Archives for July 2012

Counselling Influences

Orleans ON Family Therapy

The following books have had a great influence on the development and growth of Brian Wilson Counselling Services:

Hold Me Tight by Susan Johnson, 2008; She takes the reader through seven key conversations that a couple must have to transform their relationship from a source of pain to a source of pleasure and safety for the couple. Sue Johnson stresses the importance of working with our emotions when trying to re-relate to our partner rather than avoiding them or amplifying beyond our partner’s ability to understand them. It is easy to read and a great guide for couples and therapists alike.

Getting The Love You Want by Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., 1988 stands today as an excellent resource for couples and individuals alike to understand how their early experiences in life influence and shape their adult behaviour and affect their relationships. Like Susan’s book he gives a guide for communicating with your partner in an emotionally safe way to maximize their potential for healing their relationship. He includes a number of interesting and effective exercises for couples to use to work through in order to better understand themselves and each other.

The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce by Judith Wallerstein et al., 2000, is a powerful portrayal of the effects of divorce on children from the time of separation and well into adulthood. She has followed children of Divorce in a longitudinal strudy spanning twenty-five years and compared and contrasted their life with children of in tact families who grew up at the same time and in the same neighbourhood as these children. It has motivated me to work even harder to keep couples together except where abuse and criminal activity is apparent because of the devastating affects a divorce has on the children well into their adult years affecting not only them but another generation or two after them.

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