For years my fellow psychologists have been telling us that, in order to help a person with social, emotional and behavioral problems, we have to look beyond the person to another powerful element which motivates, influences and causes our behavior. Psychologists have identified that element by various names: the setting, the situation, the environment.
I developed the Houle relationship Approach (HRA) based on the premise that the settings, situations or environments are actually our relationships, or more precisely, our specific relationships. And it is within these relationships that our social, emotional and behavioral problems occur.
Consider just a few examples of specific relationships:
- Marriage problems occur in the context of the intimate relationship
- Childhood problems happen in the context of the parent-child or student-teacher relationship
- Problems of employment occur within the context of the work relationship
- Personal (emotional) problems happen in and around the relationship we have with ourselves
Now, here's the key.
Each of the specific relationships has certain guidelines or rules.
When these rules are violated social, emotional and behavioral problems occur.
Corrections for these problems must address the specific rule(s) that are violated within the relationship in which the problem happens.
And here's your invitation...
I invite you to join me as we examine the variety of people-problems that operate in specific relationships.
We'll discover the demands these relationships impose on the people interacting within them and develop suggestions for solving the problems they create.
Thanks for reading.
