Prepared/Enrich Relationship Assessments

We attended the training for the Prepare/Enrich Relationship Assessment tool yesterday and we’re really excited about being able to offer this new service! It’s a fantastic tool whether you’re looking for a quick assessment of how your relationship is doing, or if you want a mid-relationship “tune-up” or if you know things are going badly but you’re not sure where to start.

The tool is useful for many stages of relationships including:

• Dating
• Engaged
• Newlyweds
• Married
• Separated
• Divorce/Remarriage

We’re putting together packages right now, stay tuned for this new service!

Rare Finds 2012

Rare Finds 2012, the major fundraiser for the Rare Disease Foundation went down last night and was fantastic as usual. We were there providing photographic coverage and will be putting up a gallery as soon as we can wade our way through the slew of photos we took.

Thank you to everyone who came and to all the organizers and sponsors. What a great night!

New site launch!

Well, we’ve finally been able to “soft” launch our new site. Thanks for the patience! We’ll be adding changing content (hence the “soft” part of the launch) as we go along, but we hope you enjoy it!

“Spring Cleaning”

I don’t know about you, but I love the spring. Why do I love the spring, you might ask? It leads to summer; a time where we get rid of the rain and are reminded why we live in the most beautiful place in the world. There’s just something amazing about spring that brings messages of growth, rebirth, and “newness,” that offers so much hope. The irony of my job as a counsellor is that very seldom do people come see me because things are going well and they just want to tell someone how awesome life is. Occasionally it does happen, which is pretty great. Most people, however, come to me in a state of despair over their life and they are at the end of their rope, not knowing what to do.

As I look around my house, I realize how much spring cleaning I have to do. Then I look out the window, and realize how much more work there is outside. It really is quite overwhelming. As I was thinking about this the other day, I was struck by how closely the idea of spring cleaning around the house/yard mirrors the need for “spring cleaning,” in our lives.

Most people will acknowledge the need for a yearly cleaning and/or purging of their “stuff,” around the house. As we do so, we often realize how inefficient or ineffective some of our methods are. If you’re anything like me, however, you often don’t know where to start. I am not one to watch the decorating or home organizing shows to get ideas, so I stay rather lost.

I find that this is a common experience for many people in their daily lives. Often when we take stock of our lives we see inefficiencies, ineffective coping strategies, or just plain old “junk” that we’re not sure how it got there or where it came from. For some, it’s being married for 15 years and realizing that the only time they talk to their spouse is when they disagree with the judges on American Idol. For others, it’s just after their first baby has been born and suddenly all the roles have changed and they don’t know where they fit in anymore. For others, the issue is that nothing is really happening and they feel lost and disconnected in their relationships.

My encouragement to you this spring is don’t wait. Get started on your spring cleaning, both in your home, and in your everyday lives and relationships. Please don’t wait until it’s “too late” and things are completely overwhelming or awful. Just like in our homes, it’s much easier to tidy and clean up a small mess than a large one.

Counselling doesn’t have to be a last resort. In fact, it’s more effective as a first line of defense than as the last. I would love to sit down with you and see how you’re doing and where I can help. My approach to working with you is to have a conversation about where things are at in your life, and where you would like them to be. By working together we can find a way to get there. Imagine how great life can be with a little spring cleaning!