April Schedule Marriage & Family Building Series A monthly luncheon series to help equip pastors, lay leaders, and clinicians Apr. 16 Remi Rakipi, MSW, CSW "Supporting Intimacy in Marriage: Challenges of the 21st Century" 11:30-1:00pm May 14 Dr. Lee Williams "Two Churches, One Marriage" 11:30-1:00pm June 4 Dr. Froma Walsh "Strengthening Family Resilience" 12 noon - 1:30pm Pine Rest Main Campus Postma Center Cost: $10 each, lunch included. Call 616.455.5279 to register A bi-weekly marriage program with mentor couples and a facilitator Apr. 3 & 17, May 1 & 15 Thornapple Covenant Church 6:30 - 8:30pm Cost: free Childcare provided Call 616.363.5078 A weekly marriage prep class for couples marrying in a court setting Apr. 1, 15 & 29, 6-10pm Apr. 12 & 26, 8:30am-12:30pm May 10 & 24, 8:30am-12:30pm May 13 & 27, 6-10pm Call 616.455.5279 to register A research based, skills building curriculum designed to help couples communicate more effectively. Pine Rest O&A Building Remaining Dates in 2008: Apr. 26, June 3 & June 10 Cost: $100 per couple Call 616.281.6450 |
HMGR partners with the Pine Rest Family Institute |
Opportunities: 1. Talk to your pastor / church leadership about starting The Third Option in your church 2. Talk to your community center about how to get a Family Wellness group started For more opportunities, call 616.455.5279 |
| Challenges to Intimacy: Topic of
Next MFBS Luncheon Remi Rakipi, MSW, CSW tackles subject of 21st Century Challenges to Intimacy on April 16 Remi Rakipi, MSW, CSW, will be speaking at the April 16 Marriage and Family Building Series luncheon at Pine Rest. Remi is a counselor at Pine Rest and the course facilitator for the PREP Couples Communication Workshop which helps couples overcome common problems in miscommunication. In this presentatio n, she will discuss why professionals in the position of helping people with marital issues must have some knowledge and training in the area of sexuality. She will also talk about what these professionals can "give" to couples coming to them with sexual dysfunctions, boundary problems, or intimacy issues. Join us for this lunch time series on April 16 from 11:30 to 1:00 pm at the Postma Center on the main campus of Pine Rest! |
Froma Times Two!
Renowned family scholar Dr. Froma Walsh will be presenting twice on June 4 at Pine Rest!
This June, Froma Walsh, MSW, Ph.D., an internationally renowned clinical scholar and educator at the forefront in advancing resilience-oriented, family-centered, collaborative mental health, healthcare, and social services, will be coming to speak at Pine Rest. As a pioneer in the introduction of spiritual resources for healing and positive growth in clinical practice, Dr. Walsh will be speaking at the Pine Rest Institute for Spiritual Care on June 4 from 8:30 to 11:30am. Her talk, aimed at therapists, clinicians and social workers, is titled "Spirituality, Suffering, and Family Resilience: An Integrative Practice Approach," and will explore key family beliefs and communication processes which enable families to strengthen bonds and tap spiritual wellsprings for resilience. She will also give practice guidelines and case illustrations to promote and illustrate ps ycho-social-spiritual healing, wellbeing, and growth. As a leading authority on family resilience, she will also be speaking at the Marriage and Family Building Series luncheon on June 4 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Her talk is titled "Strengthening Family Resilience." Click here for information about registering for either of these events. |
Want Your Church to be a Partner in the 3rd Option? Meeting and mini-training May 12 at Hillside CRC The Third Option, a successful program for marriage strengthening and for marriages in crisis, is now spreading to other parts of Grand Rapids. Rev. Allen Pickett of Knapp Street Reformed Church started facilitating the Third Option with other area churches and oversees the program which takes place the first and third Thursdays of each month at Thornapple Covenant Church from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Mentor couples go through different topics each week and couples interested in using the program to build a better marriage can join at any time. The March 1 edition of the Grand Rapids Press ran an article about the great effects the program was having, and subsequently, Hillside Community Church became interested in implementing the program on the south side of Grand Rapids. To get it started, Rev. Allen Pickett will be meeting with a group at Hillside Community Church on May 12, 2008 at 7 pm. If you are interested in helping this program get started in the area, please call 616.222.4592 for details. Click here to read more about the program. |
Before You Consider Divorce Marriages, like everything else, go through slumps - down times. And things often get better on their own with time. The Case for Marriage points out that many who reported that their marriages were at the bottom of the scale on marital satisfaction, when asked again five years later, reported being at the top on marital happiness. When asked what changed, many had no idea. It seems that keeping your vows - hanging in through the "for worse"- even the "for boring" times - can get you to the promised land. Get married, stay married - what a concept. Recent follow up research, Does Divorce Make People Happy? fleshes out this earlier research. People going through unhappy periods in their marriage fantasize about getting out of their marriage and falling in love with someone new. It turns out that it leads to much more happiness - in the long run - if you can fall back in love with the person with whom you have children, extended family and a history - someone who will enjoy the grandkids with you and has been there to know what you've done for others. Click here for the entire article from Smart Marriages. |
| Healthy Marriages Grand Rapids (HMGR) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to helping adults and young people learn skills which enable successful relationships and marriages. We serve as an advocate and resource for marriage education and support programs which help teach relationship skills. HMGR is non-political, and our activities are funded through support from private donations and the Pine Rest Family Institute. |
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