The Spark Blog
Category: Couples
-
5 Ways to Improve your Relationship
Relationships – particularly the one we have with our partner or spouse – are vitally important. But as they are familiar and constant, we often take them for granted. Amongst the busyness of life it often feels like there is no time to ‘improve your relationship’. The good news is that even small changes can…
/
-
![Parents & the Post-Summer Struggle]()
Parents & the Post-Summer Struggle
As Scottish schools head back for a new term and summer holidays end, many parents will be left with the same troubling question: after time off with my family, why do I feel further apart from my partner? This is a common query posed to our counsellors in the weeks after the school holidays. We…
/
-
![Why Did They Have an Affair?]()
Why Did They Have an Affair?
When an affair brings a couple to counselling, a common early indicator of problems is when one partner has taken intimate, emotional issues outside the relationship. Even if the emotional connection does not progress to sexual intimacy, severe damage can already have been done. The emotional cost of an affair Sharing your deepest thoughts and…
/
-
![The Good and Bad of School Holidays]()
The Good and Bad of School Holidays
When we think about summer school holidays we imagine families playing on a sandy beach. We hear the laughter of kids enjoying days out with their parents and the smell of barbeques and suntan lotion. Basically, we imagine all the best bits of a travel agent’s TV advert – couples in love, parents at ease…
/
-
![When Football Takes Over]()
When Football Takes Over
When it comes to the start of a new football season, transfer deadline day or a major championships (usually without Scotland) fans of the ‘beautiful game’ will be glued to TV screens and stadium terraces. For all the excitement and spectacle a season or tournament offers, couples across the country will be split as one…
/
-
![What Does Debt Do to Relationships?]()
What Does Debt Do to Relationships?
These days it is easy to become immune to the scale of the statistics quoted by news programmes, websites and in the media. Those concerning debt are a prime example. Consider this: according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, in 2015 1.25m adults and 312,000 children were destitute in the UK. That is 1.56m…
/
-
![Permission Granted: Sex Outside Marriage]()
Permission Granted: Sex Outside Marriage
It proved to be an explosive and controversial statement. Loose Women presenter Saira Khan confessed on air to telling her husband she is not interested in sex and that he should go to someone else for it. On social media the idea of sex outside marriage appeared to strike a chord as many women expressed…
/
-
![Counselling from the Perspective of a Counsellor]()
Counselling from the Perspective of a Counsellor
The Spark counsellor Cathie lifts the lid in this blog on what counselling is like from her perspective as a counsellor. Many people may avoid counselling because of a lack of understanding and information on what it is and what it can help them achieve. In this blog Cathie looks at some common misconceptions about…
/
-
![Perfect Parent, Perfect Family, Strained Relationship?]()
Perfect Parent, Perfect Family, Strained Relationship?
One of the most common issues raised in couples relationship counselling is a grievance list about the division of family and household responsibilities, and how it leads to a strained relationship. We are busier than ever in our lives and media messages appear to celebrate our busyness. There is almost an unspoken contest to see…
/
