You may already be familiar with Relationship Enhancement^® (RE) Program from watching Gordon Elliott or Good Morning America, or reading Redbook, Glamour, Self, New Woman, or Ladies Home Journal which have featured some of its ideas and strategies. But ideas and strategies are only part of what creates a powerful marriage strengthening program.

Research shows that the benefits of information and advice-giving programs do not hold up. So, until now, we restricted RE to a skill-training, in-person coaching format. But, in trying to meet the needs of couples who could not travel, we recently developed a comprehensive program through which personal coaching could be offered to any couple with an extension phone or speaker phone. Because there are no travel costs, such a program costs out-of-towners far less. Moreover, for a great many people, being able to suit their own schedules translates into significant monetary savings. We call this new educational format, the PhoneCoach^® Program.

In the same way that a tennis instructor or golf pro would help you master strategies, tactics, and specific skills, your experienced, always positive, always constructive, always specific, Relationship Enhancement^® coach will help you improve your relationship performance. Of course, what you decide to do is left entirely up to you. The coach's job is to teach you the strategies and skills to work out constructive solutions in areas of your relationship in which there may be diagreement; and to promote on-going growth and enrichment within your relationship.

You will learn nine skills that will help you to deal successfully and creatively with issues arising from differences in needs, opinions, and values with respect to such issues as:

• dual career
• how to spend money
• dealing with friends and relatives
• best use of leisure time
• sex/affection
• children (e.g., discipline)
• how and how much to talk with each other
• who should do what in the household

You will learn how to become a more effective helpmate for your partner in dealing with doubts, conflicts, and decision-making in areas, such as:

• careers and work
• problems with his or her own family
• undesired habits and behaviors

You will learn how to restore, or build, exceptionally high levels of trust and affection. A bonus of the program is that the relationship strategies and skills you learn also will help you to deal more easily and effectively with other important intimates such as your children, relatives, friends your co-workers, superiors, and subordinates at work or at school.

Your relationship with your mate is even more central to your happiness than you probably realize. Achieving the most fulfilling relationship possible not only can improve your enjoyment of life directly, it can improve your self-image and your confidence. It can improve your job productivity and your health. Research suggests that its benefits extend even to your children, who are very likely to gain in their self-confidence and their social and scholastic life.

Any couple committed to an intimate relationship may enroll. For example, research has found RE to be very effective for premarital couples.

Upon enrollment, you will receive a Relationship Enhancement PhoneCoach Manual and RE Demonstration Audio Tapes that will walk you through the program step-by-step. The four hours of coaching time--the heart of the program--are worked out in consultation with your coach and can readily be adjusted to your convenience.

You place and pay for the phone calls. Otherwise, the full cost of the program, including all materials and the four hours of coaching time, is $285. If you participate in the full program within six months of its receipt and then are not satisfied for any reason, the entire $285 will be promptly refunded.

You want to be sure you are getting the best program available for building that strength. The Relationship Enhancement^® (RE) Program has been tested and improved through over 20 years of research and use with couples. So, it is not surprising that an award-winning study at Purdue University involving nearly 4,000 couples showed RE to be far more effective in increasing relationship satisfaction than any of the numerous programs with which it was compared. The reasons lie in the central role it affords to skill training and to individual coaching.

If you have questions about the nature of the program, contact Dr. Robert Scuka at (301) 986-1479. For other information, contact the IDEALS/NIRE office at the address below.

Telephone
     1-800-4-FAMILIES
     301-986-1479
Fax
     301-680-3756
Postal address
     4400 East-West Highway, Suite 28
     Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4501
Electronic mail
     General Information: info@nire.org

This program may be useful for couples with problems as well as couples without problems. However, it might not eliminate the need for couple therapy. For those who wish to pursue therapy instead of, or in addition to PhoneCoach, we would be happy to provide you with infomation on how to select a couple therapist.

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