Building Healthy Relationships

Understanding what a healthy relationship actually looks like – and how to recognize when one isn’t – is something that benefits everyone. In this free health and wellness webinar, Liz Skinner, Prevention, Education, and Outreach Manager at Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, walks through the full relationship spectrum, from what healthy communication looks like to how power and control operates in abusive relationships. Hosted by Natalie Peterson of Stilly Valley Health Connections, this session is part of our free class recordings on health and wellness.

What’s covered in this session:

• The relationship spectrum – a clear breakdown of four relationship types: healthy, unhealthy, toxic, and abusive, including why abusive relationships sit in a category of their own and what sets them apart from the others
• Power and control – how emotional, psychological, financial, and physical abuse all stem from the same underlying dynamic, and why not all abusive relationships ever involve physical violence
• Recognizing warning signs – how isolation, double standards, inconsistency, sabotage, and weaponized jealousy show up in relationships, illustrated through relatable video examples and guided discussion
• Who is affected by intimate partner violence – what the data tells us about how common IPV actually is across all genders, and why the true numbers are likely higher than what’s reported
• How to support a survivor – what to say, what not to say, why ultimatums can cause more harm than help, and what it means to be a genuinely supportive presence without trying to “rescue” someone
• Safety planning – key considerations covering support systems, digital privacy and technology monitoring, emotional safety, children’s safety, and planning for leaving a relationship safely
• DVS services – the full range of support offered by Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, including a 24/7 crisis support line, emergency shelter, legal advocacy, housing support, community resource navigation, support groups, and confidential translation services