Most American adults are currently married and almost all will marry at some time in their lives. About two-thirds of children live with their married biological or adoptive parents. Marriage and a happy family life are almost universal goals for young adults. - National Institutes of Health
Test Your Own Marriage Satisfaction
Marital relationships are complex institutions! In order to improve the quality of a marriage, it helps to take a systematic look at how it is functioning. This page contains a questionnaire you can use as a general guide for evaluating your marital satisfaction. Learn more...
Alcohol and the Family
About 8% of American adults abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. This is a primary health concern and it has significant implications for families and child well-being and development. Approximately one out of every four U.S. children under the age of 18 years is exposed to the effects of alcohol abuse or dependence in a family member. Learn more...
Anger Cues and Control Strategies
In addition to becoming aware of anger, individuals need to develop strategies to effectively manage it. These strategies can be used to stop the escalation of anger before loss of control results in negative consequences. An effective set of strategies for controlling anger should include both immediate and preventive strategies. Learn more...
Answers to Common Questions about Counseling
Throughout life, there are times when help is needed to address problems and issues that cause emotional distress or make us feel overwhelmed. When experiencing these types of difficulties, individuals may benefit from the assistance of an experienced, trained professional.Learn more...
Are You an Enabler?
If you are involved with an addicted individual, become as independent of the individual as you can, develop new support systems for yourself, and to the extent feasible let the costs of addiction fall on the individual, not yourself.Learn more...
Assertiveness
Assertiveness is a manner of behaving that communicates respect for others as well as commands respect for yourself.Learn more...
Divorce and Children
Although not all children who experience divorce have problems, children of divorce are twice as likely as children living in nondivorced families to have emotional and behavioral difficulties.Learn more...
Domestic Violence Fact Sheet
Domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence (IVP), partner abuse, and spousal abuse, is a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans.Learn more...
Don’t Get Even-Get Equal
When problems come up in social situations, many people assume their only choices are to be pushy or be pushed. Manipulating others is not the answer to personal powerlessness.Learn more...
Easing Transitions: Balancing Work and Family
To balance family and work, organize your time, develop a budget, and schedule family time. Learn more...
Emotional Fitness for Intimacy
Focusing on integrating continuous positive behaviors into your overall lifestyle is paramount to maintaining a good, loving and intimate connection.Learn more...
Explaining Divorce to Children
Although it may be difficult for parents, talking to children about the divorce is helpful for them. Explaining about divorce helps the child to make some sense of what is happening in the family. Adults should help them understand tension between parents, a parent moving out of the house, or the unhappiness and anger of a parent. It is common for children to think that somehow they are responsible for the divorce. It can be reassuring to tell them that it was not the child's fault.Learn more...
Expressing Your Feelings in Relationships
If you want to share your feelings about a behavior that you find bothersome, it is important to know what not to do. Some ways of expressing feelings are not helpful because they tend to threaten others. One of the most common of these ineffective approaches is called the "you-message." Learn more...
Infertility
Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying (or six months if a woman is 35 or older). Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile. Learn more...
Infidelity
Affairs can be devastating to a marriage and can cause tremendous emotional distress to the offended spouse and children in the marriage. Learn more...
Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is abuse that occurs between two people in a close relationship. The term "intimate partner" includes current and former spouses and dating partners. IPV exists along a continuum from a single episode of violence to ongoing battering.Learn more...
Listening Well
One of the most important steps to having good relationships at work, at home, and with friends is to listen well. It might be surprising that for most people, listening well is very difficult. Misunderstandings are very common in interactions between people as a result of poor listening. Learn more...
Sexual Disorders
Sexual dysfunctions are disorders related to a particular phase of the sexual response cycle. If a person has difficulty with some phase of the sexual response cycle or a person experiences pain with sexual intercourse, he/she may have a sexual dysfunction. Learn more...
Stages of Adjustment to Divorce
Children's adjustment to divorce is a long process. Divorce does not happen all at once, either. It is a series of events and changes. At different points, children deal with different issues. Also, different children react to the same changes and situations in different ways. Some studies show that children react to divorce in three stages. Learn more...
Symptoms of Emotional Damage to Children of High-Conflict Divorce
The long-term emotional damage to children as a result of the improper conduct of their parents during a divorce inhibits their ability to lead happy and productive lives within the society. Learn more...
Ten Ways to Be a Better Dad
Too many fathers think teaching is something others do, but a father who teaches his children about right and wrong, and encourages them to do their best, will see his children make good choices. Involved fathers use everyday examples to help their children learn the basic lessons of life. Learn more...
The Death Of A Child
When a parent dies, you lose your past; when a child dies, you lose your future. - Anonymous Learn more...
The “Healing Separation”
A Healing Separation is a structured time apart which can help a couple heal a relationship that isn't working. It can also help revitalize and renew a relationship that is working. A successful Healing Separation requires that both partners be committed to personal growth, and to creating healthier relationships with themselves and each other. Learn more...
The Magic of Dialogue
Apart from its obvious practical value for problem-solving, dialogue expresses an essential aspect of the human spirit. Learn more...
Toxic Relationships
Some relationships are definitely toxic. Regardless of attempts to work through problems, the friction and conflict are so severe that one or more people in the relationship continue to be hurt. Some toxic interactions have nothing to do with the desire to cause pain. The troubles may be largely due to a person's own emotional woundedness, stressful lifestyle, mental illness or addiction to alcohol. Learn more...
Trading Spaces, Sharing Parents: Helping Your Child Adjust to Visitation
Parents experiences with a new step-family are often difficult, but the changes and transitions are just as difficult for children. One particular problem for the child during visitation is sharing parents. A child may be feeling like a visitor in the new home, especially if the new spouse's children live there and the visiting child lives elsewhere. Learn more...
Understanding Anger
People often confuse anger with aggression. Aggression is behavior that is intended to cause harm to another person or damage property. Anger, on the other hand, is an emotion and does not necessarily lead to aggression. Therefore, a person can become angry without acting aggressively. Learn more...
Why Step Relationships Aren’t Easy
When two people remarry and one or both have children, they do not have the luxury of simply marrying as partners. They must commit to the complexity of learning to marry as parents, too. This parental dimension to their union requires additional communication as they not only work out how to function as a couple, but as a family, as well. Learn more...