Have you got a good relationship and want to make it great? Do you plan on getting married in the next six months? Maybe you’re in a relationship that needs a bit of tune-up? Maybe you are one who doesn’t like confrontation.

Or perhaps you are tired of the misunderstandings, the fighting, or even worse - the silence? Then the Building Healthy Marriages seminar is just what you’re looking for.

This is a marriage enrichment and communication skills seminar for both married and engaged couples, and even ‘live-ins’. It focuses on positive steps for preventing divorce and preserving a lasting love. Contact the religious ministries counseling office at 257-2414 to reserve your seats today (seating is limited).

OK, what is it?

Building Healthy Marriages is based on PREP (The extremely popular Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) and the best-selling book “Fighting for Your Marriage”. This skill-based marriage enrichment and communication program is designed to strengthen long-term interpersonal relationships as well as to prepare engaged couples for a life-long happy marriage.

The PREP program is based on three decades of university-based research combined with extensive clinical experience with couples. It is now clear that what makes marriages work is not a lack of conflict but rather how couples handle that conflict. This seminar presents powerful, proven strategies that help couples beat the odds and master the skills that can prevent marital distress and divorce.

Studies also show that couples not only enjoy the PREP program, but they also benefit significantly: In a large-scale study in Denver, PREP couples had just one-third the likelihood of breaking up compared to control couples up to five years following the program.

So what’s In It For Me?

The PREP program emphasizes:

• Strategies geared toward lowering risk factors and strategies for raising protective factors to help marriages succeed.

• A strong model of marriage, intimacy, and barriers to oneness.

• An overview of factors shown to predict marriage quality, distress, and divorce.

• Communication skills that help couples handle conflict constructively.

• Problem solving skills that work.

• A cognitive framework for understanding, building, and maintaining commitment.

• A model for helping couples forgive, and approaches for helping couples maintain intimacy: friendship, fun, and physical oneness.

Men especially like the structure that keeps communication safe, while women particularly appreciate that it gets comunication started and keeps it going!

All couples are welcome regardless of faith or background, the instruction team is led by the chaplain’s office, but there is no religious pressure; all opinions are welcome and encouraged!

And what are the details?

Contact the religious ministries office at 257-2414 for a reservation. Couples must attend together. Building Healthy Marriages will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 2-3 in the NASWI Chapel fellowship hall. (The next one is scheduled for January 2006.)

The seminar begins at 7:45 a.m. each day. Doors open at 7:30 a.m. It concludes before 5 p.m., with breaks every hour plus a lunch break. It is presented free of charge to all NAS Whidbey and PACNORWEST military couples.

No uniforms, wear clothes that will be comfortable for sitting most of the day. For active duty, we suggest you run a chit with your command so that this is your place of duty for both days. TAD and PTAD orders will be endorsed and certificates will be presented on the last day.