When Love Hurts: A Woman's Guide to Understanding Abuse in Relationships

“Every woman who is struggling to understand the mistreatment she is experiencing in her relationship should begin by reading [this] wonderful book.”—Lundy Bancroft, author of Why Does He Do That?
 
 What do you do when the one you love hurts you?
 
Have you been searching for answers to difficult questions about your relationship? Do you feel confused about why your partner seems loving one moment and angry the next? Summoning the courage to ask these challenging questions can seem daunting. You know something is wrong in your relationship, but you are not sure what. If you are beginning to wonder if you are experiencing abuse, this book can offer you support, information, and, most of all, hope as you look for answers.
 
Written by two women with a wealth of experience supporting victims of abuse, When Love Hurts introduces exercises and resources to help you make sense of your relationship, addressing all forms of abuse, including verbal, emotional, financial, sexual, and physical.
 
This practical guidebook is a supportive and nonjudgmental friend to those who don’t know where to turn and is filled with stories from women who have been in the same position. By drawing on your own wisdom and that of the many others who have shared your experience, When Love Hurts can help you find the answers you have been looking for.

Jill Cory began working with women in abusive relationships at the Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter in the early 1980s. After moving to Vancouver, she pursued research that would help to understand the challenges that women face when leaving abusive relationships. For the following seven years she developed and facilitated separate group counseling programs for women and their abusive partners. Jill currently works at BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre, helping healthcare providers to understand the negative impact that abuse has on women’s health and to deliver women-centred care. Jill lives with David, her partner of thirty-one years, and their two adult children, Becky and Ben.
 
Karen McAndless-Davis’s passion for this issue comes from personal experience. Her partner, Bruce was abusive at the beginning of their marriage. After several years of hard work Bruce changed his abusive behavior and the beliefs underlying his actions. Karen and Bruce have now been happily married in a relationship of trust and respect for over twenty-five years. They have two children, Luke and Isaac. For many years now, she has provided individual and group counseling to women in various communities. She also travels widely to provide training on the women-centered approach presented in When Love Hurts.