Hello,

I'm Lilly, I'm a teen here at PC. I can't take the adult side of things, but I can tell you it though me eyes. Personally I have done some family counseling. Being open is the hardest thing about any therapy and sometimes the most important. It is never a good idea to just jump into being open, but jump into being honest. it is good to take open up and talk about things that are on your mind, but remember your not the only one learning in the experience. Understand that your Ex will be learning how to be a parent as well. There is no hand book to parenting but there are a lot of things that can go wrong. People say that when in a stressful situation parents sometimes just do what their parents did. That is why there is a cycle to abuse. never doubt that intervention isn't the option, because it always is.

Another thing is family DBT that happens. If you don't know about DBT it is a kind of therapy that is great for so many things from eating disorders, to substance abuse, although it was originally for borderline personality. Where I go the whole family is together learning about the skills and tools there. For example they learn about emotions and how to handle them. Being able to argue without it getting out of hand, and things as such. There also, it is important to be honest about your feelings, but because it is so skills based you don't have to be open about what is happening in your house. Start with how you feel, but not how things are. Then move to how things are and how can we change it.

Just thoughts,

Lillyleaf