Relationships can be challenging, but registered clinical councillor Laila Presotto is aiming to strengthen up connections for people who could use fresh ideas.
For the past year, Presotto has hosted a handful of successful relationship remedy workshops in Squamish .The workshops aim to heal damaged relationships or maintain a solid base in a thriving partnership. Presotto said they can help all types of relationships.
“For me this event is around helping people strengthen and continue to build their emotional connection,” she said. “Often, in a lot of relationships, you can feel disconnected from your partner, and this event captures people in all sorts of stages. I get single people who want to come to reflect on ways to improve, some people who are really struggling, and some who just want to be proactive in terms of learning something to add to their relationship.”
She pointed out that it’s not only couples that can benefit from the workshop.
“There are a lot of parents out there struggling with their teens, and sometimes the demands of raising a teen can cause the relationship to break down,” she said. “I work with a lot of teens in this community and when I do, I sit down with the parents to get a sense of the history of the child and the couple too. Often couples are not on the same page with a teen and it can cause conflict.”
The concept of parallel lives is something that Presotto is trying to eliminate from couples.
“Many couples are co-existing together,” she said. “They’re co-managing a home, business or life, and they’re so disconnected that they’re living parallel lives. Some couples are just coasting.”
She stressed that people can share as much or as little as they want during the workshop.
“You’re not going to be asked about your current relationship but if you want to share go ahead,” she said. “If people want to partake they can or if others want to just listen and say nothing that also works. There’s zero expectation and if nothing else, you will get the educational aspect of the presentation.”
Presotto said the workshops have a maximum of 12 people but there have been as few as eight. She works on couples using the Dr. John Gottman method of therapy and has a background in a number of different specialties including mental health, child and adolescent development and trauma therapy. The next workshop on Feb. 5 runs from 7 to 9 p.m. For information, contact Presotto at [email protected].
