Are baby blues hurting your family and spouse? Some of us have spent our entire lives dreaming of what life would be like once we were all grown up. We planned out our weddings, our ideal mates, and our perfect nuclear family with 2.5 children. It is when life does not go exactly according to plan that we begin to panic and loose control of our lives. Childbirth can be one of those hazy moments in life. We plan for months about a new addition to the family, but once we welcome this new little bundle into the world, life doesn’t always become the sunshine-filled dream we expected.

Dr. Sara Rosenquist is a specialist in the field of dealing with postpartum depression in women, and couples. Sara’s book, After The Stork: The Couple’s guide to Preventing and Overcoming Postpartum Depression, deals explicitly with these issues. Sara has a very extensive global background, which has allowed her to communicate easily with others. Over her lifetime Sara has lived in Tunisia, Argentina, Uruguay, Thailand, and El Salvador before coming back to the United States to study at Duke University, where she received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. To find out more about Dr. Sara Rosenquist you can visit her website or call 919-872-4648 for an appointment. Sara’s book, After The Stork: The Couple’s guide to Preventing and Overcoming Postpartum Depression, is available on Amazon.com.

Is constant interference from your in-laws killing your marriage? We’ve all seen a football game where everything went from fantastic to devastating in mere minutes. It looks like a clear win; your team is ahead, defeating all obstacles in their path. Then BOOM, out of nowhere interference by the other team turns the game around entirely. What was once an easy game turns messy and complicated very quickly. A good relationship can overcome a lot of obstacles that the world throws at it, but constant interference from an outside source can create larger rifts that are hard to overcome.

Dr. Nicole Imbraguglio is Clinical Director at Lepage Associates in Durham, NC where she provides counseling and evaluation services to individuals of all ages. She is experienced in individual, couples, and group therapy and specializes in couples issues. She holds her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a minor in Interpersonal Dynamics, as well as a Master’s degree in Community and Clinical Psychology. To find out more about Dr. Nicole Imbraguglio you can visit the Lepage Associates website or call 919-572-0000 for an appointment.

Is your friendship with your child hurting your marriage? Only a few shorts years ago, or so it seems, we were all children ourselves; laughing and playing with our friends, disobeying our parents, and tormenting the family pet. Before we knew it we were adults who were getting married and having children of our own. When time seems to fly and get away from us, we often forget that we, ourselves, are not children anymore. This can be especially hard when dealing with our own children and a parent’s natural desire for acceptance and love. Sometimes it may seem that the easiest path is to be a friend, rather than a parent but these actions could be harming your marriage.

To give us more insight into the situation we have Dr. Laura Green of Wynns Family Psychology in Cary, NC.  Dr. Greene specializes in child and family therapy and child evaluations. Before joining Wynns Family Psychology, Dr. Greene received her Bachelor’s degree from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Psychology from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She has worked in a variety of settings, ranging from outpatient mental health centers to school systems. To find out more about Dr. Laura Greene you can visit the Wynns Family Psychology website or call 919-467-7777 for an appointment.

Are you the outcast in your stepfamily? Dating and marriage is a process that is complicated enough on it’s own, never mind coming into a family that has already been established. Marrying someone with children from a previous relationship can be a delicate mind field that requires a certain finesse to master.

Certified Master Stepfamily Coach, Claudette Chenevert, found herself in a similar situation over twenty years ago when she, a single mom to a 6 year old boy, married her husband. She became a stepmom to two girls. After several years worth of failures and successes Claudette was able to determine what steps needed to be taken to successfully integrate oneself into an established family and make it function on its own. From the constant presence of an ex to taking on a parenting role over night, Claudette knows how to handle it all. To find out more about Claudette or her approach, you can visit her Stepmom Coach website.

Has your fairy tale marriage turned into a nightmare? Ripped from the pages of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice we’ve been made to believe that happily ever after is possible. People spend years looking for their perfect partner and come to find that all the spark and je ne sais quoi that had attracted them to their partners has now fizzled into an unhappy marriage. Family therapist, Lesli Doares, doesn’t believe in having only two choices: either remaining in a miserable marriage or getting a divorce; Lesli believe in happily ever afters.

Leslie Doares is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Cary, NC. In her practice, Balance Family Therapy, her focus is on helping couples build strong, secure relationships. It is her belief that marriage is a different kind of relationship and, with the proper tools and techniques, most couples can have a happy and successful relationship. Lesli bring both her personal experience and professional training to her work with couples. Her passionate belief in marriage has led to the development of a five step theoretical approach that Lesli detailed in her book Blueprint for a Lasting Marriage: How to Create Your Happily Ever After With More Intention, Less Work.

To find out more Lesli Doares and her practice you can visit the Balanced Family Therapy website or call for an appointment at 919-924-0463. Lesli’s book, Blueprint for a Lasting Marriage: How to Create Your Happily Ever After With More Intention, Less Work, is now available on Amazon.com.

Is your hectic schedule damaging your relationship? We all have busy schedules filled with work, appointments, children’s activities, and family events. No matter how much we seem to get done we can’t seem to muster any more free time. This lack of time can begin to affect our families, and even our spouse. Dr. Kristen Wynns joins us to discuss why you should always make time to do three things with your spouse: eat, sleep and play.

Dr. Kristen Wynns holds a Doctorate and Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and is a Licensed Psychologist. She is founder and owner of Wynns Family Psychology, is a therapy and testing specialist for children, adolescents, and families. Dr. Wynns is experienced in individual, family, group, play, and couples therapy. To find out more about Dr. Wynn you can visit www.wynnsfamilypsychology.com or call 919-467-7777 for an appointment.

Ever felt like ending your marriage after a bad argument or affair? There could be a better solution. Marriage is one of the best and worst things you will ever go through in life. From arguments, lifestyle changes, children and even infidelity; there never seems to be a rule on how exactly you should handle each of the different events that life throws at you.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a “go-to” couples who’d be through it all before?

Jason and Debby Coleman have been happily married for 22 years. They’ve been through it all. They’ve dealt with infidelity, lifestyle changes, children, and anything else that life could throw at them. Instead of giving up and walking out they decided to work through their issues and record their solutions into a book called Discovering Your Amazing Marriage, now available on Amazon.com. To find out more about Jason & Debby Coleman you can visit their website at www.youramazingmarriage.com.

Are your actions as a parent sabotaging your child and spouse for life? Dr. Mike Daniels joins us to discuss the new phenomena of “teacup parenting”. We do our best to make sure that we raise our children to be responsible young adults. We nurture and care for them the best that we know how. However, there is a fine line between parenting and obsession. It seems that there are parents today who have too active a role in their childrens life that it is actually stunting the social, intellectual, and emotional growth of the child, not to mention sabotaging the romantic relationships in a parent’s life.

Dr. Mike Daniels completed his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina, where he majored in English Education, as well as Psychology. Mike spent twelve years working as a high school English teacher and athletic coach. Mike left teaching to obtain his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Mike now works for Wynns Family Psychology in Cary, NC.

To find out more about Mike you can always check out the Wynns Family Psychology website at www.wynnsfamilypsychology.com or call 919-467-7777 to book an appointment.

When you have a child, everything changes. But does that mean your marriage can’t be what it was before? Does it feel like you and your spouse are both connected to the kids, but not to each other?  Rhona Berens, Ph.D., joins the show to talk about how things change in a marriage after the birth of a child, and what you can do to make sure that you stay connected to each other.

Rhona is a relationship coach and the founder of Parent Alliance, which provides advice and resources to new parents who want to strengthen their relationship with each other. She keeps a blog on parenting issues at ParentAlliance.com, and also offers workshops on getting the most out of your relationship now that you’re parents.

Does it seem like the most serious arguments you and your partner have are always rooted in the same few things? Are you at your wit’s end from having the same arguments over and over?

Dr. Tina Tessina returns to the show to talk about her book Money, Sex, and Kids: Stop Fighting About the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Marriage. She explains how some of those constant stresses in life can turn into big stresses on your marriage, and what you can do about it.

Tina is a licensed psychotherapist in California with over thirty years of counseling experience. She’s written over a dozen books, and hosts a radio show and a relationship blog. You can find her only at TinaTessina.com, and her book Money, Sex, and Kids can be purchased from Amazon.

Is your marriage no longer magical, but just plain miserable?  Does it feel like you’re trapped with no way of fixing things, to the point where you’re fantasizing about divorce, or worse?  Alisa Bowman returns to the show to discuss her upcoming book, Project: Happily Ever After – Saving Your Marriage When the Fairytale Falters, a personal account of her marriage at its worst and how she and her husband managed to put the pieces back together.

Alisa keeps up a blog at ProjectHappilyEverAfter.com, and has been featured on news shows and in publications across the country.  Her book, which comes out December 28, can be preordered from Amazon.com, and will be available after its release at all major booksellers.

Are you dreading that trip over the river and through the woods to your in-laws’ house this season?  Does it feel like going to visit the family brings more stress than joy to your holidays?  Dealing with in-laws can be complicated any time of the year, and feeling trapped under their roof during the already high-tension holidays can take things to a whole new level.

Thankfully, Dr. Susan Orenstein is here to share things you can do both for yourself and for your family to keep tensions down and help everyone have a peaceful, joyful holiday together.  Susan is a licensed psychologist with advanced training in cognitive behavioral therapy and couples counseling.  She has her own practice, Orenstein Solutions, with offices in both Cary and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and also holds regular couples workshops.

You can find her online at OrensteinSolutions.com, or call her office at (919) 428-2766 to find out more or set up an appointment.

No matter how many “Happy Holidays” wishes you receive, the season can be just as stressful as it is enjoyable, and that stress can be even greater if you’re part of a blended family. Does shuffling the kids from one home to another feel too disruptive? Does it seem impossible to meet everyone’s vision of that perfect Christmas morning?

Barbara Keyworth returns to the show to talk about the issues stepfamilies face when it comes to the holidays, and to share tips on relieving some of that stress and making the season a happy one for all. Barbara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a practice in Raleigh and 23 years of experience. Her website is BKeyworth.com, where you can find out more about her counseling services and qualifications, and you can call her office at 919.783.8004 for an appointment.

If you’re a part of a blended family, you know how complicated things can be, especially when you’re starting out. Are you having trouble relating to your new stepchildren? Do you just not feel as much like a family as you expected? Barbara Keyworth joins us to discuss the things that can cause tension in a newly blended family, and shares tips for making the transition a smooth one.

Barbara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a practice in Raleigh and 23 years of experience. Her website is BKeyworth.com, where you can find out more about her counseling services and qualifications, and you can call her office at 919.783.8004 for an appointment.

Do you feel like the ways you and your partner think just don’t match up? Does it feel like it might be impossible to really understand each other? Susie Leonard Weller, author of Why Don’t You Understand?: Improve Family Communication with the 4 Thinking Styles joins us to explain how we can improve our communication through understanding these different thinking styles.

Susie is a certified Thinking Styles Consultant and a life and spiritual coach who also teaches parenting and family management at the Community Colleges of Spokane. Her website is SusieWeller.com, and her book can be purchased there or from Parenting Press or Amazon. If you order it from her website, as a special offer, she’ll send you an autographed copy and pay for shipping expenses herself.

Additionally, Susie would like to offer a free resource with 30 tips on stress management. You can contact her by email at sweller@att.net or by phone at  (509) 255-6676 and she’ll send you a copy.

Is your new spouse’s ex more of a presence in your life than you expected? Are you finding it hard to deal with? Dr. Molly Parks joins us to discuss the critical issues you need to address when dealing with your partner’s ex so you can keep the harmony in your new family.

Molly has over a decade of experience helping both adults and children deal with emotionally challenging issues ranging from social isolation and relationship issues to PTSD and trauma victims. She practices with Lepage Associates in Durham. You can schedule an appointment by calling 919.572.0000, or by visiting LepageAssociates.com.

When kids start acting out, the strain on the marriage is immediate. Are the different approaches that you and your spouse take toward discipline and the examples you set making the problem worse?

Tina Lepage joins us  to discuss the three reasons why almost all children act out, as well as common mistakes couples make and what steps you can take today to better communicate with your kids and each other in order to raise better behaved children in a loving environment.

Tina is the founder of Lepage Associates, where she focuses on personal and professional relationship issues, as well as children and family therapy, and personal growth. You can find out more about Tina and her staff by visiting her website at LepageAssociates.com, or by calling her office at 919.572.0000.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, we’re all reminded just how important it is to show appreciation for the mothers in our lives. But sometimes we can forget that It’s just as important to show appreciation and support for your wife’s role as a mother throughout the rest of the year. What are some of the issues mothers deal with on a daily basis that sometimes go unnoticed, and what can husbands do to show their appreciation?

Dr. Kristen Wynns returns to discuss common complaints from mothers who feel unappreciated and what you can do to support your wife and show her how much you value what she does for your family.

Dr. Wynns has a private practice in Cary, NC and specializes in therapy for children, adolescents, and families. You can find out more about Dr. Wynns practice and services at her website, WynnsFamilyPsychology.com, or by calling her office at 919.805.0182. Kristen also has a blog called Marriage and Parenting 101 with great advice for parents.

Have you found yourself wondering whether It’s better to stay in a troubled marriage than separate from your spouse for the sake of your children?  Is staying together when there are problems in the marriage really better than splitting? How perceptive are children about the happiness of their parents and if you do decided to stick it out, is there room for actually fixing the marriage and not just putting up with your spouse until the kids are gone?

Tina is the founder of Lepage Associates, where she focuses on personal and professional relationship issues, as well as children and family therapy, and personal growth. You can find out more about Tina and her staff by visiting her website at LepageAssociates.com, or by calling her office at 919.572.0000

Whether It’s full-time, or during the evenings, a spouse in school can create a lot of tension in a marriage. It’s not just a couple’s schedules that are impacted, but everything from household chores and time with the kids to intimacy with your spouse. Dr. Nicole Imbraguglio joins us to look at what aspects of the relationship are most likely to suffer when one spouse returns to school and what steps that each partner can take to ensure that the needs of both the couple and the family are met during the process.

Dr. Imbraguglio practices with Lepage Associates in Durham, NC and helps both adults and children with a wide range of emotional issues. She has provided counseling for individuals, groups, couples, and families. You can learn more about Nicole at LepageAssociates.com, or by calling 919.572.0000

Are the unresolved conflicts in your marriage less about an unwillingness to compromise and more about the differences in your families of origin and how you were raised? Is the all too common reaction of assuming that our own approach is right, so our spouse must be wrong making the rift bigger? Marilyn Harding joins us to take a look at what kinds of common arguments are likely caused simply by differences in expectations of how the family should operate and how to manage these differences constructively.

Marilyn Harding has been providing counseling services to the triangle for 20 years and holds specialized training in sex therapy and crisis and trauma therapy, as well as serving on the National Response Team for the American Association of Christian Counselors. You can find out more about Marilyn on the Life Care Counseling and Coaching website at LifeCareCC.com, or by calling 919.851.1527