Rachel Barker

1 month ago | pastemagazine.com | Rachel Barker

Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. In Alpha’s opening sequence, the title of the film emerges as cracks in a crumbling orange terrain, struggling to break through. This foretells the journey of 12-year-old Alpha; a tenacious young girl whose family is steeped in grief and despair.

1 month ago | renews.co.nz | Rachel Barker

Feeling a need for power and control over our own lives is normal – healthy, even. Getting your shit together feels good, and having ownership over your decisions feels good, but when this need for control crosses over into your relationship things can get ugly.  This article is part of our new series on healthy relationships, sponsored by Love Better.

2 months ago | renews.co.nz | Rachel Barker

Realising a friend is in a controlling relationship can bring on intense feelings of rage. We wanna bust into the partner's bedroom and berate them, to make them feel as small as they’ve made our friend feel. This article is part of our new series on healthy relationships, sponsored by Love Better.  We want to hold our friend tight and tell them we won’t ever let anyone hurt them. We want them to leave, immediately. But it’s rarely that simple.

2 months ago | renews.co.nz | Rachel Barker

Content warning: This article discusses emotional and physical abuse. With a controlling or abusive partner, it can take months, or even years, to realise the extent of the control they have over your life and how much they’ve hurt you.   This article is part of our new series on healthy relationships, sponsored by Love Better. Lone actions turn to patterns and the gut feeling you have that something is wrong never goes away.

2 months ago | renews.co.nz | Rachel Barker

Relationships are full of issues and road bumps. Some are silly and messy and part of being young and figuring out how to get it right. Some have the potential to be more dangerous and harmful. Coercive control falls into the second category. This article is part of our new series on healthy relationships, sponsored by Love Better. Coercive control is a pretty serious-sounding term, and you might know it better as “controlling behaviour”.