Healthy Relationships

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Productivity and morale are inextricably tied to stability at home, so the Air Force's emphasis on encouraging healthy living is easy to understand. On Minot Air Force Base, the Family Advocacy office is offering a new class in the interests of encouraging wholesome relationships.

"It's called Working TWOgether for Healthy Relationships, and it's education and awareness for everyone, whether they're in a relationship or single. It's for everybody," said Sherri McKittrick, 5th Medical Group Family Advocacy program team member.

The class gives a broad understanding of what constitutes good relationships by showing positive relationship characteristics and identifying negative ones.

"We teach what healthy and unhealthy relationships each look like," McKittrick said. "So people can go on to apply that in their life, and apply that information to their relationship to evaluate it based on the relationship spectrum of healthy, unhealthy or abusive."

McKittrick isolates and emphasizes issues that prove to be common problems for couples.

"We try to evaluable boundaries, because boundaries are often a problem area in relationships. A lot of times when partners don't respect each other's boundaries, that's the biggest thing that can create problems," she explained. "We want to help people identify their boundaries and understand them. If they're too open, or if their boundaries are too rigid."

After the class helps people identify weak areas, the next step is finding ways to address them.

"Once we know what people feel like they need to learn more about, and what kind of skills they're hoping to develop, we can help them work on a better relationship," McKittrick said. "Family Advocacy offers a lot of classes, and we can suggest the ones that might be right for helping with a particular issue."

The class isn't limited to people who are worried about their relationship. It's for anyone who wants perspective and information about what constitutes healthy relationships.

"When you come to this class, it's not about being a victim or anything dramatic," McKittrick said. "It's just for people who want to know more about relationships. If people need them, we can make recommendations. The idea is to give knowledge and tools so that if there is a problem, people can identify it and work on it before it leads to them coming into Family Advocacy with an open case."

The Working TWOgether for Healthy Relationships class is held every Monday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mental Health Clinic conference room. You can call 701-723-5096 to sign up.