Right Start Publications provides a resource for those couples who have not participated in a Right Start premarital program, and who desire additional work in communication and conflict resolution. The Workbook for Married Couples: Communication and Conflict Resolution is a greatly expanded version of Lessons 3 and 4 in the premarital Student Workbook CD, recast for married couples, and augmented with relevant Bible studies.
Each of the eight Lessons in this Workbook consists of several pages of text on communication and conflict resolution, with coordinated Bible studies, and several worksheets. The Bible studies ground the learning in God's directions, and the worksheets aid in the retention and personal applications of the concepts presented in the Lesson material.
APPLICATIONS:
COUPLE SELF-STUDY
A couple can use this Workbook on a self-study basis by reading and discussing the text material, working on the Bible studies together, individually completing the worksheets, and then discussing them together.
COUPLE SELF-STUDY WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MENTORS OR FACILITATORS
The same procedure is used as in couple self-study, but, in addition, mentors or facilitators review their answers on the written work with the couple.
GROUP STUDY
Couples study the text material in advance of each meeting and complete the Bible studies and worksheets for each Lesson. In the group meeting, the participants discuss the Bible studies and text materials. While is not advisable to discuss couples' specific answers from the worksheets in a group setting because of their private nature, a general discussion of the worksheet issues is helpful.
RESULTS:
Use of this Workbook has restored the marriages of couples who had been in counseling for over two years without previous positive results. These results are due to the fact that, in each partner's self-study, he or she has been confronted with the authority of God's Word, as it bears on one's own marriage, and has made a refreshed commitment to sacrificial marital love.
FACILITATOR'S GUIDE
The Workbook is also available in a Facilitator's Guide, which gives suggested answers for the Bible studies and worksheets.
