Are you in a relationship that could be better? Does your partner think everything’s OK? Thinking you can’t “fix” it by yourself? Do you find yourself so unhappy, you are constantly complaining and nagging your partner about little things? Feeling like a shrew? Tired of waiting for your partner to get it? Or perhaps you’ve been in a relationship for a while and all of a sudden it ended and your heart is breaking? Or are you between relationships and wondering what you’re supposed to do now? Relationships are complicated. When they’re going well, life is good. When they aren’t, everything else is harder to negotiate.
Don’t think you have to figure it out all on your own. I’ve been studying relationships and working with people struggling with relationship issues for over 25 years. Understanding how important relationships are to people's overall well-being, I've made it my life’s mission to help people get along better with the important people in their lives, including themselves, at home and at work. I’m looking forward to devoting the rest of my life to fulfilling that mission.
Over time, I developed my own technique, called InsideOut Empowerment. One unique thing about this process is that it will help unhappy people in a relationship make things better for themselves, without any change from their partner. InsideOut Empowerment helps people improve their relationships, even when their partner sees no need. All unhappiness comes from within so its solution must also be found within. You'll never find your happiness in someone else.
I got a degree in psychology in 1982. Then I worked in mental health for five years before taking a job with a specialized foster care agency in 1987. I worked with abused and neglected kids, their families and foster families. Then I went into supervision and eventually management. In 1996, I got my master's in Counseling and began a part-time private practice.
It was also in 1987, I began my journey in Choice Theory (CT), which helped me in so many ways. I became a better counselor, educator, supervisor, mother, wife and overall person. CT gave me the tools I needed to manage the difficult times in both my personal and professional life and to make the most out of the excellent times.
In 2004, after my children graduated and began their own lives, I left my job of 17 years, moved to Chicago and began my own coaching practice. I wanted to transition from counseling to working with healthy people who understand the value of professional help. I also offered public speaking, training and consulting. And I wanted to write a book. That’s the professional side.
On the personal side, I got married in 1983. We had two sons and life was good . . . until my husband got leukemia and died 4½ years later at the age of 37.
CT helped me get through his illness and death, and the subsequent challenges of parenting my two teenage sons alone. CT also helped me through my youngest son’s two deployments to Iraq. Now, they are both married to wonderful women and each has children of his own.
In 2011, I authored my second book, Secrets of Happy Couples: Loving Yourself, Your Partner, and Your Life. I wrote Secrets because I kept seeing many couples unhappy in their relationships, not wanting to leave but clueless about how to improve them. Having been in a challenging marriage, but now in the best relationship of my life, I knew I had something to offer unhappy couples.
If you are struggling with any relationship problem, whether it’s a relationship at home, at work or that all important relationship with yourself, The Relationship Center is your answer!
