Frequently Asked Questions

What is covered at a workshop?

Workshops offer education and skills that will help you have intentional and successful relationships with all the different people in your life: your spouse, fiancé, friends and children. In a fast-paced, fun and interactive atmosphere, you will learn ways to talk to each other in kind and respectful ways, handle your anger constructively, and work through disagreements and problems with each other, as well as, become more compassionate about your differences. Learn to create a mutually-satisfying money system based on being aware of your different money “personalities”. You can also learn how to recognize daily habits that are destructive and how to substitute them with habits that keep warmth in a relationship.

What this workshop is not?

This is not therapy. These workshops teach skills that you can use in your everyday life to help solve problems, but these workshops are not a form of solving specific issues in depth over a series of sessions. Just as all people need a basic level of general education to be self-sufficient in life, all people can benefit from a workshop and the skills and tools used to improve how they interact with others on a day-to-day basis. We also do not believe in “marriage at all costs.” Anthem Strong Families in no way promotes staying in an abusive marriage or relationship. All of our workshops present healthy relationship skills and how to recognize abusive behavior and unhealthy relationship habits.

Who can attend a workshop?

Everyone is a candidate to attend a workshop. We have a place for you, if you are a teenager or a single adult, dating, engaged, or married. If you are a parent or soon to be a parent, we have a workshop for you, too.

How will this help my relationship?

There’s not anyone in a relationship that hasn’t experienced frustration and most of us have experienced a lot of regret and misunderstandings. In fact, research shows us that the difference between “good” relationship and “bad” ones is not what couples argue about or how often they argue, but the way they argue. Couples that use effective communication skills to deal with their misunderstandings create good relationships. We get training to become a driver, we get training on a job and we get training in skills like math and reading to get through school. Skills help us become successful. Why not give our relationships the same intentional training that we give these other things?

Research shows that there is clear evidence that relationship education programs work “to reduce strife, improve communication, increase parenting skills, increase stability and enhance marital happiness.”¹ The average couple, after taking a workshop, was able to out-preform 83% of couples who had not participated in the program in the critical area of communication.²

1 Fagan, Patrick F., Patterson, Robert W. and Robert E. Rector. “Marriage and Welfare Reform: The Overwhelming Evidence that Marriage Education Works.” The Heritage Foundation: Backgrounder #1606, 2002.
2 Butler, Mark H. and Karen S. Wampler, “A Meta-Analytic Update on Research on the Couple Communication Program.” American Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 27 (1999), p. 223.

If I am in a relationship or married, do both of us have to attend?

We recommend you attend a workshop with your partner, spouse or fiancé. Research shows us that couples who participate in premarital and marital education classes are better able to use communication tools effectively and resolve conflict better if they both attend a workshop. Give your precious relationship some insurance against the hard times so that both of you can have the confidence that you can make your relationship work through thick and thin.

How long is a workshop?

Many of the workshops are 8 hours long. Other workshops vary between 3 hours to several hours over a period of days or weeks. You can find one that fits your schedule.

How much does a workshop cost?

We offer a variety of workshops with varying costs. Some of them are free and others have a small fee attached. Fees for each workshop are posted on the registration page.

What do I need to bring to a workshop?

Just come fully prepared to learn and have fun. All the supplies will be provided for you. We supply refreshments for our workshops, as well as, lunch when you attend an 8 hour workshop.

Is childcare provided?

We do not provide childcare for our workshops, please make other arrangements when attending a workshop.