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"What does it mean to live radically and boldly, so that you don't wake up one day -- decades too late -- wondering what the hell just happened? Where did my life go and why didn't I do the things I wanted to do?" ~Sir Ken Robinson

At Relationship Gardening, I help you take that bold, radical step to better choices, better habits of communication, better loving!



Innovative creativity and education thinker and international consultant,
Sir Ken continues...

"The thing is, if you are a leader, if you are running a state or a company, or a family or a school, you can’t make people develop, you can’t make them creative, you can’t make them find their talent. Any more than a farmer makes a plant grow. I mean a farmer or a gardener doesn’t make a plant grow, the plant grows itself.  You don’t stand around attaching petals and roots to this thing, it grows itself. 

"What you do, if you’re any good, is you provide the ideal conditions for growth (...)  the great conditions under which it will grow. We know that’s possible, because we know how easy it is to provide conditions under which things wilt and die.  So, a part of this is climate change.  It’s creating different social climates, different institutional climates, where people give it their best and become their best."

Just like nurturing social and educational climates, I learned how we can 
create more ideal conditions for growth in your marriage! 

I did it for myself too now with my special someone over 28 years! Of course it is a team effort-so I couldnt do it without him. I am thankful to find a partner who is also motivated to grow and maintain healthy habits.  You've got to know what those are and they are very specific!! 

HOW DO COUPLES GET WILTED?
One form of wilt and die couples get is from simply doing nothing special in your relationship, making little effort thinking, "If I ignore these issues, difficulties, or needs-they will go away."  Seriously, you're looking at heartbreak and divorce lawyers if you remain passive. That was my first marriage. Don't marry young, kids!

Another form of wilt and die is to bite it before it bites you.  Even if you think you are bitey for good reasons, again-I have a good collaborative lawyer you can meet with because bitey, hostile, mean behavior eventually sits you at the lawyer's table. Oh I am SO glad I didn't keep dating that one bitey dude! 


Yet another that is pretty common these days since the pandemic is how relationships can be piled on when juggling fertility challenges, raising children, quarantines or isolation, caring for elders, toxic or drama stirring relatives, economic pressures, difficult health, incessant racism, grief, world events, any single one of which might be too much for us.  Life can feel like a deluge -seed rot everywhere from too much downpour!

If you are a weighed down in mucky conditions,
 get help to make this switch to a relationship that is healthy enough to produce good feelings and memories. You need a safe place to land and restore yourselves. We can build it.

What can you do right now to provide the nurturing conditions for a relationship climate change? 

If you need ideas, structure or encouragement to shift to the heal and thrive, to grow your healthy Relationship Gardening of no regrets-call or email me today (see top right CONNECT WITH SHANNON icons or green EMAIL SHANNON button lower on the page)!

SEE THE ABOUT SHANNON PAGE which you will find tucked in to the About tab if you are really nosey and want to read some personal things, and more about all this marriage beeswax.

love,

Shannon


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 Shannon Batts, Founder and CEO of Relationship Gardening, Licensed Professional Counselor for Oregonians (C2379) and Licensed Marriage, & Family Therapist for Californians (MFC34477), life coach for all the rest, has degrees and certificates, blah blah blah..., look over there-a Disapproving Rabbit!


 What books, authors or shows have moved you to tears of joy, taught you something life changing, moved you? Here are a few of my favorites: Queen Sugar, Bell Hooks, Janet Mock, Connie Willis (Doomsday Book), Nancy Farmer (Sea of Trolls), The IT Crowd, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Your Money or Your Life, Schitts Creek, Atlanta, Layla Saad (Me and White Supremacy), Terry Pratchett, Allen Ginsberg, Caroline Bird.

My favorite job was consultant for an alternative HS. Think rival gangs, poverty, teen parents, drive bys (my car got shot up), lots of donut bribes at their homes before school, kids with guts to take steps toward healing and making it better for the next generation.




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Here we have what is known as a "Disapproving Rabbit."  
​Need I say more?
Get yourself a 10 year commitment (and a furry housemate) by adopting one of the hundreds of rescued bunnies from Rabbit Advocate of Portland, Oregon,  rabbitadvocates.org
email Shannon
New Enhanced Relationship Check-Up now available with streamlined 30% less questions, an easy way to reassess progress if we'd like, and plenty of information about strengths and what to repair. Available for $39 (to Gottman Institute) for clients of Approved Member therapist Shannon Batts.
DONATE to Relationship Gardening by clicking here to go to the checkout Square site where you can enter your donation of any amount and support resource redirection of free services to
​marginalized clients. 

​Or donate via Paypal.me/shannonbatts
​Thank you!
 
Gottman Approved Member



​TESTIMONIALS. WOWEEEEE!
(results not guaranteed)
 http://relationshipgardening.com/couples-therapist-reviews-portland.html
Proud Member of TherapyDen
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How to find a good marriage counselor?  Ask Shannon Batts in Portland, Oregon.  Note from Shannon: Make sure they have advanced training (not just degrees and licenses) with couples, can describe what they learned and how they deliver it to you, and are also HAPPILY married!

​Can they speak to their privilege or marginalizations and how they impact counseling with you?


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1. Oppezzo M, Schwartz DL. Give your ideas some legs: the positive effect of walking on creative thinking. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2014 Jul;40(4):1142-52. doi: 10.1037/a0036577. Epub 2014 Apr 21. PMID: 24749966.

​2. Calogiuri G, Evensen K, Weydahl A, Andersson K, Patil G, Ihlebæk C, Raanaas RK. Green exercise as a workplace intervention to reduce job stress. Results from a pilot study. Work. 2015;53(1):99-111. doi: 10.3233/WOR-152219. PMID: 26684708.

3. 
What moves you? Physical activity strategies in older women
Marily Oppezzo, Lauren Wegner, James J Gross, 
Daniel L Schwartz, Tessa Eckley, Abby C King, Sally Mackey, Marcia L Stefanick
First Published May 18, 2021 Research Article Find in PubMed
https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053211014593
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​Shannon Batts, Licensed Professional Counselor of Portland, Oregon, lic# C2379, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for Californians, lic# MFT 34477, is Marriage Friendly, with better than neutrality toward the outcome of your life long love commitment. Shannon Batts is a Portland, Oregon counselor, with advanced skills, education and training in assisting couples (extremely rare among counselors). Lesbian, gay, trans, mixed gender identity, questioning gender, nonbinary, and straight couples of all ages seek out tools and support for their relationships from Shannon Batts. Shannon trains ongoingly to be antiracist and is a facilitator and consultant at Race Talks PDX. Transgender, Black Americans, or unhoused clients will find amazing flexibility in counseling rates if you need it because you've been through enough!


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www.couplesintransition.com
www.spousesgroup.com
www.spousesresourcecenter.com
www.spousesresourcecenter.org
www.relationshipgardening.com
all arrive at Relationship Gardening and Spouses Resource Center so as to increase options for couples facing gender transition to have excellent support for making it through transition together.
Couples with no LGBTQ identities also benefit by Relationship Gardening.


verified by Psychology Today
Electronic/internet based communication is not a guarantee of privacy as it is always subject to security breach or hacking. You do maintain the right to email, text or video chat regardless of the risk.
 Shannon is the counselor's counselor where couples go to grow a happy marriage, with Gottman research based relationship and marriage help and telehealth video sessions. Clinical hypnosis available as Shannon completed the 100-Hour Comprehensive Training in Applying Clinical Hypnosis in Strategic Psychotherapy intensive by Dr. Michael Yapko. Marriage Counseling, marriage therapy, couple's therapy, couple's coaching, premarital counseling, help for transgender or non binary coming out in marriage, support for spouses of transgender or non binary partners, couples group for transgender partners and cisgender spouses, questioning gender in your marriage, gender affirming referral letters, marriage retreats, marriage workshops, antiracist coaching for engaged couples, antiracism groups for white people, antiracism couples groups, antiracism groups for professionals, custom antiracism groups, marriage affairs or adultery, porn or sex addiction or compulsion in your marriage, couples communication training-whatever you call it-make sure your best marriage counseling choice in CA, or in Portland, Oregon has Advanced Gottman Institute aka Relationship Research Institute training.  A Gottman trained therapist like Shannon Batts knows how to move couples from sticky negativity to a garden of new possibilities from the very first couples' session.  Services available by Zoom for all of CA and OR. Walking sessions for individual meetings. relationshipgardening.com spousesresourcecenter.com 

Photo used under Creative Commons from Carly & Art