Relationship Advice

Life coaching is another modality of mental health therapy; only less intense than traditional psychotherapy. When we speak of anxiety, anger management, depression, etc., these are issues that call for the services of a psychotherapist to help people feel better about their lives and have better relationships with others. However, while the process of a person being able to resolve these issues is progress in and of itself, it is not progression. Progression entails achieving a level of maturity in any facet of one’s life, whether it be in a marriage, parenting, or in a profession. More and more people are recognizing the need to make improvements in all facets of their lives and the need for the services of a life coach.

Nothing stays the same forever, and as creatures of habit, we have a tendency to remain stuck in the same patterns of thinking and behaving, while circumstances around us change and call for a different type of thinking and behaving. It is also not unusual for people to remain the same, even though they are caught up in an environment that calls for new thoughts and behaviors and they recognize that change in their lives is needed.

An example of a change many people struggle with is seen in parenting, such as needing to adjust your parenting style as your child transitions through puberty. It is not unusual for parents to continue treating or attempting to treat their fourteen-year-old as an eleven-year-old, until they are hit over the head with the reality that there is a pronounced detachment between them and their child.

Marriage provides another example. The needs of your spouse change as the years go by, and most marriage troubles arise from one or both spouses attempting to achieve the same level of happiness while thinking and behaving in a manner their partner no longer responds to.

Parenting and marriage coaching should not be confused with marriage and family counseling, where the mental health issues of one or more persons are having a negative influence on the dynamics of the relationship (such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, personality disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, etc.).

Life coaching is also especially effective for progression in one’s career. If you mentally step back and look at our national and global financial crisis, you will realize that the demand for some specific goods and services has changed; this will call for most workers to change the type of goods and services they provide, which will in turn call for a change in skills. Most workers who have found themselves on the unfavorable side of the recession knew of the changes they needed to make in their professional lives, yet none was made as they were intimidated by the idea of change, or more commonly, they didn’t know how to change.

Life coaching is not an exotic service reserved for the rich; engaging the services of a professional life coach is a wise investment anyone can make in his or her life.

Ugochukwu Uche MS, LPC

Ugo is a psychotherapist and a professional life coach

www.asktheinternettherapist.com/counseling-services.asp

www.road2resolutions.com

Ugochukwu Uche
http://www.articlesbase.com/psychology-articles/professional-life-coaching-690669.html

Not surprisingly, the current global financial crisis has had a great impact on peoples’ personal lives. relationships have been heavily affected. And there have been surprising changes in sexual behavior and dating habits. While many of these consequences are negative, they’re not all bad.

The worst effect has been the immediate impact on married couples. Money being so central to marriage, the sudden financial strain has been devastating to many unions. Numerous counseling services in the UK are reporting a big rise in calls for assistance, sometimes up by a factor of close to sixty percent over last year.

But there have been other, more indirect effects – for instance the influence on the sex industry. Brothels in Australia are generally not nearly as profitable as they used to be, with many struggling to stay in business. The main reason is that men now have less disposable income (or are concerned that it may drop heavily in the near future) and are therefore less likely to spend their hard earned money on sex.

Then there’s the online matchmaking industry. More and more men and women are using these sites for casual encounters, so the number of sexually frustrated males is lower than in the recent past. While those profiting from prostitution may not be happy about these developments, there must be many who see them as a good thing!

And as the brothels go bust, some big matchmaking sites are actually reporting a substantial rise in subscriptions. While the two trends may have nothing to do with each other, it does seem plausible that they are related.

There are different theories about the nature of the link. For instance, it could just be that people who have lost their jobs or are getting less hours at work are now using their extra free time to meet people.

But I think the major causative factor is not more hours, but less money! Online dating is simply a cheaper way to meet members of the opposite sex.

When you think about it, going out to socialize can be very expensive. If you have a car there’s the cost of petrol and parking. If you don’t you still have to pay for public transport or taxis.

Once at the venue, you have to pay the cost of admission. Sometimes this can be quite hefty, particularly for singles events. And you always get hungry, so you have to fork out for a meal as well! Then there are all those highly priced drinks you pay for during the night …

But if you’re sitting at home in front of your PC, you don’t incur any of those costs. Sure, you might not meet as many people as you would at a party in the “real world”. But some of these big sites have hundreds, if not thousands of members online at any one time. What with Skype and similar video chat programs you can see and hear them, too.

Also, unlike in a smoky pub or nightclub, the interaction is a bit more meaningful. You can make more sensible, selective decisions about who you want to get to know, and who you don’t.

Which all goes to make online a dating a very smart choice for singles in these cash-strapped times. And regardless of the cost, it’s still an effective antidote to all the gloom and doom about the world economy. Nothing can lift your mood more than meeting someone new, after all.

Robert McGrath
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/online-dating-and-the-global-financial-crisis-683120.html

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So you want to get back together with ex? You are wanting to try it again? What makes you think that it is going to be any different this time than the last time? There may have been a point where you thought that things were going alright and everything was under control. Obviously it wasn’t.

Something went wrong and either you were too late in reacting to correct the situation or you were just blind to the problems. Was it something that you did that caused it to fall apart or was it something both of you did? What was it that you could have done to change things? Did you know that things needed to be addressed but you never got around to it? These are only some of the questions you need to be asking if you want to get back together with ex and are sure you want to try it again.

There is a quote that many people throw around that many people attribute to Albert Einstein. “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results .” There is a lot of truth to this, especially when there is a marriage or relationship that is needing to be rebuilt and they want to get back together with ex.

Many people will go into a reconciliation effort but will go in pretending that nothing happened. They will go in and try to pick up where they left off but that is exactly what they end up doing. If the marriage ended because of some problem that one or the both of you didn’t address then it will probably end the same way.

Whatever problems you had prior to breaking up, you better work to get them fixed before you work to get back together with your ex. If there was something that you had a problem with then fix it. Get counseling or therapy if you need to but, no matter what, address your own situations first.

If it is the other person in the relationship who had some issues that caused the relationship to end. Make sure that they have taken credible steps to fix the issues. When you are wanting to get back together and they haven’t done anything to fix things on their end then you will be dealing with it all over again.

 If the two of you had issues together that tore you apart, get some relationship counseling to try and work things out and get back together with ex. Don’t try to jump back into things when you will likely only be trying to jump back out again. Don’t try getting back together if you are going to run into the same problems again.

Why is it that you are trying to get back together with ex? If it is because you really love each other and you want to be together forever, then try to get things fixed before you start messing things up again. If you don’t address situations that tore you apart the first time it is likely that you are just going to be causing a cycle of pain and your broken heart.

If you think that you want to get back together with ex, save yourself from future heartbreak and fix the issues before they end your relationship forever.

Dave Islington

It is your life we are talking about. And your spouses. And your kids. Take every necessary step to find the right counselor for your needs.

It can be very hard to do this, though, because of all the overwhelming ads and the multiple types of professionals soliciting, such as psychologists,social workers,mental health counselors etc. But, the fact of the matter is that you can find the right marriage counselor and many of them are very good.

Believe it or not, most of them, as their primary motivation, actually want to help you. Here are some of the things to look for in your psychologist, therapist or marriage counselor. Just take these steps to find the perfect counselor for you.

Find a therapist that does mostly marriage or family counseling. This is important. You will want someone who not only knows expert counseling methods, but also one who will have experience in dealing with problems similar to yours. This simple principle can really make a large difference.

Many counselors have one or two particular areas of expertise and do other things as well. If you find one who works mainly in marriage or family counseling, you are likely to be able to count on him/her to know more about how to solve your problems than someone who works mainly with adolescents, for example.

To find a counselor that you can trust, look towards the American Psychological Association, the Illinois Psychological Association or the Illinois chapters of the Mental Health Counselors Association or the National Association of Social Workers for recommendations.

It helps to know that someone knowledgeable is recommending the one that you are choosing. If you feel that you can, ask friends and family about their
recommendations as well.

Once you find a few names to consider, make sure that you know about them. Ask about their relevant experience for cases like yours.

While this will not tell you whether your marriage counselor will be successful with you and your spouse, it is safe to say that it will give you some idea of his or her skill level.

Consider how well the counselor will be dedicated to you and your spouses problems. You can judge this by what he or she tells you and by how well he or she works with you. Does s/he accept your health insurance? Are your calls returned promptly? Can you trust that your sessions will start on time?

Ask them how many other cases similar to yours that they are handling at the time. You need to know their dedication and expertise regarding your personal needs.

Perform an interview with the counselor. Ask the questions discussed previously. If at all possible make it an in person interview. This will help you to get a feeling for the counselor.

Ask about his/her therapeutic techniques. An experienced marriage counselor should be able to tell you what methods are used and what distinct stages occur in the marriage counseling process.

Is it important to compare fees. Maybe. Maybe not. If your therapist does psychological counseling regarding marital issues and, if s/he accepts your insurance, youll only have to make the co-pay at each visit (it often ranges between $0 to $70 a visit depending on your policy); your insurance will cover the rest.

However, if your marriage counselor doesn’t do psychological counseling during your visit, your insurance won’t cover any of it. Out-of-pocket fees can then range from $80 to $150 a visit. Whether the therapist does psychological counseling and not only marriage counseling can be a technical question, so be sure to ask.

Lastly, it is important to choose a therapist that you trust. If you do not feel comfortable with a therapist, you shouldn’t work with him/her. It makes sense that you and your spouse should be able to talk with him/her easily and discuss all the specific details of your problems.

You should feel comfortable providing him/her with what is needed. Trusting your counselor will go a long way to helping you relax and relieve some of your stress.

The perfect marriage counselor? Is there really one out there? Who knows, but there is definitely one therapist with whom you can feel comfortable and at ease. When you take the time to make sure that the counselor that you have chosen is a good one, you can be sure that the future of your marriage or family is in capable hands.

Dr Mike Shery
http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/everything-you-need-to-know-to-find-a-family-or-marriage-counselorin-plain-english-79489.html