“Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart.” -C. S. Lewis A family arrived in my counseling office for their first session. Dad looked nervous, Mom looked relieved and the two teenage kids looked like they had just walked into a morgue. Both parents complained of being driven crazy by the constant […]
Improving Family Communication
Effective communication is one of the cornerstones of relationship. It is the means by which we form connections with others, work out inevitable conflicts that arise, make plans for the future, collaborate on a project, or achieve greater intimacy. It can be far more difficult than any of us first imagined. After all, we’ve been […]
Family Communications & Effective Conversations
Countless people suffer from social anxiety. Some people get uncomfortable speaking to strangers, while others are comfortable with small talk but are overwhelmed when having more emotional or intimate conversations. If you, or someone you love, struggles with finding and maintaining relationships, and you think that communication may be at the root, Alan Garner’s book, Conversationally Speaking: […]
Marriages Thrive with Good Communication
There are many excellent resources available to couples wanting to learn how to communicate more effectively. One of the several that we like and recommend is now in its third edition. Written by Matthew McKay, Martha Davis and Patrick Fanning, check out Messages: The Communication Skills Book. If when you completed your Current Family Assessment […]
You CAN Teach An Old Dog New Tricks
“Families break up when people take hints you don’t intend and miss hints you do intend.” -Robert Frost At the heart of relationships is the art of communication. How tragic that we do not spend as much time teaching our children the skills necessary to get along with others as we do teaching them math […]
How to Improve your Communication
If you need help with Key #1, Talking and Listening… Although there are many excellent books on communication, we have found Marshall Rosenberg’s teaching of nonviolent communication to be one of the most user-friendly. This model is excellent for children, teens, couples, and families. What made this resource even more special is that Don and […]
