguments are supposedly healthy and what are damaging? If you are arguing and fighting a lot, does this mean your relationship is in trouble or destined to fail? Some therapeutic models of Counselling [...]
