Welcome

Thank you for joining our Marriage Enhancement class.  Over the next few weeks and months we will focus on developing skills that are proven to improve marital satisfaction.  These are:

·      Communication Skills	·      Conflict Resolution
·      Identifying Emotions	·      Overcoming Anger
·      Increasing Unity	·      Enriching Marriage

Theme

Seek to understand rather than to be understood

Resources

We will be using several resources including Strengthening Marriage: Resource Guide for Couples manual published by LDS Family Services.  You will be given a complimentary copy of this resource and some of our homework may come from this book.

We will also use materials from the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, articles, and other resources from print and online sources. 

Many have found it helpful to bring a notebook and pen to class.

Time Commitment

Our class is designed to meet for two-three hours a week for 8 weeks.  We have modified the class to meet during the 30-40 minute Sunday School hour and so we will meet for 12 weeks.  Once per month we will have a dinner meeting at the Morefield’s home.  This meeting will last about 2 hours.

Please plan to attend all sessions.  Please be on time to class.

Rules & Roles

 We spent our first class session determining these rules, which are: 

1. Confidentiality is key.  What we share and what we hear should stay in the room.  If you find yourself talking about someone else's problems, please remember that this is usually a way to avoid addressing your own concerns.
2. Commitment - please plan to attend all of the classes.  If you can't make it to a class, please let us know in advance.
3. Punctuality - our sessions are very brief and sometimes we just get rolling when we have to stop, so please come straight from Sacrament Meeting.
4. Closed Group - we agreed that visiting family members and couples who want to join after the second session will not be permitted to participate in order to preserve the group dynamic.
5. No teasing.  We want to be careful to preserve a friendly and casual environment that fosters openness.  Teasing is bringing up a weakness or embarrassing personal information that someone shared as a vulnerability.  We will be careful to address teasing as it occurs.
6. Share to your level of comfort.
7. Allow others to finish their thoughts without interruption. 

     Roles - Kristen is the primary instructor for this class and has been set apart for this purpose.  However, without Todd, Kristen would be nothing!  Therefore, Todd will participate as a teaching assistant.  He will share his experience and lead some discussions.

Contact Information

We will communicate by email, text and blog between classes.  Please contact us between sessions to share your specific concerns.

Kristen: 818-406-2606; morefieldmom@gmail.com

Todd: 818-800-7342; leptalbldgs@gmail.com