Building Antifragile Relationships was a series of five workshops held between May 19 and July 21 at Razzett I-Antik, Qormi, for couples who want to flourish in their relationship through adversity. These workshops aimed to teach couples how to invest in their relationship by strengthening their bond through intimacy, emotional connection, and conflict resolution. The couples who attended were eager to challenge themselves and grow together.
The first workshop was held on May 19, 2022, themed Me vs. Us: Negotiating Different Value Systems. During those two hours, the couples identified their strengths and discussed their value differences as a pair. Once these were established, the facilitators gave practical tips on how to negotiate and communicate about such difficult topics.
The second workshop was held on June 9, 2022, themed Togetherness: Investing in Our Emotional Bank. The 2-hour workshop focused on understanding what constitutes a deposit and/or a withdrawal and how to keep a healthy emotional account despite what the relationship is going through.
The third workshop was held on June 23, 2022, themed Closeness: Enhancing Intimacy Through Play. The workshop was more of an experiential style, with couples having the opportunity to explore playfulness within the pair. The facilitators explained practical ways in which the couple can engage to keep the passion and intimacy alive.
The fourth workshop was held on July 7, 2022, themed Effective Conflict: Strengthening Relationships Through Disagreement. The emphasis of this workshop was on how the easiest emotion to express is usually anger, and how this can lead to the accumulation of needs. The workshop taught the understanding of this expression and discover an easier way to learn effective conflict resolution strategies.
The fifth and final workshop was held on July 21, 2022, themed Moving Forward: Implementing Maintenance and Relapse Prevention. The couples discovered ways to preserve stability and open communication within their relationship. This also prevented the couple from going back to their default way of being.
The workshops were facilitated by Matthew Bartolo, a Sex & Relationship Therapist working with any sexual orientation and gender and Rachel Osmond, Family Therapist who specialises in couples and families with relationship issues (communication problems, disagreements), infidelity and family issues such as parenting.
