Orthodox

OU Community Services

Positive Jewish Marriages

This program has a similar format of workshops as Positive Jewish Parenting, but focuses upon strengthening healthy marriages. Enhancing and strengthening the quality of marriage requires ongoing nurturing to be successful. Workshops stress the essential ingredients of developing and maintaining positive relationships through presentations by mental health professionals. There are so many topics to be explored, including: Recognizing and Meeting Needs, His, Hers, and Ours, Expressing Personal Feelings, Conflict Resolution, Strengthening Communication Skills, Financial Impact on Marriage, Time Management, In-Law Relationships.

The results of the National Survey on Marriage Satisfaction are being tabulated as of this writing. The target date for sharing the findings and implications for pre-marital and marriage educational programs should be after the chagim. We trust that the results will be of great assistance to our Rabbanim in planning programs and services to strengthen the Jewish family.

Seven highly successful marriage retreats have taken place in hotel settings within the past few years. Four have been held on the east coast and three on the west coast, providing practical information on strengthening healthy marriages. Please watch for information on a summer retreat scheduled for July 2010 which will attract individuals from various parts of the country. We should have more detailed information available beginning January 2010.