In the anticipated days of the coming Fall months as new schedules arrive, we ask ourselves how do we stay intentionally connected with one another?

As life-altering as experiencing trauma in your relationships is, it should not prevent you from experiencing intimacy and romance in the future. Learn about the various ways relationship trauma manifests itself and how to deal with it in an informed manner.

I’m going to make the guess that you ultimately want to remain connected to your partner. That you don’t want to ever feel alone or forsaken by your partner, even during a fight. That you want to be partners and friends - not adversaries.

No human can survive in isolation. Our childhood experiences play a major role in determining the quality of our adult life and the way we connect with others. Find out how the attachment patterns formed as a childshape your future relationships.

I still misgender myself all the time. It’s frustrating but also demonstrates that the closer you are and longer you’ve known someone as a certain gender or name, the tougher it is to adapt (and it is going to take a lot of practice).

One suggestion is to be intentional in planning time together with your partner. This doesn’t have to be daily, and it doesn’t mean taking hours out of your weekly schedule. Planning small pockets of time to sit together, talk (not about work, kids, pets, or schedules) is deeply important. Spending even ten minutes daily sitting quietly together, can be significant. You might want to create a boundary that you only want to know about your partner. Sitting with, listening, touching, and empathizing with your partner (and them with you)…these are almost like micro-moments. Their effect is powerful, however.

Since the conception of sexual behaviors and performance are all rooted in the brain, mental well-being has a direct correlation with these intimate aspects of our lives. On this World Sexual Health Day, learn about what trauma is and how it impacts your brain and creates obstacles in your sex life.

We often tend to avoid talking about complex or sensitive subjects, which can negatively affect our relationships with friends and family. This leads to deep-rooted misunderstandings with the passage of time. Find out about how to mindfully broach such strenuous subjects with those close to you and resolve conflicts with ease.

Sometimes when your “to do” lists feel unending, the idea of connecting with your partner can feel like one more thing on that list. You would love to just float away to some tropical island and have unlimited time to focus on your relationship, but when you wake up to a blaring alarm, complaining kids, or a snoring partner, the reality of life sets in. You go from task to task only to discover you are two ships passing and some days you might start to wonder, is this is all there is?

You have been thinking about your relationship lately and realized that you haven’t thought about it in a while. Without intending to, you have been taking your relationship for granted and hoping that it will all work out for the best.

Relationships are like plants. Nurture them and they grow, neglect them and they start to wither and may eventually die. Small consistent actions - water, sunlight and soil or in the case of your relationship listening, communication, commitment and acknowledging perpetual concerns can help them flourish.

If you notice that your happiness is often dependent upon your partner’s happiness, you recognize a need to be in communication with them frequently or feel panicked when they don’t return the gesture, or you notice even your behaviour changes when you feel your relationship is in any way unstable, you may have an anxious attachment style.

You may have found yourself wondering at times why you react the way you do, with your partner. Or conversely! You might wonder at times why your partner reacts or responds to you in ways that you struggle to understand. You know you love one another, so why do you have these “glitches” in your marriage at times?! It could be the attachment styles you each have.

Perhaps this is your first Christmas with a new partner or as a married couple, and you’re wondering, how’s this going to go? The thought of sharing the holidays with a partner or spouse could bring up a myriad of emotions – excitement, relief, anxiety, curiosity, gratitude, sadness… you name it! Read on for some helpful tips for how to manage your time (and emotions) as a couple this holiday season.

How did this happen? How did you go from feeling like this person was your soul mate to wondering who the hell you’re looking at. You’ve gone from talking for hours on end to exchanging brief conversations where you don’t really talk about anything, let alone know them and what they’re going through right now.

It’s awful. It’s discouraging. It’s scary. And it’s so lonely.

Everyone anticipates, responds and reacts in different ways when it comes to holidays…or really, any social or family gathering. You may chalk it up to a dysfunctional family (everyone has a little dysfunction in there somewhere!) or the pressure that these occasions bring. And yet, these gatherings can be positive for your mental health. Let Ashleigh show you how!

Engagement and the months leading up to the celebration of a wedding can be such an exciting (and overwhelming!) time. Maybe you’ve been waiting a long time for this season, or maybe it’s come sooner than expected. Either way, you’ve made one of the most important decisions of your life: you’ve agreed to commit yourself to another person. Now is the time to help you set a firm foundation for a fulfilling marriage.

As difficult as they are, expectations are part of life. Everyone has them – and yet when they are not met, it can be very painful. You can become so attached to the expectation of something that you might begin to see it as reality. And when the outcome isn’t what you expected, the loss can feel very real. You and I can both undoubtedly look back over the past two and a half years and recognize dozens of moments – big and little – of disappointment.

The struggle and numbness that can come with the new quiet in your home and having more time on your hands than you know what to do with can sometimes be overwhelming. Especially if it was unexpected.

As a new or even a seasoned parent, you might wonder how to be a perfect parent and make all the right choices for your kiddo. Spoiler alert: you won’t. And that’s okay! You won’t be a perfect parent. Please know, none of us are! The great news is that the research shows that you only need to make the great, wonderful, healthy attachment and relationship choices about 30% of the time, to raise a securely attached child.

Learning what healthy love, attachment and relationships look like in a safe and ongoing context can help you adjust your attachment style.