“Lair Torrent of Charleston Holistic Counseling in Mount Pleasant helps his patients settle their s minds as a way to cope with the stress in their lives. A licensed marriage and family therapist. Torrent said relationships are deeply linked to happiness …”

“Yes, you are. When we feel chosen, we feel loved.
Choosing our partner does not necessarily happen on the “big day,” in the pretty dress and the fancy suit; it does not happen when everyone is watching …”

“One of the things all the therapists had noticed over the past few years was “that couples – and these are younger people, twentysomethings, maybe early thirties – are negotiating what their brand of monogamy can be. …”

“For these folks, life is black ­and ­white; we have ups, we have downs and that’s kind of how life goes. They simply don’t feel the need to understand themselves or their experiences beyond the surface level, and they tend to be resigned to their lot in life. …”

“As a therapist, it is my role to help you become more aware of your mental, emotional and physical processes. In doing so, I help you open the door to choosing your words and your actions. From this place of choice, you move away from the “knee jerk” reactivity that tends to get us into trouble. With practice, we become more flexible, receptive and attuned to our own needs and to the needs of those around us …”

“That discomfort in factoring finances into the soul mate search is not uncommon, says family therapist Lair Torrent. He says his single clients often hesitate to bring up financial concerns about a significant other. “Our popular culture puts it out there that it should be all puppy dogs and ice cream. So there’s this sheepishness about bringing up the money issue,” says Torrent. “I’ll have people say, ‘I don’t want to sound like a gold-digger,’ I get that a lot …”