If you've hit a rough patch in your relationship and need help fast, you may be in need of my Relationship Repair Kit. I developed my Relationship Repair Kit for couples who are struggling and want to experience a positive change in their relationship.

The exercises that follow are intended to be used in addition to couples therapy or marriage counseling. They are meant to help stabilize your relationship between now and when you begin working with a marriage therapist.

The kit consists of four activities and a book recommendation.

Activity 1 - Appreciation Exercise
This appreciation exercise is an assignment that helps you to express your appreciation for another person by guiding you through it. Some people have a hard time opening up about their emotions and vulnerabilities. It is even harder for a married couple to expose their vulnerabilities to each other when they are not confident about the reception it will receive. This exercise is designed to make you comfortable and appreciated as you open up.
Click here to complete - Appreciation Exercise

Activity 2 - The Relationship Workout
A relationship is built from workouts much like a body in a gym. Just like working out in the gym, it takes a few hours a week. The following is a training plan for a healthy relationship workout. The exercises are designed to make your relationship stronger and more resistant to stress.
Click here to complete - The Relationship Workout

Activity 3 - The 20 Questions for Couples Game
This exercise is actually a game meant to bring you and your partner closer together. While you're having fun playing, you’ll also be expanding and deepening your knowledge of each other. Play this game together in the spirit of laughter and gentle fun. Play as frequently as you'd like and anytime you want to learn new things about each other.
Click here to complete - The 20 Questions for Couples Game

Activity 4 - Information Gathering Exercise for Couples
This exercise helps couples to have a clearer understanding of each other's everyday lives. Even though you think you know so much about each other, you may be surprised to find out that there are important things you don't know. The major benefits of this exercise come from sharing information. Because you take turns as listener and speaker, you get an opportunity to connect with each other in a meaningful way.
Click here to complete - Information Gathering Exercise for Couples

Book Recommendation
Gottman, John (1999) The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. New York: Crown.

John Gottman has revolutionized the study of marriage. As a professor of psychology at the University of Washington and the founder and director of the Seattle Marital and Family Institute, he has studied the habits of married couples in unprecedented detail over the course of many years. His findings, and his heavily attended workshops, have already turned around thousands of faltering marriages. This book is the culmination of his life's work: the seven principles that guide couples on the path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Straightforward in their approach, yet profound in their effect, these principles teach partners new and startling strategies for making their marriage work. Gottman helps couples focus on each other, on paying attention to the small day-to-day moments that, strung together, make up the heart and soul of any relationship. Being thoughtful about ordinary matters provides spouses with a solid foundation for resolving conflict when it does occur and finding strategies for living with those issues that cannot be resolved.

If you have not already contacted a counselor to help you, please click here to contact me.