The Brave New World of Relationship Dilemmas

Alexandra Solomon

Today’s emerging adults are navigating a brave new dating world of hookups, friends with benefits, and other ambiguous relationships, facilitated and amplified by new technologies and digital platforms. Often these digital natives crave connection and foresee marriage and children in their future, even if their current relationship patterns reflect a deep uncertainty about commitment and monogamy. As a therapist, how can you help young clients unless you understand their norms? In this workshop, you’ll:

• Examine the culture of online dating and screen-to-screen interactions, including the use of different dating personae online and off
• Decode the vocabulary of modern dating and get strategies for helping clients use online tools in a more mindful and wholehearted way
• Develop specific strategies to help clients build their relational self-awareness by using family of origin exploration, emotion regulation, cultural critique, and relational empowerment through boundary setting and assertive communication

Alexandra Solomon, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and assistant clinical professor at the Family Institute at Northwestern University. She’s author of Loving Bravely: 20 Lessons of Self-Discovery to Help You Get the Love You Want.