Free relationship advice is just what you need when you're new to the dating game. Even the experienced daters need a bit of help sometimes. When you meet a new guy or girl you like, you may find yourself baffled. What do you do to impress them? Keep them? Not many budding relationships need or want to pay for a bona fide counselor. That's when it's time to turn to free relationship help.
Free Online Relationship Advice
The internet age allows for ready access to advice of all sorts - especially relationship advice. Look for advice catered to your age and relationship status.
Ask Men
Ask Men is a good place for men and women to turn when they want free advice on dating. You can get date ideas, interpretation of what they say and what they mean and more. The website and advice is designed specifically to help men become "better."
Real Sex Ed
Real Sex Ed is a place for teens to look for answers to some of the questions they're too embarrassed to ask their parents. Explore everything from dating etiquette to myths and truths about sex. Resources are on this website for parents, as well, to give them advice about how to talk to their teens about relationships.
Ask April
Ask April is an advice website with relationship and etiquette expert April Masini. She provides dating advice, marriage advice, and advice for intimacy topics. She also provides breakup and divorce advice.
RelationUp
RelationUp provides free forums staffed by relationship experts. It's a good way to get a conversation going among several users to discuss your relationship questions. There is also an option to pay a fee to send your question directly to one of the experts for a private response, but the forums are free.
AARP
AARP offers relationship advice specific to people of retirement age. Though not a forum or ongoing conversation, AARP's website offers an impressive collection of relationship advice resources.
RelationshipAdviceChat
Though the name of Relationship Advice Chat suggests it provides live chat on their website, it's actually a relationship advice resource full of helpful articles and advice about online dating, open relationships, and more.
Free Relationship Advice Chat
If you don't want to wait for an expert to respond to your inquiry or don't want to air all your dirty laundry in a forum, consider an advice chat specific to relationships. Keep in mind that since these are generally open to everyone, you can never be quite sure who is typing on the other end. Don't reveal personal, revealing things about yourself that would allow the other people in the chat to track you down in real life.
7 Cups
7 Cups staffs their website with trained volunteer "listeners," who do not pass judgement or criticize; they simply listen and offer support. Connecting to a listener is simple; first-time users go through a quick emotional wellness assessment before their first conversation.
Love Is Respect
LoveIsRespect.org is geared toward teens and people in their early 20s. Chat with a trained peer advocate either online, via text, or over the phone. The advice offered is designed for people in relationship crisis and not for general advice chatting. You can also download the app to your smartphone to access a peer advocate on the go.
iPrevail
iPrevail offers trained peer listeners that can be easily accessed after answering a series of questions about your age and gender along with some questions that help assess your current mental health. It's free to start a chat or to take the assessments.
Relate.org
Relate.org offers a free service where you can chat online with a counselor for about 25 minutes. The chat is only available during specific hours and can sometimes be unavailable during these hours if the counselors are busy with other users.
Advice in Print
Never underestimate your local public library. There are tons of relationship help books to check out there. If you borrow instead of buying, they certainly qualify as free relationship advice! Often written by those who have their master's or doctorate in psychology, relationship advice books offer a range of opportunities for personal growth. The best authors are qualified individuals who have experience in the field. They know how to conduct experiments, analyze survey results and offer advice for problematic situations.
The Five Love Languages
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman is a good place to start for helping you learn how your partner expresses love and the most effective way to show your partner you love them. It walks you through five types of love languages including gift giving, words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service and touch. Not everyone interprets love in the same way. Not everyone expresses love to their partner in the same way. You and your partner could both be thinking you're showing each other your love, but in such different ways that love goes unrecognized.
The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands
The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura Schlessinger is very to the point and has been met with a bit of controversy. It's meant to make women think about the role they're playing in the marriage and how their actions affect the marriage in good ways and bad. It preaches the importance of making a man feel needed in the relationship. Though it seems to be targeted toward women, men can also use this book to get a better grasp of the dynamics of their relationship.
His Needs, Her Needs
His Needs, Her Needs by William F. Harley, Jr., PhD is designed to help you and your partner identify each other's needs. From there you can work to fulfill them and bring the passion back into your marriage. The book addresses the emotional issues of a marriage like talking and affection, as well as the practical, day-to-day ones such as household chores and finances.
Warning Against Using Free Help Exclusively
Free relationship advice is great for those little kinks and quirks (new and sometimes even old) which need to be worked through. Advice can make you think, help you choose your battles, or give you food for thought to hold onto for later. What it cannot substitute for is legitimate counseling. That counseling means both of you in the same room with a mediator. Simple advice will not help you through an abusive or controlling relationship. What it can do is give you the motivation to seek help or leave, but that's about all.
Please don't treat free relationship advice as gold if you and your significant other are having serious issues. Sometimes the quality of the counseling you need will cost something, but it can help you through some of your relationship's most trying times. Also, if you're seeking free relationship advice, keep in mind advice is not always given by certified, licensed professionals. Some places do have a licensed psychologist or counselor on staff; others, though, do not.
A Listening Ear
Finding someone to listen to you about your relationship woes has never been easier with so many resources available online. As mentioned above, serious relationship issues need more than what you'll find for free online, so consider counseling if necessary.
