55 FAMILY VIOLENCE AWARENESS Is my relationship healthy, unhealthy, or abusive? Healthy Unhealthy Abusive You feel safe to tell your partner how you really feel. You feel awkward telling your partner how you really feel. You are afraid to tell your partner how you really feel because you fear getting made fun of or threatened. Sharing Feelings You respect and listen to each other event when you have different opinions. Your partner ignores you and doesn’t respect your opinion when you have different opinions. Your partner treats you with disrespect and ignores or makes fun of your ideas and feelings. Communicating You trust each other and are comfortable with your partner spending time with others. You and/or your partner feel(s) jealous every time you and/or your partner talk(s) to others. Your partner accuses you of flirting or having an affair; orders you not to talk to other men/women. Trust You can each spend time alone and consider this a healthy part of your relationship. You are unsure if you should do things without your partner. Your partner tries to keep you to herself/himself. Your partner does not allow you to spend time doing things on your own. Your partner sees this as a threat to your relationship. Alone Time You and your partner avoid speaking harshly to each other. There is no physical violence in your relationship. There have been a few incidents of potentially abusive or controlling behaviour. There is no pattern of physical abuse or violence. There is a pattern of increasing and/or ongoing emotional or physical abuse in your relationship. Abuse You can be honest about your feelings about physical affection and sex. You don’t feel pressured to do anything. You are embarrassed to say how you feel because you think your partner may not care. You “go along” with some things. Your partner ignores your feelings and forces you into situations that make you feel uncomfortable, scared, or degraded. Intimacy and Sex You can have a disagreement and still talk respectfully to each other. You resolve your disagreements. Your disagreements often turn into fights. You are afraid to disagree because you do not want to unleash your partner’s anger. A disagreement is often an excuse for abuse. Disagreements Please go to www.fvps.ca for more resources
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==