ROWLAND: Myra, you're a professionally trained marriage counsellor. Could you describe your work?
MYRA: Yes, we deal with any type of relationship issue that comes our way. We used to deal with marriages but 1990s obviously reflect a change in the way behaviours are. And very much now people are cohabiting rather than marrying. And, therefore, open our doors to anybody who is in a relationship where things are difficult. So our work is focussed on either relationship breakdowns or marital breakdown in the hope that we can either help people to reconcile or help them to separate without too much animosity, and with more understanding. The breakdown of marriage in Britain is about 33, 34 per cent. We're higher than any European country. With in fact, that's first marriages, 50 per cent of second marriages breaking down.
ROWLAND: How long have you been doing this sort of work?
MYRA: I've been involved in counselling now for eight years.
ROWLAND: What sort of qualifications do you need to do what you do as a profession?
MYRA: For counselling you don't actually need any formal qualifications but the actual selection procedure is extremely stringent. It's a two year training.
