If your child has is having counselling, it can cause difficult feelings for you, and you may not know how to approach the subject or know what to say during this time. This guide has been written to help parents navigate this time and has been written with input from young people. Children and Young…

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Are they trained to work with relationships? Entrusting yourself and your relationship to relationship counselling can seem daunting especially when there are so many different forms of counselling available. The first thing you need to ask a counsellor is about their training in relationship work. Relationships Scotland runs fully accredited and validated courses for those…

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child xmas - Some rights reserved by Lars Plougmann via Flickr Creative Commons

Christmas should be a magical time of year for families, a chance to come together, open presents and have fun. For families who have gone through the turmoil of a divorce it can mean heightened emotions and stress as they try to do what’s best for their children despite their separation. What starts out as…

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Pentland Hills Image courtesy of 'Rich B-S' via Flickr

Creative Commons Image courtesy of ‘Rich B-S’ via Flickr In Scotland we are so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful scenery and wonderful parks. With this in mind we decided to compile the top ten outdoor family days out. These are the places that we trek to for our favourite picnic spot or the beautiful…

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Continuing our series of blogs for Child Contact Centre Awareness Week (22-26 April), Mark Stalker tackles the difficult subject of managing recent separation. If you’ve recently separated from your partner and have children then you don’t need me to tell you how stressful the whole situation can be. It’s a time which can be really…

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The idea of an extended family get-together can be absolutely the best thing about Christmas for many people, but for some, we have to acknowledge, it can be the most stressful. Even in intact families problems can arise if in-laws don’t get along: I’m lucky with my own in-laws so I asked a counsellor colleague,…

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 Gill O’Connell of Relationship Counselling Highland offers some sound advice on getting through the festive season. The story goes: Christmas is about joy, harmony and love. The reality is, though, that it is hard for even the most relaxed people to get through to Boxing Day without some crisis in their family or relationship. When there…

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This December, several thousand families across Scotland will be facing their first Christmas separated or divorced. It is hard for even the most relaxed family to get through to Boxing Day without some crisis, tantrum or disaster, but when there is the added pressure of a family living apart because of separation or divorce, the…

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The Scottish Government launches its national parenting strategy on 3 October 2012. I am delighted that there is to be a National Parenting Strategy and thinking about this has caused me to reflect on what children in Scotland – and indeed worldwide – actually need in order to thrive. I am a parent, I worked…

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