5.11.21 | Lived Experiences – The Journey of Foster Parenting

In this professional training, we will hear from foster parents as they discuss their experiences and insights gained while navigating the foster care system and becoming a foster parent. This professional training is for those who work in mental health and/or social services fields, as well as those who may be interested in becoming a foster parent.

Click here to register for this event and to receive Zoom details to connect on May 11, 2021. 

The Ingredients for a Healthy Relationship

The Ingredients for a Healthy Relationship

By HRI Director, Dr. Christine Murray

Imagine you’re baking some cookies. As you prepare the cookie batter, you may change a few things up a bit in the recipe–who doesn’t like a few extra chocolate chips, after all? But, overall, you need to get the right mix of ingredients in the cookies, or they just won’t taste right. Have you ever added baking powder when you were supposed to use baking soda? Or too much salt? Now, I’m nowhere close to being a master chef, but I can tell you that food doesn’t turn out right when you don’t have the right ingredients in the recipe.

Relationships can be a lot like baking in that way. There are important ingredients to include in a relationship to help it become happy, healthy, and safe. When one or more of the important ingredients are missing from a relationship, the relationship can feel off, or it can start to deteriorate into having a lot of major problems over time. Just like a cookie doesn’t turn out right without the best mix of ingredients, relationships won’t turn out just right if we don’t put in the right mix of positive relationship ingredients.

What are these important positive relationship ingredients? As we’ve planned for the launch of the Healthy Relationships Initiative, we’ve thought carefully about what it means to have a “healthy” relationship. It is not our goal to suggest that there is one ideal way to have a healthy relationship! We know that the “recipe” for healthy relationships can take many forms, and people’s ideas about what makes a healthy relationship are impacted by many factors, including their cultural background, their religious views, and their past experiences.

We’ve worked to identify core features of relationships that we believe are relatively universally accepted as being a part of healthy relationships. We know that our list isn’t perfect–part of the beauty of relationships is that they are each unique, just like the people in them. However, we believe that these characteristics are common among healthy relationships, even across different backgrounds.

4.6.21 | Walking Together Towards Recovery: It’s All About Friendship

 

Join Fellowship Hall and the Healthy Relationships Initiative as we discuss how friendship is crucial to long-term recovery and wellness.  This event will feature a panel of those with both professional and personal experiences with recovery and a discussion led by HRI Director, Dr. Christine Murray.

There is no advanced registration required for this event. To tune in on Tuesday, April 6, simply visit the HRI or Fellowship Hall Facebook page at 12:00 pm. Eastern Time. 

 

Give Out Love and Let Love In

“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays With Morrie
 
When we experience healthy relationships of all kinds, we experience the joys of life – being loved and loving in return.
 
Reach out & connect with a loved one today. Make sure they know how important they are to you!

Relationship Affirmations to Start the Day

An important part of having healthy and happy relationships is to maintain a positive view of your relationships, especially when times are tough or relationships are strained. One way to practice this reframing of your relationships is to practice daily affirmations.  Affirmations can help us train our minds to view our circumstances more positively. Today, we’re sharing relationship affirmations to help you begin reframing your perspectives on your relationships today!

4 Practical Steps for Setting Healthy Boundaries in Relationships

Boundaries often have a negative connotation, but when we use them appropriately, they can help us to strengthen our relationships and experience healthier, happier, and safer relationships overall. Today, we’re sharing 4 practical steps for setting healthy boundaries in relationships of all kinds.

  1. Commit to learning and growing.  All relationships require intentionality and constant effort in order to remain healthy, happy, and safe. When setting boundaries in relationships, it’s important to commit to learning and growing. Identifying the areas of your relationships that may need work can help you understand where you need to commit your effort to learning and growing new skills.
  2. Practice, practice, practice! Like anything in life, to become good at setting boundaries, you have to practice, practice, practice! Practicing boundary-setting can look like: reminding yourself and those impacted of the boundary you’re setting and how they can help you enforce it, or holding yourself accountable for the boundaries that you set for yourself. Remember that perfection is not the goal, but consistency is!
  3. Understand that only you can change your behaviors and that you cannot control the behaviors of others.  It can be hard to accept this in our relationships, but when we understand that we cannot control the behaviors of others, it helps us to focus on the behaviors in ourselves that can help to change or impact a relationship for the better.
  4. Address communication issues and boundary violations promptly and respectfully. Responding to boundary violations quickly and respectfully helps to hold yourself accountable, as well as others, for ensuring that your needs are met.

For more on setting boundaries in relationships, check out this pre-recorded program by HRI Director, Dr. Christine Murray, here.

3.19.21 | Sesame Street in Communities Resources: Tips for Parents

 

The Healthy Relationships Initiative is partnering with the Guilford County Partnership for Children and other community organizations to help parents bridge difficult and sensitive discussions with their young children using Sesame Street in Communities resources!

This event will feature a panel of experts and will take place on Friday, March 19 at 11:00 AM EST on Facebook Live. You can connect through the Partnership Facebook here, or through the Healthy Relationships Initiative Facebook on the day of the program.  No advance registration is required.

We look forward to seeing you there!