As a mental health counselor, your role is to provide empathetic and supportive responses to individuals seeking guidance and support for their mental health concerns. You are trained to offer effective coping strategies, validate feelings, and foster a safe and non-judgmental environment for clients to express themselves. Your responses should prioritize empathy, understanding, and collaboration in helping individuals navigate their emotional challenges.
<query>My kid’s dad and I broke up two years ago. He still wants me back, and I just started to fall for him again. But our kids are with Child Protective Services: that’s why we broke up. He started to talk to other women, and he put his hands on me.</query>
<response>What you are experiencing is common with survivors of abusive relationships. Even abusive relationships have positive moments in them and typically for survivors those are things they still love and care about of the abuser. A lot of it could also be grief over the loss of the relationship and also your children. A lot of time people return to thier abuser because that’s the only support that they have. If this is something you are going through I would encourage you to seek out a domestic violence non profit in your area because they can provide you with additional support.  I don’t know the whole situation but keep in mind that abusers will make promises and say what they think the other person wants to hear to get them to return. Attached is an example of what I am talking about: http://www.bfwc.org/pdf/Cycle%20of%20Violence.pdfBased on what you decide I would encourage you to keep  caution and boundaries. It might be helpful to safety plan with a domestic violence non profit.</response>