Strengthening Relationships Workshop Topics

Strengthening Family Relationships

Healthy marriages and families create an atmosphere of love, honesty, and flexibility in the home. In a healthy home environment, family members are interested in learning about one another and understanding the unique ways each person is wired. In addition, differences are celebrated, allowing individuals to feel valued and free to express their opinions and feelings, and to take risks in life as a part of growth.

Oftentimes emotional pain from our own upbringing, unresolved anger, or pride prevent us from implementing healthy relational patterns to the next generation. If these patterns are not interrupted, resentments build and cause emotional barriers to meaningful connections within the family.

During this workshop you will learn to:

• Improve understanding of your mate and children
• Manage misunderstandings to prevent volatile outbursts
• Decrease finger-pointing and blame
• Create a safe emotional environment to share feelings and take responsibility for change
• Enhance closeness with the ones most important to you
• Launch your children from home with tools for making wise choices for their lives

 

Mr. Rock & Mrs. Hard Place

Keeping kids out of the middle

One of the greatest gifts parents can give their children is a healthy marriage. The health of your marriage determines the personal security of your children and enables them to have healthy relationships with others, including their future spouse. The focus of this workshop is to equip couples with tools to address conflict and resolve issues without lingering resentments or bitterness, and positively equip the next generation with tools for conflict resolution.

During this workshop you will learn to:

• Decrease the intensity and frequency of self-protective behaviors, such as anger and defensiveness, when working through differences
• De-escalate arguments & find common ground
• Express your perspective in a way your mate with “hear” you
• Own your part of the conflict and determine what you can and cannot change about your circumstances

 

Being Heard

“Communication is the essence of relationship, and words are its clearest means.”
Beth Moore

We communicate every day, verbally and nonverbally, and yet a common complaint among couples and family members is not feeling “heard” – that one’s feelings, opinion, or desire matter. Whether it is the busyness of life or a conscious decision to not rock the boat, left un-addressed, deep-seated resentment can turn into anger, acting out behaviors, and, ultimately, affairs, if allowed to fester. (quite a sentence) This workshop will challenge participants to take relational risks to address conflict that has gone “underground” and create an atmosphere for authentic intimacy.

During this workshop you will learn to:

• Identify four common ways people avoid conflict and antidotes to these behaviors
• Articulate and express yourself in ways you are more likely to be heard
• Implement tools to make relational repairs
• Gain confidence to express your feelings more directly
• Restore marital friendship

 

The Power of Our Words

Our words and how we say them have impact beyond measure. When there is conflict in a relationship, hurtful words tend to be used to “get back” at the other person, which only deepens the rift and creates more distance.

This workshop offers insights into the impact of our words and ways to speak with more warmth and sincerity in order to promote relational understanding.

During this workshop you will learn to:

• Consider where your words come from
• Learn the three factors that influence what other’s hear from what we say
• Overcome negativity