WOMEN'S ISSUES

Women often view themselves in the context of relationships - friend, daughter, sister, parent, wife, partner and worker. While these roles can provide great satisfaction, they can also create many emotional challenges as women continually strive to reach a balance between their own needs and the needs of their loved ones.

This is a challenge in a culture that teaches us that a woman's first priority is the needs of others. Previous generations' role models have given us images of the selfless mom and caretaking martyr. Alternatively, the superwoman of today can handle both career and family with seeming ease. Both ideals have their pitfalls leaving women to try to forge new and better paths between these extremes. Partners in Counseling can help guide you through these cultural constraints, family patterns and personal beliefs to reach the balance that is right for you.

Because of women's relational orientation, conflict with partners, children, friends or co-workers can cause emotional upheaval and disruption to their sense of selves and happiness. This contributes to a host of emotional difficulties, including the higher levels of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and victimization seen in women. These are of the areas of mental health to which Partners in Counseling is devoted.