Take the Annual Couple’s Checkup
(Married or Engaged Couples)
As part of our outreach program, we support the mission of the California Healthy Marriages Coalition. We are also pleased to be able to offer the Annual Couple’s Checkup to Southern California couples for only $29.95.
How it works:
- Schedule your Couple’s Checkup using our online calendar (or call 800.705.6223). When you schedule online, we’ll contact you via email for a second email address for your spouse or fiance.
- Then watch for an email message with your login information to complete the PREPARE/ENRICH inventory that matches your couple status (engaged, married).
- Complete your online inventory at least 24 hours before your appointment. You will be asked to pay $29.95 per couple before you begin the inventory.
- Your professionally-trained couple’s counselor will review your results. During your 75-minute session in our Garden Grove office, he or she will give you brief, specific feedback and offer recommendations for growing your relationship.
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Growing Your Relationship
Many couples benefit greatly from Marriage Education and/or Marriage Enrichment programs. In reviewing the results of your inventory, we’ll let you know if your relationship would likely benefit from professional therapy.
And, if you and your partner would like extra help at OCCC after you complete your Couple’s Checkup, you’ll be eligible for $20 off the current session fee for additional appointments. (Cannot be combined with any other offer.)
About Our Counselors
All OCCC staff are experienced in working with both men’s and women’s issues. In addition, they have received training in PREPARE/ENRICH, as well as professional training in Emotionally Focused Therapy and PREP.
About PREPARE/ENRICH
PREPARE/ENRICH is a program based on a set of inventories that examine major relationship issues a couple may experience. Couples who complete these inventories may opt to complete 8 additional feedback sessions in which the counselor will facilitate discussion between the couple based on their inventory results.
The California Healthy Marriages Coalition (CHMC) is a pioneering non-profit organization that works throughout California to improve the well-being of children by strengthening the relationship of parents through Marriage Education and Relationship Skills classes.
Secrets to Love: A Journey to Find the Happily Ever After
Filed under: Communication, Conflict, Events, Gender Differences, Marriage, Marriage Ministries
Orange County Christian Counseling is pleased to offer your church, ministry, or small group the opportunity to see this award-winning film about the joys and challenges of marriage.
Our professionally trained staff will be available to introduce the film, as well as to engage attendees in a meaningful discussion following the presentation. This is a great way to launch a marriage ministry or marriage education program.*
Cost: FREE
Secrets to Love is a compelling documentary about relationships, marriage, and, of course, love. For just over an hour, we hitch a ride with a recent divorcee on her journey to find answers to the questions many of us ask:
- How do couples get to “happily ever after”?
- Why is love so complicated?
- What, if anything, can couples do to ensure their marriage lasts a lifetime?
Interviews with real-life couples and a wide range of relationship experts allow Secrets to Love to navigate swiftly through many intriguiing and thought-provoking issues related to love and marriage.
Click here to view the trailer.
PREPARE/ENRICH: The Couple Checkup
Based on an unprecedented national survey of 50,000 marriages, The Couple Checkup presents the principles for creating a successful couple relationship. The free online profile includes fifteen to twenty categories that are customized based on the relationship stage-whether dating, engaged, or married-the age, and whether or not children are involved. The book also includes the SCOPE Personality Profile and the Couple and Family Map of the relationship.
Each chapter of the book matches a category in the free individual profile. While the book stands on its own, using the Couple Checkup with the book provides the maximum benefit. In addition, each chapter contains couple exercises to help build couple strengths in a variety of areas.
Looking for Extra Help?
Dr. Debi Smith, Director of OC Christian Counseling, is available to assist So Cal couples who could use a little extra help creating a loving, mutually satisfying relationship. She is a Licensed Psychologist and a qualified PREPARE/ENRICH counselor. Dr. Smith has also received professional training in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples, Imago Therapy, PREP, and the Gottman method.
Contact Info:
Debi Smith, PsyD
Licensed Psychologist PSY21711
OC Christian Counseling
12792 Valley View Street #209
Garden Grove, CA 92845
Phone: (714) 865-2164
An Evening Together
Celebrating Marriage
Saturday, the Seventh of February,
Two Thousand and Nine
five o’clock to ten o’clock
Crystal Cathedral
12141 Lewis Street
Garden Grove, California
Marriage Resource Fair (free)
five o’clock
Marriage Renewal in the Crystal Cathedral
six o’clock
Elegant Dinner
six-thirty to ten o’clock
Hors-d’Oeuvres in the Courtyard
Candlelight Dining and
Dancing in the Arboretum
Celebrity Speaker: Dr. John Townsend
$100 a couple or table of eight for $400
Cocktail Attire
Information call 949-752-2888
Purchase tickets online, or make your check out to RRF and mail it to:
Relationship Research Foundation, Inc.
1400 Bristol St. North, Suite 100
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Five Steps to Building Your Marriage: Step 5
by Mary Fairchild, About.com
Step 5 – Continue Dating: Set aside special, regular times to continue developing your romance.
Once married, couples often neglect the area of romance, especially after the kids come along. Continuing a dating life may take some strategic planning on your part as a couple, but it is vital to maintaining a secure and intimate marriage. Keeping the romance alive will also be a bold testimony to the strength of your Christian marriage.
These 5 steps require real, committed effort on your part. Falling in love may have been effortless, but building your Christian marriage and keeping it strong, does require work. However, the blessings and rewards of that effort are priceless and immeasurable.
Bring a New Spark of Vitality to Your Life Together
You came into marriage understanding your spouse’s communication style and thought you understood each other’s needs. You were over-the-moon in love. Now, however, weeks–even months–go by when your marriage seems stale. It doesn’t have to be that way. Through anecdotes and straightforward advice from his years as a therapist, Robert S. Paul will help you create a marriage that’s fresh and full of fun, fascination, and freedom.As Bob addresses both men’s and women’s unique needs, he shows how the adventurous romance men crave seamlessly complements the romantic adventure women desire. Through this highly practical book you’ll find out how you and your spouse, fully alive, can dream together and play together.
Five Steps to Building Your Marriage: Step 4
by Mary Fairchild, About.com
Step 4 – Attend Church Together: Get involved in a church together.
Find a place of worship where you and your spouse will not only attend together, but enjoy areas of mutual interest, such as serving in a ministry and making Christian friends together. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:24-25, that one of the best ways we can stir up love and encourage good deeds is by remaining faithful to the Body of Christ by meeting together regularly as believers.
Five Steps to Building Your Marriage: Step 3
by Mary Fairchild, About.com
Step 3 – Make Decisions Together: Commit to making important decision together.
I’m not talking about deciding on what to eat for dinner. Major decisions, like financial ones, are best decided as a couple. One of the greatest areas of strain in a marriage is the area of finances. As a couple you should discuss your finances on a regular basis, even if one of you is better at handling the practical aspects, like paying the bills and balancing the check book. Spending secrets will drive a wedge between you faster than anything else.
If you agree to come to mutual decisions on how the finances are handled, this will strengthen trust between you and your partner. Also, you won’t be able to keep secrets from each other if you commit to making all important family decisions together. This is one of the best ways to develop trust as a couple.
Five Steps to Building Your Marriage: Step 2
by Mary Fairchild, About.com
Step 2 – Read Together: Set aside time each day, or at least once a week, to read the Bible together.
This might also be described as a time of devotions. About five years ago my husband and I began setting aside time each weekday morning to read the Bible and pray together, for a couple’s devotional. We read to each other, either from the Bible, or from a devotional book, and then we spend a few minutes in prayer together.
We’ve had to commit to rising from sleep about 30 minutes earlier in order to do this, but it’s been a wonderful, intimate time of strengthening our marriage. It took 2 1/2 years, but what a sense of accomplishment we felt when we realized we had read through the entire Bible together!
Five Steps to Building Your Marriage: Step 1
by Mary Fairchild, About.com
Step 1 – Pray Together: Set aside time each day to pray with your spouse.
My husband and I have found that first thing in the morning is the best time for us. We ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and give us strength for the day ahead. It brings us closer together as we care for each other every day. We think about what the day ahead holds for our partner. Our loving affection goes beyond the physical realm to the emotional and spiritual realm. This develops true intimacy with each other, and with God.
Perhaps a better time for you as a couple might be just before you go to bed each night. It’s impossible to fall asleep angry when you’ve just held hands together in God’s presence.
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