This year, my wife and I have set goals for ourselves individually, as a couple, family goals and work goals. Sure, COVID and the usual hiccups and distractions have gotten in the way... but our review cycle and progress tracking has remained unchanged. We continue to discuss progress in all the obvious areas such as finances, career, sex, time together, time with friends and family... but what we always find is that our couple goals are what makes up most of the discussion.

Conflict Resolution is a couples ability to discuss and resolve differences and is also how effectively they are able to share opinions, ideas, and feelings with their partner, even during times of conflict.

Conflict Resolution is your ability to discuss and resolve differences. Also how effectively you are able to share opinions, ideas, and feelings with your spouse, even during times of conflict.

Choose your attitude and behaviour, communicate openly and consider your non-verbal stance, expression and situation. This creates trust and intimacy.

When couples put effort towards something, it can be helpful to foresee outcomes. Whether they work through the PREPARE/ENRICH assessment results in its entirety or section by section, articulating outcomes now and being mindful of them along the way will help guide toward finding success through this journey.

Since it often takes time to learn new strategies and because conflicts organically develop, make a commitment to evaluate your next conflict.

When dealing with conflict in a couples relationship, it's important that they resist the urge to bring up past experiences that have already been resolved and reopen them for discussion. Acknowledging the current disagreement and working through the conflict by actively listening is a great goal.

The development of skills can all to easily become over-shadowed by the feedback process. Why not aim for a balanced approach in which feedback and the development of skills (e.g. good listening skills; constructive ways of handling conflict) are both valued?

Move forward when both partners can confidently answer: Yes. They are ready to move ahead.

Daily Dialogue is an intentional effort to talk about your relationship, rather than discussing your activities that day. The focus of daily dialogue is on your feelings about each other and your lives together.

Beyond daily dialogue, taking time to discuss deeper more intimate details about your feelings is also important towards increasing intimacy.

As many organisations close their doors, schools close and public places deserted, many of us are forced to remain home and practice social distancing. With that, anxiety levels rise, fuses become shorter and frustration prevails - our routines are turned upside down and additional stress is placed on relationships and families leading to spikes in demand for family and relationship services.

The need for relationship education is escalating, service access is becoming more limited because of the increased lock-down and social isolation. Providers of support services must adjust to the conditions and search for innovative ways of working, to help those facing adversity - from the comfort of their own homes.