Being in a Healthy Relationship means...
| Loving and taking care of yourself, before and while in a relationship. |
| Respecting individuality, embracing differences, and allowing each person to "be themselves." |
| Doing things with friends and family and having activities independent of each other. |
| Discussing things, allowing for differences of opinion, and comprising equally. |
| Expressing and listening to each other's feelings, needs, and desires. |
| Trusting and being honest with yourself and each other. |
| Respecting each other's need for privacy. |
| Sharing sexual histories and sexual health status with a partner. |
| Practicing safer sex methods. |
| Respecting sexual boundaries and being able to say no to sex. |
| Resolving conflicts in a rational, peaceful, and mutually agreed upon way. |
| There is room for positive growth and you learn more about each other as you develop and mature. |
Being in an Unhealthy Relationship means...
| You care for and focus on another person only and neglect yourself or you focus only on yourself and neglect the other person. |
| You feel pressure to change to meet the other persons standards, you are afraid to disagree, and your ideas are criticized. Or, you pressure the other person to meet your standards and criticize his/her ideas. |
| One of you has to justify what you do, where you go, and who you see. |
| One of you makes all the decisions and controls everything without listening to the other's input. |
| One of you feels unheard and is unable to communicate what you want. |
| You lie to each other and find yourself making excuses for the other person. |
| You don't have any personal space and have to share everything with the other person. |
| Your partner keeps his/her sexual history a secret or hides a STI from you or you don't disclose your history to your partner. |
| You feel scared of asking your partner to use protection or he/she has refused your requests for safer sex. Or, you refuse to use safer sex methods after your partner has requested or you make your partner feel scared. |
| Your partner has forced you to have sex or you have had sex when you don't really want to. Or, you have forced your partner to have sex. |
| One of you yells and hits, shoves, or throws things at the other in an argument. |
| You feel stifled, trapped, and stagnant. You are unable to escape the pressure of the relationship. |