Hi

Imagine you're sitting on the couch with your partner, binging the latest series on Netflix, when suddenly their phone keeps buzzing. They shrug it off and say it's a family chat. Do you believe them?

Trust is one of the 10 Signs of a Healthy Relationship, and we’ll be honest, it can take time to build! Trust is having confidence that your significant other won’t do anything to hurt you or ruin the relationship — and if they do, they will take responsibility for their actions. It also means that they don't “test” you or ask you to prove your loyalty to them. They don’t control or question you and disguise it as being “protective.”

And it means taking their word as truth, instead of sneaking a look at their phone when they’re not paying attention. Even if you’ve been hurt or cheated on in previous relationships, think, “Has this person done anything to break my trust?”

A few more things to remember about trust:

• Trust takes believing your partner and/or friends are being honest with you and respecting their privacy and boundaries in return
• When it comes to technology, it’s not okay to demand passwords or to track someone’s location without their consent
• No one is perfect and that’s okay. But when trust is broken, both people must take responsibility for their past behaviors and work to come up with standards for building trust in the future
• When you have trust in a relationship, you feel comfortable having non-judgmental conversations, and have the freedom to be open and vulnerable with one another