113 Two Days - Wednesday & Thursday, July 7 & 8
Marriage Links Instructor Certification Training
John Van Epp, PhD

Become certified: teach couples of any stage how to pace a relationship
with the Relationship Attachment Model (RAM) to stay connected in
communication, trust, sex, and mutuality. Teach groups in churches, schools
& the military. $100 spouse discount.

Overview
Train and certify to teach Marriage LINKS and learn to help couples achieve AND maintain the lasting, satisfying marriages of their dreams. This training will provide you with a deeper understanding of the material and the techniques and tools for teaching couples and leading in-depth discussion in various group formats.

What you will be able to do:

This course certifies you to teach the
different versions of the LINKS course with the lesson plans. These five, two-hour sessions (expandable) are a practical and in-depth understanding of how to apply the Relationship Attachment Model (RAM) to maintaining the closeness and open communication needed in a healthy marriage relationship.  Major areas presented in the training include: intimacy and romantic love; communication and conflict resolution skills; attitudes and positive interactions needed to maintain strong attachments; how trust is kept strong and ways to heal broken trusts with forgiveness and rebuilding a belief in a partner; mutual need fulfillment; roles and division of responsibilities; understanding and harmonizing differences between partners; strengthening commitment and using a resiliency model of coping with change and stress; ways to achieving sexual compatibility and sexual fulfillment

You will be certified to teach:

1) The couples/adult version
 
2. The Military version with pre and post deployment activities and exercises (this course has been taught in the Army Chaplains School and in the Army Strong Bonds Conferences for the past three years).
   
3.The  Faith-based Bible study version
 
Description
            The Relationship Attachment Model (RAM)
has been used empirically validated in the PICK Program for pacing the development of a new relationship. Now married couples can use the RAM for maintaining the harmony of an ongoing relationship. Teach the five 2-hour sessions and receive tools for managing crucial relationship bonds such as mutually knowing each other (talking, togetherness), trusting in (keeping positive/respectful opinions), depending on (mutually meeting needs), committing to (cultivating deep feelings of belonging together), and sexually fulfilling each other. Additional supplemental lesson plans/modules are also available for expanding this course to 10-lessons.


            Intimacy is produced by these five dynamics or “love links” working together -- if one is neglected or weakened then the others are also affected. Gain skills for positive communication, conflict resolution, forgiveness and rebuilding trust, identifying and satisfying personal needs, constructing a marriage story, and growing sexually. Healthy and unhealthy marriage patterns are identified/ described.

 

            Learn to teach couples a practical 4-step plan to "run" their relationships on a weekly or monthly basis. These meetings, referred to as huddles provide couples with an easy-to-use agenda that reviews and sets goals in the primary areas of their relationship. Too often, couples only continue utilizing one exercise/activity after they have taken a relationship course. LINKS prescribes what that one activity will be and helps couples to more comprehensively manage their relationship.

 

            Major areas of research covered will include: intimacy and romantic love; how trust is developed and maintained; forgiveness in marital relations; resiliency and commitment in marriage; emotional styles and expression in marriage; attachment/closeness in adult relationships; sexual intimacy in marriage; personal boundaries and affairs; and predictors of marital satisfaction.

Objectives
* Review and analyze research on marital intimacy and satisfaction.
* Construct the theoretical basis for a model of marital intimacy (RAM).
* Describe and apply communication skills and the importance of regular talk times to deepen your understanding and support.

* Develop conflict resolution skills needed to work through conflicts and achieve and maintain marital closeness.
* Propose skill exercises for maintaining intimacy.
* Provide a framework for differentiating between healthy and unhealthy relationship patterns.
* Construct an approach for facilitating forgiveness, building (and rebuilding) trust, and overcoming challenges and crises.
* Provide a practical plan that couples can use weekly or monthly to maintain the important areas of intimacy in their marriage.
* Discuss the various formats used with the LINKS course: classroom, retreats, 1- and 2-day structures, counseling/mentoring settings.

Materials you will receive:
• Instructor Manual (3-Ring Binder)
• Detailed Lesson Plans
• Group discussion questions
• Exercises and Group activities
• Marriage LINKS DVD set
• Marriage LINKS Instructor course DVD set
• Power Point of the Course

Additional Materials you will receive access to:

• Translations of lesson plans in Spanish & Mandarin
• Supplemental lesson plans
• Additional power points
• Pre and Post Deployment Version Exercises

• Christian based version
• Marketing artwork and templates

Endorsements:

LINKS is taught by thousands of instructors in churches, military, educational, and social agency settings and by coalitions throughout the United States and in ten countries being translated into Spanish and Mandarin. The LINKS course and the Relationship Attachment Model were awarded the Smart Marriage Impact Award (2008) and have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Psychology Today, O Magazine, and Cosmopolitan; and on the CBS Early Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Fox News, and Focus on the Family.

I just received the training in P.I.C.K. and L.I.N.K.S. I have been a social worker for
30+ years doing family and marital therapy. I have never been so excited about an
approach or training. You are a consummate presenter, and your approach fits
beautifully with so many different treatment approaches. I left the training pumped
about teaching this to singles and couples. My wife and I co-teach marriage
enrichment seminars here at Catholic Social Services, and we have been involved in
Worldwide Marriage Encounter for several years, and the R.A.M. approach offers a
fresh way to work with both singles and couples, far beyond what we have experienced previously.
- Steve White

“As a senior leader of a very large organization and military installation, I strongly
recommend Van Epp’s programs for mid-and senior-level military leaders. Those
who take to heart this counsel can not only improve their own personal relationships,
but help foster stronger families in the units and communities for which they are responsible.”
- Colonel Michael Simone, Retired Commandant of the Defense Language Institute at
Presidio Army Base in Monterey, CA

“This was a very positive and inviting way to enrich our marital relationship. I feel
more positive about my husband’s upcoming deployment and more confident that
we will be able to ‘weather the storm.’”
- Class participant

“I really like the RAM model. It will help us better understand areas of importance
in our marriage, and how to dialogue about them. The commitment section was exceptionallyclear and well-developed.”
- Class participant

“Understanding how high and low sex drive people can get along better in marriage
was the most significant gain for me.”
- Class participant

“This program organized and put into words chaotic thoughts that I have had for a long, long time. You put terminology to what we have been living- and have given us
clarity to our lives. I felt it was very comprehensive!”
- Class participant

FOR INFORMATION: www.nojerks.com

This institute is part of the week-long Smart Marriages conference.

Register for the Institute and the Conference: Click for Information on Conference Details, to download a conference brochure, REGISTER ONLINE, hotel & travel information & discounts, etc.

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