Press Release
Why Breaking Rules is Necessary for Healthy Relationships
New Book Challenges . . . Explores . . . Offers Hope
01 DECEMBER 2020 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CARSTAIRS, AB – Our daily newsfeed is chock full of rules. There are social distancing rules, mask-wearing rules, and more rules regulating businesses, schools, churches, and private gatherings. Yet, two Alberta authors say some of the strongest rules are the unspoken ones that damage interpersonal and family relationships.
In Let’s Break the Rules, releasing December 9, 2020, authors Dan Woodard of Carstairs and Dr. Dan Reinhardt of Three Hills challenge readers how to recognize the damage caused by these unhealthy barriers to personal connection. Together, they offer practical tools to break the cycle of relational brokenness, abuse and family drama, to instead empower and sustain healthy relationships.
“Although there was no alcohol in my home of origin, I was raised with six unspoken rules common to adult children of alcoholics,” says Woodard, who serves as the book’s primary narrator. “From boyhood to early in my marriage, I felt the rules of don’t talk, don’t feel, don’t trust, don’t think, don’t choose, and don’t change were always hanging in the air.”
Through numerous personal stories, Woodard describes his journey of learning how to carry on conversations, how to manage emotions, how to build trust and to trust, express his own opinions, make decisions, and how to develop a dynamic learning cycle. Together, Woodard and Reinhardt share how it’s possible to escape a painful past of silence, secrecy, and isolation.
According to Dr. Steve Masterson of Abbotsford, BC, founder of the Master of Arts in Counseling program at Providence Seminary, the book’s message is one sorely needed today. “Let’s Break the Rules deserves and demands the attention of parents, educators, pastors, anyone in a position of authority, and anyone needing to give themselves permission to break these rules to find freedom and health in your relationships,” Masterson says.
First Nations social worker Ivan Wapenisk of Weagamow Lake, ON adds, “The title of this book will stop you in your tracks, but the truths found on its pages will set your feet on a straight path leading to fully alive, healthy relationships. Read it, devour it, live it!”
Woodard is a professional life coach and workshop trainer with Action Canada. Reinhardt is founder and director of Crest Leadership Program. Both authors have been practitioners for forty years. The two plan to launch a video curriculum podcast series and discussion guide materials. For more information on the book and additional resources, visit letsbreaktherules.ca