Couples Intensives / Exhibits/ Cougar Die Early - 5/15/10

[Smartmarriages]

- EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION UNTIL MIDNIGHT SUNDAY MAY 16
- TRAINING INSTITUTE CONFUSION - OPEN TO ALL  - CAN YOU HELP?
- EXHIBITS
- HIGHER GROUND
- MARITAL AGE GAPS - COUGARS DIE EARLY

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- EARLY-BIRD REGISTRATION UNTIL MIDNIGHT SUNDAY MAY 16
http://www.smartmarriages.com/registration.html

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- TRAINING INSTITUTE CONFUSION - OPEN TO ALL  - CAN YOU HELP?

I can't seem to convey the information about the Training Institutes so it's
clear and accurate.  I've had several dozen calls this week asking about
bringing spouses and two callers who made it clear that we need to figure
out a way to rewrite the Institute explanations. People don't realize that
you don't have to be a Mental Health Professional to attend.  In fact,
that's the whole point of the Conference and the Institutes - we're training
people as LAY EDUCATORS.  Therapists and counselors can and do attend in
great numbers but anyone - those who know they want to become marriage and
relationship educators; the curious public who want to explore what it means
to be a marriage educator and explore the possibility; spouses who want an
intensive marriage/relationship experience to tune up their own relationship
skills.....all are encouraged to attend the conference AND the TRAINING
INSTITUTES.   One caller said her daughter, a therapist, was attending a
training institute so she was offering to help me at registration since she
wasn't a mental health professional and couldn't attend the institutes.  She
was stunned and delighted when I told her she could attend the Imago and
Paradox of Desire Institutes with her daughter - or any other Institute.
Another caller was thrilled when I told her she didn't need special
permission to get her non-therapist husband into the Gottman training.
Gottman, and everyone else, encourages spouses to attend their trainings. No
institute requires that anyone be a mental health professional.  We can't
seem to get that message across. If you can help me figure out how to
CLARIFY this ......send your ideas.

Or, help by spreading the word.  The Training Institute Intensives are a
wonderful couples experience and incredible training for mentor couples
working in church or community settings.

ALSO, if you've already registered, you can add Institutes.  There is no
early-bird registration deadline/fee change for Institutes. To add an
Institute, email info at rcassidy.com or FAX 707-566-7474 or call 866-992-9399.
Include your name and explain that you're adding Institutes title and
number.  The addition will be charged to your credit card.  To pay by check,
mail the info to R.Cassidy, Box 14473, Santa Rosa, CA 95402

http://www.smartmarriages.com/institutes.html

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- EXHIBITS

Join your colleagues! The Exhibit promenade is THE happening place.  We
don't stick the exhibits off in a ballroom where nobody goes.  The exhibits
are in the main promenade, right in front of the entrance to the main
ballroom, the place where everyone goes all day, to and fro. Each exhibit is
an ongoing workshop, a conference unto itself in the middle of all the
action. Thurs through Sunday.  See who will be there:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/exhibitors.html

HIGHER GROUND 
Check out the HIGHER GROUND exhibit - a wonderful program that was added
just this morning. We have 350,000 traumatic brain injured and another
350,000 PTSD soldiers from the current wars.  80% of these couples divorce
within just a few years of the soldiers return home.  Higher Ground offers
the couples FREE sports/recreation retreats/wounded warrior camps.  Videos:
http://www.svasp.org/video.html
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- MARITAL AGE GAPS - COUGARS DIE EARLY

For Married Women, Age Gap Can Be Deadly
Study Finds, Unlike Men, Women Who Are Much Older (or Younger) Than Spouse
Have Shorter Life Expectancy

Fascinating. 

http://tinyurl.com/2djgant

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