I-PREP / Legislation & TV / Corrections / Budgeting / Military Couples - 1/17/12

Tue Jan 17 17:39:20 EST 2012

- MARRIAGE EDUCATION IN ISRAEL: I-PREP
- AS THE WORLD TURNS
- CORRECTIONS CONFERENCE
- 10 Ways Budgeting Saved My Marriage
 - UNIVERSITY OF DENVER & PREP OFFER HELP TO MILITARY COUPLES
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- MARRIAGE EDUCATION IN ISRAEL: I-PREP

Here are excerpts from an article about the expansion of Marriage Education
to  Israel:

. . . At a recent joint session in Jerusalem, Professor Markman announced
that Susan Barth of Bet Shemesh would be franchising the [PREP] program for
use in Israel, calling it I-PREP. It will be under the auspices of Ms.
Barth¹s organization, Together in Happiness, whose goal is to create a
broad-based, richly varied program of marriage education and enhancement to
help Israeli couples‹both Hebrew and English speakers‹cope with the
challenges that every marriage encounters through its life. Who has not had
to deal with conflicts emanating from different philosophies of
child-raising, financial issues, or intimacy? . . .

. . . In May 2011, Ms. Barth organized the First International Conference on
Marriage Education in Israel. Lecturers from Israel and around the world
presented at the conference to an audience of over 360 professionals.

In early November she brought Professor Markman and Marcie A. Pregulman to
Jerusalem for a combined lecture-workshop at Beit Avi Chai, titled
³Rediscover the Power of Your Relationship.² To emphasize their goal of
engaging couples in relationship enhancement when their marriage is still
young, newlyweds (married less than three years) attended free.

For the full article with photos and interesting progress updates:
http://tinyurl.com/83ztpc5
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- AS THE WORLD TURNS
I just talked to two reporters and want to pass along the little rainbow of
enthusiasm these conversations gave me  I know we need all the
encouragement we can get down in our trenches.   One was covering Marriage
Education legislation that was just introduced in Arizona and the other a
proposed TV show about Stepfamilies.  As we know only too well, the
legislation has little chance of passing and the show might not get picked
up, but it¹s encouraging that there are so many ways to get our information
out there  so many different ways to skin the cat  with Legislation and TV
being two of the very best.  It¹s also amazing to me how, after all this
time and effort, people (like these reporters) still know so little about
marriage, marriage research, and the promise of Marriage Education. And, how
they lap it up.  Just saying.  - diane
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- CORRECTIONS CONFERENCE

Diane, 
I hope you can let the list know about a conference that is a MUST for
anyone who is working with  or who would like to learn how to work with 
families experiencing incarceration.   We attended last year and were blown
away by the quality and quantity of experts, research, evidence-based and
best practices.  We also made many invaluable contacts.

The Mental Health in Corrections Conference convenes international
professionals who work with the criminal justice system including innovators
with expertise in mental health, healthcare, probation, corrections, policy,
substance abuse, social welfare, and faith based issues.
This year¹s special focus is on reentry and recidivism, particularly on how
incarceration affects families and loved ones. Workshops include topics of
family reunification, employment, and maintaining marriages and family
connections during and after incarceration.

March 8-12, 2012
St. Louis, Missouri
More information about the conference, preconference training workshops, and
registration at http://forest.edu/mhcc.aspx.

Cathy Tijerina 
Keeping Faith 
The Ridge Project  - theridgeproject.com
________________________________________
- 10 Ways Budgeting Saved My Marriage
Tim Maurer 
Forbes.com 

Here¹s a great one to use for your Valentine¹s Day/Marriage Week workshops.
Distribute this article to start a discussion and then have couples use
Syble Solomon¹s Money Habitude Cards
(http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory/188) to sort things through.
They¹re great with all couples dating, engaged, long-married, remarried.

Or, if you¹re a couple, read the article, get the cards and have your own
little workshop at your dining room table.  The cards are amazing and will
give you insights, understanding, and direction.  It¹s actually romantic.
After you use the cards as a couple, use them with your kids.

The article: http://tinyurl.com/7r67gpc
Listen to Syble¹s Money Habitudes workshops here: http://tinyurl.com/7v8z7ol
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 - UNIVERSITY OF DENVER & PREP OFFER HELP TO MILITARY COUPLES
DENVER  Military couples often are dealing with relationship issues related
to military service such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
deployment and combat exposure, as well as issues common to all married
couples  problems expressing feelings, fighting too much, time together,
money, children, lack of fun, support, & sex. The University of Denver¹s
Psychology Department is opening up a new therapy service focusing on
helping military couples improve their relationships.

The Military Couples Clinic will offer state of the art, research-based,
services for couples centered around the internationally-known Prevention
and Relationship Education Program (PREP), the original program used in the
Army¹s successful Strong Bonds initiative and the basis for a new Air Force
program called ³Got Your Back.²

Eligibility for services includes any couple with at least one partner
currently serving or having served in any branch of the military (active,
reserve, guard). Educational workshops also may be available.

³Couples who come to our clinic will learn to talk about feelings that need
to be expressed and heard,² says Dr. Howard J. Markman, director of the
Military Couples Clinic and co-author of the best-selling book, Fighting For
Your Marriage. ³Couples will learn to express important feelings in a safe
way,  improve their ability to talk without fighting about important issues,
to solve problems as a team, to be more supportive, to understand
commitment, sacrifice and forgiveness, to have more fun, be better friends
and restore sensuality and romance.²

Markman and his colleagues have been doing research on helping couples in
the Army for more than 10 years, and the findings from these studies provide
a strong research base for the services offered at the clinic.

³Research shows  that 11 to 20 % of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom suffer from PTSD, often with negative
effects on marriage,² Markman says. ³Couples therapy can help marriages and
is associated with reduced PTSD symptoms.²

The Military Couples Therapy Clinic is currently accepting appointments and
can be reached at (303) 871-3306. All fees for services are based on the
ability to pay.  In addition to military couples, services also are
available to first responder couples, where one partner or both are engaged
in services that protect our nation and neighborhoods, including police
officers, firefighters, homeland security, FBI, CIA and other security and
defense agencies.
For information: Kim DeVigil Phone: (303) 871-2775  E-mail:
Kim.DeVigil at du.edu 
_______________________________

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