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Date. 16th September 2005 Scottish Marriage Care Celebrates 40 Years
as Parliament Considers Family Law Bill Family support charity, Scottish Marriage Care (SMC) celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Over the past 40 years SMC has supported thousands of families throughout Scotland with its relationship counselling service. SMC is holding an annual meeting for its 100 plus volunteers in Glasgow this Sunday (18th September) to unveil a commemorative edition of its annual report. Family support services are currently in the spotlight as the Scottish Parliament is considering the Family Law (Scotland) Bill. The Stage 1 Debate was held yesterday morning. Chief Executive of SMC, Mary Toner says that adults in Scotland need better access to relationship counselling services. Many MSPs mentioned the importance of relationship counselling during yesterday's debate, including Labour's Mary Mulligan. Mulligan said: "One reason why people do not sue counselling or mediation is that they do not know where to go. "Partnership conflicts and possible breakdowns of relationships are traumatic and we must ensure that it is easy for people to access the support services they need." Mary Toner of SMC has called on the Scottish Parliament to promote understanding that counselling works for couples of all ages and stages. She knows that the damage caused by bitter relationships to individuals, families and the wider community is not fully understood. From research, SMC knows that many couples have had relationship difficulties for up to seven years before they seek help from counselling. This is a long-lasting, distressing, time for adults, children and wider family. Counselling does help unhappy relationships by reducing stress and changing negative behaviours, and works equally well for men and women of all social backgrounds. Relationship counselling also reduces work absenteeism, improves productivity and enables couples/individuals to take on new skills and knowledge through the counselling process. Relationships can be helped at an early stage or when they have drastically deteriorated. Damaged relationships do not need to end in separation, divorce or acrimony. With the right help from relationship counselling services, couples can thrive individually, as can the children and wider family, e.g. grandparents. The benefits of improved access to relationship counselling services are far reaching. These include better relationships with children, and better communication skills in the home as well as the workplace, contributing substantially to a more stable family life. From research and practice SMC knows that children thrive if the adult relationship is good even though the parents may be separated. SMC recognises that the provision of Family Support Services is key to the reform of Family Law in Scotland. Yet couples in Scotland face a number of different barriers to accessing services, including denial that a problem exists, lack of awareness of services and how to access them, and availability. Mary goes on to point out that "We know that better knowledge of and access to a range of Family Support services would strengthen families by strengthening relationships - both the couple and the parenting relationship. However a general problem is the absence of clarity regarding the distinction between the various support services, as each one offers something entirely different, and each is required at a different time. Relationship counselling is a highly effective and cost efficient intervention, which would reduce recourse to the law and reduce the need for absent parents to activate PRRs. For further information, please contact: Mary Toner, Chief Executive Phone:0141-222 2166 |
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