Learning to understand relationships

For most people in relationships, Valentine’s Day is about spending time with a special someone. For Concordia’s Counselling and Development team, the annual day of love is an opportunity to provide students with advice on improving and maintaining those relationships.

On Thursday, February 14, Counselling and Development will hold the Valentine’s Day relationship event ‘A Fair of the Heart.’ The fair, which has been an annual event at Concordia for more than a decade, will take place on the mezzanine of the Henry F. Hall Building.

Students can stop by the booth and complete a short Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test, the most popular feature of the fair.

“We usually use the personality assessment for career but we’ve used it in this event to assess people’s personality types so we can tell them how they relate to others, their particular style of relating and how that can sometimes cause problems,” says Dale Robinson, manager of Counselling and Psychological Services. “We just give them more insight into themselves, how they speak, how they communicate, and how that may be working or not working for them.”

Counsellors will also be on site to share tips on communication and maintaining healthy relationships. While the fair is about relationships, those who find themselves single on Valentine’s Day can still take something away from the event. “It addresses relationship issues, but it’s very broad relationships issues,” says Robinson. “So that can be a relationship with a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, and even a relationship with one’s self and one’s self-esteem, because sometimes people don’t have partners and we don’t want to exclude them.”

Robinson hopes that the layout of the event — a small booth as opposed to a larger fair — will feel more accessible and will invite more students to stop by.

“It’s about dropping by, having a piece of chocolate, taking a look at some of these colorful handouts and doing a little assessment. Students usually find it fun,” says Robinson. “It gives us an opportunity to tell them about the services that we offer and to wish them Happy Valentine’s Day. We try to keep it fun.”

When: Thursday, February 14, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Mezzanine of the Henry F. Hall Building (1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.), Sir George Williams Campus

Related links:
•    Event information
•    Counselling and Development