Hint of the Month and News Update - April, 2003
 
Work Stress and its Impact on Relationships
    Sometimes, when you are working with couples, it becomes evident that poor quality relationships may be very largely due to the impact of stress.  Work stress is very common for premarital couples, as well as married or cohabiting couples.  Awareness of the impact of work stress may emerge when the satisfaction items are being discussed.  It might be helpful to encourage couples to think about how they might deal with these issues as part of the feedback process.

    A simple strategy is to start by helping couples to identify necessary changes and how they might help one another to make changes to their…
     

    • Workloads and work-pace so that they are more manageable and fair
    • Work schedules so that are more realistic
    • Work roles so that they are more clear
    • Work environment so that it is healthier and safer
    • Work content so that it is more satisfying/challenging
    • Communication at work to be more assertive and effective with management, supervisors and colleagues
    • Workplace relationships so that they are enhanced/improved
    • Non-workplace matters such as recreation and couple-time outside of work
     

    Basically, you are encouraging and assisting couples to:
     

      Identify a source of stress

    Then to:
     

      Formulate a plan that…
       
        • Is stressor related (what is stressing me/you/us?)
        • Is response related (how can I/you/we respond better?)
        • Includes necessary changes of attitude
         
      Implement the plan together
     
      Monitor the effects of the plan together
     
      Evaluate and fine-tune the plan together as required.
     

    News Update:  

    Prepare-CC (for cohabiting couples intending to marry) packs may now be ordered (see the item in the December 2002 newsletter on our website for details). 

    As we indicated in the last Diary, processing  for the old (pre-version 2000) versions of the Prepare-Enrich inventories is no longer available.  If you have not yet updated your accreditation to Version 2000 please see the list of Training Days and update as soon as possible.