Couple Alive
Produced by the Family Caring Trust
PRESENTATION
A resource pack containing a video, two leader's guides and one participants'
handbook. This course has been developed along the same principles and
format as the parenting courses 'What can a parent do?'
COST
Resource pack £48.77
Extra books for couples £5.50
Extra leader's guide £6.95
Video £29.37
CONTENT
The subtitle of the course is 'Effective support for couples of all ages,
with practical skills to make your love last - to renew it!' The course
is intended to be a six-week course, ideal for small groups meeting in
the home. Its primary focus is on conflict resolution, making use of the
'listen and check' method. Couples are encouraged to read the appropriate
chapter in preparation for the session. The sessions are based around
clips from the videos, which include interviews with Irish couples and
a comment from the Family Caring Trust director, Michael Quinn.
There are no guidelines about how to set up the course or for training
the leaders. However, the leader's guide gives suggestions for leading
and offers a 'script' for use where necessary.
APPROACH
This course makes no assumptions about whether participating couples are
married or not and so could be used as a resource for marriage preparation.
It does not demand that couples share with the whole group or make assumptions
about the Christian background of couples. There is a meditation available
at the end of each session.
OVERALL VERDICT
A very good resource to use with couples who are prepared to come to the
sessions. However, such a heavy emphasis on areas of disagreement in a
relationship probably means that it should be used alongside other material
when used for marriage preparation.
Please note that although we have endeavoured to check the facts,
this review reflects personal opinion and is not an official statement from
Churches Together for Families. All reviews of resources are the personal views
of the group that prepared the material for this web site.
© Churches Together for Families, 2001
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