Every relationship requires a certain degree of trust: we trust our hairdresser not to damage or cut off all our hair and we trust our dentist not to pull out the wrong tooth. However, the emotional trust that we give to those closest to us is a whole different story.

During a recent mothers’ support session at Witkoppen Clinic, the moms discussed how to open up to trust someone new and if trust can really be restored once it’s broken.

Trust in a new relationship is built gradually and through vulnerability – a willingness to open yourself up to the possible risk of getting hurt. Trust is built when our partners, close friends or family members have the opportunities to let us down or hurt us but chooses not to.

Investing in someone emotionally is best done slowly to protect oneself along the way.

Everyone has had their trust broken in some way, but the more emotionally intimate you are with a person, the more it hurts when that trust is betrayed.

Murray Booth, the Marketing Executive at Cuddlers, wants moms to remember that our relationships with others is a mirror of our relationships with ourselves.

“By learning to love ourselves, we show others how to love us. And this is all the more important when we have our little ones looking up to us, and learning from us,” said Booth.

Whether trust can be restored once broken is an ongoing debate, but the answer depends on both parties involved and their situation. Many people will continue to let us down after being given another chance, but if both parties are truly willing and determined to make a conscious effort to work together towards a new narrative, a successful second chance is certainly possible.

Dagmar Kahn, the Business Development Manager at Witkoppen Clinic, says that even though we only experience relationships from our side, we need to remember that there needs to be a balance of give and take from both sides.

“It’s not that you need to become an emotional bean-counter but rather that both parties are satisfied with the level of effort that is put in. This may change and shift throughout a relationship based on what circumstances come into play,” said Kahn.

Support sessions are sponsored by Cuddlers, Witkoppen Clinic and the Fourways Review, under the banner of Caxton Cares. The sessions are bi-monthly on Thursdays, with the next session taking place on 24 October 2019 at 10:00am at the Witkoppen Clinic, 105 William Nicol Drive, Fourways, Johannesburg.