NO MONEY, NO LOVE

He made the comments while delivering remarks at the opening of a two-day Career Re- Boot programme at the credit union’s head office at the La Joya complex in St Joseph. The programme is intended to help people who may have been retrenched assess their options; move on into other careers; or assist those who were switching careers; starting a business or interested in networking and engaging with other professionals.

Presenters at the programme are Francis Lewis, senior consultant and director, RES Consulting; Franklyn Dolly, director, Dolly & Associates and Dr Jennifer Holder-Dolly, clinical director at Dolly & Associates.

Psychologist Steve Bailey of Behavioural Consultancy in Gasparillo, said that sometimes during hardship, whether financial or otherwise, couple can be pushed apart.

Bailey said, “A relationship in jeopardy for other reasons, for example, where there was incompatibility or substance abuse and now you have a recession to bring in financial hardship into the mix, it is most likely that you will find it pushing the couple apart.” Bailey, who said he oversees many couples therapy, said that some weeks ago he visited a company which retrenched about 25 percent of its staff.

“And what happens in such cases is if there are no opportunities on the job market and someone in their late forties or early fifties loses a job, they really don’t have the kind of energy to compete with young people in the job market or may not have had the skills to go into any kind of private enterprise.

“So you find there is a lot of stress in such a situation and stresses like that is what can bring families down for sure.” However, Bailey said he could not say this is already happening, “But I take Mr Enill’s point that it can in fact happen and is probably very close to happening, where you begin to see the recession as a factor in the divorce rates.” Psychologist Marissa Morgan agreed with Bailey’s assertion, saying that in the current economic environment, once there is any additional stress such as financial burdens placed on a relationship, it will obviously have a negative impact. So there would probably be a correlation with divorce levels and an economic downturn.” She said that in general, any additional stress or would increase the likelihood of divorce and financial stress is one factor that can contribute to divorce because it adds more strain on the family relationship.

Enill, a former Energy and Finance Minister, said that during a recession, overall economic activity is expected to slow down and, “This is never pleasant. But it is a relatively routine part of the economic cycle. A recession also impacts family life. You have the notion, ‘I love you, but...’, coming into play.” Enill said a recession seems to be having a definite impact on family life as studies have shown that in some instances birth rates will drop as people delay having children in the face of economic troubles.