What this is
Five tools from Connecting the Dots: A Counselor's Toolbox for Better Relationships, a book by A. Damianakis drawn from decades of work with couples and individuals: the frameworks and strategies applied in session, distilled into a practical guide anyone can use.
Each day gives you one tool, what it is for, and its working rule, then one question to write about a real conversation or situation in your life this week. After day five, the page stays here as a daily journal: one situation, the tool that fits it, and the next honest step.
- Cost
- Free. No account, no email, no payment.
- Time
- About ten minutes a day, for five days.
- Privacy
- What you write is saved only in this browser on this device. It is never sent to us or to anyone. Use the same device and browser each day to see your earlier entries.
- Who it is for
- Anyone in a relationship who wants to connect and communicate better. You can use the tools on your own; your partner does not have to take part.
Your five days
Where this leads
These five are a handful from the toolbox. The course Connecting the Dots: A Counselor's Toolbox for Better Relationships takes the whole book lesson by lesson: the Human Element³, the anchoring cipher, the stick collector, forgiveness, intimacy, and when couples counseling is not advisable. Each lesson has its own work and the book’s own templates.
The other free starts
These tools are for relationships in which both people are safe. They do not ask anyone to comply their way out of coercion or to surrender selfhood in order to prove love.
For educational purposes only. This is not counseling, pastoral or medical care of any kind.
If you need help now: call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788. In danger: 911.