From the editor’s desk…
At Family Mantra, we believe a marriage is worth fighting for. It is a sacred covenant and commitment that brings fulfilment and joy. However, it is a little difficult to convince a woman of that who has come in to our counselling centre battered and bruised by the man she made that commitment to. As an organization with a helpline and counselling centre we are faced everyday with such cases where spouses have defiled and destroyed the vows they made to each other.
Hearing the experiences of these victims and given the fact that October is ‘Domestic Violence Awareness’ month, this issue focuses on this social evil. We have displayed a purple ribbon which is the unifying symbol of courage, survival, honor and dedication to ending domestic violence. The cover story, in this issue, is written by Tommy Liang, the Head of our counselling department, a professional counsellor and director of UIM Family Research and Training Institute. His first-hand experience with counselling couples who are facing violence and abuse provides unique insights and information. The psychological effects and deep underlying trauma, he highlights, that leads to such behaviour is truly eye-opening.
Another perspective that we wanted to deal with was the effect that domestic violence has on the child caught in the cross-fire. We were very fortunate to have a person who was willing to share his traumatic and heart breaking story of his violence filled childhood in the article titled ‘It Happened on that Night’. Today, he is using these experiences to help others and we express our heartfelt thanks to him for sharing his story of hope and healing with our readers.
Rarely does a book review make it to the editorial highlights however, in this issue we review a book which is a ‘must-read’ for all parents with young children. ‘Siblings without Rivalry’ provides insightful tools and ideas which helps build cooperation among siblings and will be a great help to your family. This review perfectly complements the Parenting column which is titled ‘Understanding Your Child’. Dr.Divya Zachariah shares her own experiences and discusses how you can truly understand your child’s questions and get in touch with what he/she feels.
The other highlight that must make mention here is the ‘Marriage Mantra’ column by Jacob and Rani which helps in understanding the primary emotional needs of our spouse. This, they say, is the powerful secret for improving relationships in marriage – the true Marriage Mantra.
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