Major changes at home and work, mounting stress and anxiety, sleep issues, depression, physical limitations, relationship and sexual problems - all can hamper our ability to cope well on a daily basis. We all know the comfort of a listening ear, but our day-to-day experiences do not always readily offer that, and sometimes our confidantes are just too close to the issues we face to remain objective. Counselling provides an independent, confidential, and trained listener; one that we can be sure also has the skills and experience to help us grow, gain understanding, and retake control of our lives.

FLM counsellors are just that: confidential, trained, objective, empathetic listeners, who are willing to hear your frustration, anxiety, fear or sense of helplessness, and to support you in your search for emotional and spiritual health.

Families should be havens of security, growth and joy, but too often they are battlegrounds of anger, hurt, and misunderstanding. In too many cases, parents and children find themselves at odds, constantly arguing with or steadfastly ignoring each other - though no one might clearly know why. How do we change the environment in our homes and eliminate the strife we experience but feel powerless to overcome?

FLM counsellors are equipped to inform us of strategies for conflict management, how to compromise and use effective communication and decision-making skills to provide us with a safe, open forum for expressing, understanding, and accepting our feelings and ourselves, in a way that will help our families move from a dysfunctional state to one that is healthy and happy.

Living in close quarters with another person, seeing him day-in-and-out (for decades), depending on her loyalty and work ethic, trusting him with your heart and your cheque book, raising children or facing barrenness together, and all the myriad trials that married couples face - are issues that combine to be a recipe for catastrophic disappointment, or triumphant and joyous success. When you face the former, but desire the latter, counselling can offer the support and guidance to overcome and create the marriage you've always dreamed of.

An FLM counsellor will provide Biblical, practical advice, helping married couples show love and respect to each other, compromise and prioritize, and resolve financial, emotional, sexual and relational conflicts in a reasoned way that you both can agree on. Your marriage will benefit from better understanding and greater capability in meeting each other's needs so that the life you share will be a happy and fulfilling one.

Some of us can detect in ourselves an issue which really has us beat. No matter what we do - the resolutions we make, the boundaries we set, the willpower we exert - this issue is the one with the power, and we find ourselves simply swept along, feeding a desire we can't seem to satisfy, and part of us has begun to hate. What can we do to break the cycle?

When we don't have the power to overcome an addiction, the answer can be found in the strength of others. A listening ear, a source of confidential accountability, excellent advice, and spiritual, Biblical support are available in the trained and experienced hands of an FLM counsellor. Don't continue to fight, and lose, alone... help that has been tried and proven is available here, at FLM.

The more important a decision or relationship is, the more difficult it can be to negotiate favourably. Each of us is so bent on having our own way that the path to effective compromise and resolution is invisible to us. The answer can be found with the aid of a mediator: an FLM counsellor who is outside of the issue and thus is not swayed by a vested interest in any particular outcome - except the best one.

FLM counsellors are well-versed in the concerns we face in our personal lives and relationships. Whatever anxiety you might be battling with, you can find resolution and healing with help from the genuinely interested and highly trained individuals at Family Life Ministries. Your health and happiness is our reward.

The trauma caused by the loss of a loved one or treasured possession can be grave, and the prospect of trying to move on with life can be overwhelming. Trying to bury misery only leaves us wounded, and giving up on our lives in response to our loss, damages our families and friends even further - leaving our loved ones to deal with a compounded state of bereavement. We often cannot find healing within ourselves; we need professional help and ministry.

Grieving is an important process, one that cannot be rushed or overlooked. An FLM counsellor can guide you into grieving well - entering, understanding, and passing through the stages, to the renewal and restoration that lies on the other side of the pain.