Building Better Relationships
SUSANNA DEVERELL
My background
I hold a Post-Graduate Diploma in Relationship Therapy and have offered counselling in this area for two decades, 15 of those as a Registered Practitioner for the charity RELATE, as a couple and family counsellor. This included facilitating workshops about the impact that parental conflict has on children in separation and divorce scenarios. I now only work in private practice.
Before this, I worked as a fully-qualified German lawyer. My experience at family courts stimulated my interest in conflict resolution. With my husband and three children, I lived for many years in parts of the world which are deeply troubled by unresolved conflict. These experiences come together in what I offer now.
Thirteen Thoughts about Families:
- Family is where you are received with open arms.
- We expect too much of mothers.
- Generations are closer than before.
- Our family imprints us, whether we like it or not.
- Fathers are equally important.
- Most parents prefer one child to another.
- Blood ties are no protection against abuse or neglect.
- The happiness of parents is not always the happiness of children.
- The attempt to understand eases the pain.
- Forgiveness requires maturity.
- Often love is buried under deep layers.
- There is no ideal time to have children.
- What keeps families together: mutual history told truthfully.
