Relationship Counselling

Relationships with other people are a fundamental part of everyone’s life’s. It is clear from the moment we are born how important others are as we need them for survival. While we gain some independence as we mature and age, research has shown that individuals with strong relationships, either intimate or social in nature, report greater life happiness, live longer, and are less vulnerable to mental and physical illness (Brown, 2000; Holt-Lunstad & Smith, 2012; Ren & Mao 2023).

However sometimes the relationships we have with others are not always smooth sailing. Difficulties arise in relationships due to a wide array of issues including ineffective communication, financial stress, and different expectations or values to name a few. Sometimes it may not be an intimate or social relationship itself that might be the issue, but the lack of success in initiating them in the first place. Loneliness can often be the result of not forming social connections or having relationship difficulties with others. This is important to understand because loneliness is a major factor in unhappiness, and conversely one of the keys — maybe the key — to happiness is strong connections to other people.

J.B Therapy provides relationship counselling to individuals requiring some assistance in addressing relationship issues. These issues may affect romantic, family, work, or social relationships. Therapy can be individual or couple-based if the relationship in question is intimate. Evidence-based strategies and techniques are used to help individuals identify possible reasons for relationship difficulties (if not already known) and how to better manage them moving forward. Often communication is a source of relationship problems and communication skills and strategies can be coached that addresses them.

References

Brown, S. L. (2000). The effect of union type on psychological well-being: Depression among cohabitors versus marrieds. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41(3), 241–255. https://doi.org/10.2307/2676319

Holt-Lunstad, J., & Smith, T. B. (2012). Social relationships and mortality. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(1), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00406.x

Ren, J., & Mao, C. (2023). Social relationships and mortality. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(8), 1249–1250. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01611-y