Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work
Deepen your connection and strengthen your love.
2023 Workshop Dates
February 18, 2023 10am-5pm
Virtual Workshop! Registration now open. Register here.
April 15, 2023 10am-5pm
Virtual Workshop! Registration opens February 1st. Register here.
August 5, 2023 10am-5pm
Virtual Workshop! Registration opens May 21st. Register here.
October 28, 2023 10am-5pm
Virtual Workshop! Registration opens August 16th. Register here.
Making marriage work is hard.
You want a deeper connection to your partner but you don’t know how to get there. You keep trying different things that will feel more connected but nothing brings you to that place of understanding.
It feels like years since your partner and you could communicate without frustration. Where you both feel heard and validated in how you feel. You both long for a better way to communicate but traditional ways just aren’t working.
Loving each other deeply doesn’t feel like enough. Connecting on goals and dreams is great but the intimacy you once felt is missing. A strong foundation is great but you both want more.
Our workshop focuses on the Gottman’s best selling book Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work.
If you’re looking to strengthen your relationship in a variety of ways this may be the workshop for you.
We focus on the following during the workshop:
Deepening your connection
Fostering fondness and admiration towards each other
Solving solvable problems while overcoming places you feel stuck
Creating a shared meaning
And how to maintaining this after the workshop
BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THE PROGRAM FOR COUPLES
These include:
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 partici–pation 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.
Who this Workshop is For
Pre-engaged
Premarital
Everyone from newlyweds to seniors
Those who wish to enhance a good marriage
Those needing better conflict management tools
Who it’s NOT for
Severe relationship distress
Emotional abuse
Domestic violence
Active addictions (alcohol, drug, sexual, gambling, etc.)
Serious mental health problems in one or both partners.
2023 Workshops Dates!
February 18, 2023 (Saturday) 10-5 Virtual only
April 15, 2023 (Saturday) 10-5 Virtual only
August 5, 2023 (Saturday) 10-5 In-person
October 28, 2023 (Saturday) 10-5 In-person
Cost: $350 Couple (In-Person) | $300 Couple (Virtual)
Frequently Asked Questions
Will we have to share our personal problems and issues with the class?
No. The class does not include sharing problems or issues publicly.
Must both partners attend or can I come alone?
Since the class involves couples doing exercises together, both partners must participate.
If the class is offered over a period of time and one partner must miss a particular class meeting, then the other partner is encouraged to attend the lecture portion of the class.
He or she may use the Couples Exercise time to do part of the exercises and then do the full exercise with their partner later. They may also use exercise time to read the Seven Principles book.
My partner isn’t a reader. Can we still come to the class if he/she won’t read the book?
Yes, still come to the class. While the book provides very valuable information, the class lectures will summarize the content of the book.
Each person will need a Couples Guide, however, to do the Couples Exercises efficiently.
Should we do the exercises in the book at home or save them for class?
The class will involve doing some of the exercises from the book so doing them first at home would duplicate some of them.
In some cases, the directions for doing the exercises in class have been revised and updated from those presented in the Seven Principles book. The Leader(s) also role-play how to and how not to do some of the exercises inorder to help participants get the most out of each exercise. There are some exercises in the book that the class will not have time to do, and couples are encouraged to do them at home after that chapter has been covered in class.