- $300 per couple attendance.
- Couples resource box $49
- Relatable presenter
- Other couples who want to grow their relationship
- Light refreshments
This one-day couple’s workshop is based on the internationally acclaimed research of Dr. John Gottman as presented in his New York Times Bestselling book:
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
Do you have difficulty communicating and understanding each other? Are you stuck, arguing in circles about the same issues? Or are you in a good relationship and would like to make it even better?
THEN, THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU!
The Seven Principles Program will give you new insights and research-based relationship skills that can dramatically improve the intimacy and friendship in your relationship and help you resolve conflict in a healthy, productive way.
This class combines teaching and demonstrations with one-on-one work sessions where you and your partner focus on your relationship with each other. Confidentiality is strictly maintained. Although we encourage questions and comments, you do not need to speak in the workshop if you do not want.
- Foster respect, affection and closeness.
- Build and share a deeper connection with each other’s inner world.
- Break through and resolve conflict gridlock.
- Strengthen and maintain the gains in your relationship.
Appropriate Couples
The Seven Principles Couples Program is appropriate for couples contemplating engagement, for pre-marital couples, for couples living together, and for couples who have been together or married for decades. Classes can be offered targeting specific demographics or they can combine couples with widely varied relational and age histories. The author has taught classes comprised of both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups of couples. Each work well. Homogeneous groups have the advantage of participants sharing similar stage-of-life experiences and relatedness. Diverse groups have the advantage of working through the material with couples in different phases and lifestyles, which normalizes the ongoing process of working on relationships and dealing with perpetual problems.
Inappropriate Couples
Psycho-educational classes are not appropriate for all couples, including those with severe relationship distress, significant emotional or physical abuse, serious emotional or mental health problems, relationships where one or both partners are actively addicted to drugs or alcohol, and relationships with serious compulsive behavior with gambling, sexual acting out, and other disruptive behaviors. Class announcements should state that the class is not appropriate when couples are experiencing these issues. Should the presence of these situations be discovered during the class, a referral should be made for individual or couples psychotherapy.
- It provides structure, motivation, and accountability to continue working through the book. With busy schedules, it is easy to let reading the book and working through exercises slide, while a class format encourages more active involvement and ongoing participation by following a schedule.
- It can be encouraging to work on one’s relationship in the context of other couples that are doing the same thing.
- It may be less threatening than seeking couples therapy and fits into an enrichment model that couples may be familiar with. While The Seven Principles Couples Program is not a substitute for therapy, it can soften the entry into working on their relationship and getting help without the stigma that some still have toward seeking therapy. It can also become a bridge into therapy for those couples that desire more personal assistance than the class can provide. Reading the book and working through the exercises can provide a strong foundation for pursuing therapy from the Gottman perspective, as the basic concepts and methods are already familiar to the couple and have been tried and tested, which may enhance and expedite a therapeutic process later.
- Signing up for a class on marriage and relationships also eliminates some of the uncertainty and hesitation some couples have about working on their relationship on their own, or about seeking therapy because there are often no clearly defined goals, expectations, structure, or duration. In contrast, a class format does have clearly articulated goals, expectations, and time frame.
- A class format encourages both partners to work on their relationship rather than one partner alone reading the book without the other partner’s participation.
- The Seven Principles Couples Program provides a great opportunity for pre-marital couples to learn skills that can enrich their relationship through a lifetime together.
Straight From Psychiatrist
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