Anger Management is a class that teaches us skills to improve our stress management, anger management, emotional intelligence, and communication skills.

In a relationship, when you become involved in a power struggle where the most important thing to you is to win the battle, you end up putting the health of your relationship in danger. It is very important to us to understand that a healthy relationship is based on good communication and empathy.

Learning how to manage stress and anger, and improving your communication with the use of emotional intelligence will lead you to a successful intimate relationship with your partner as well as to a better relationship with your family members, friends and co-workers.

Expressing your feelings and thoughts without criticizing your partner is a powerful tool to improve your relationship and maintain the integrity of it, giving space for both partners to grow in a safe and healthy way.  Our classes for couples are designed to help you learn skills for improving your communication, stress management, anger management and emotional intelligence.

Anger management intervention begins with the initial contact with the couple. In this initial contact we will talk about the couple’s needs and their personal and behavioral qualities that will be assessed through the Conover intake assessment. This assessment is used to gauge the couple’s level of functioning in the areas of:

1) Interpersonal Assertion, or how effectively the individual uses direct, honest, and appropriate expression of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors when dealing with others

2) Interpersonal aggression, or the degree to which the client’s communication styles violates, overpowers, dominates, or discredits another person’s rights, thoughts, feelings, or behaviors

3) Interpersonal Deference, or the degree to which a person’s communication style is indirect, self-inhibiting, self-denying, and ineffectual for the accurate expression of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

4) Empathy, which is an individual’s ability to sense, understand, and accept another person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

5) Stress Management, or skill in dealing with stress and anxiety and

6) Change Orientation, which indicates one’s degree of motivation and readiness for change.

The next step is to start the classes. Anderson & Anderson recommends at least 26 classes to get the best you can from the program. For those who are mandated by the court, the number of classes to be attended will be assigned by the court.