Today I am again, happy to share with you a wonderful opportunity to get your marriage off to a great start.  Start Right~ Stay Connected is a one day pre-marital couples seminar offered by Judith Minter, LCSW.  The next opportunity to join Judith for this fantastic seminar is on Saturday, May 2nd, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM right here in Charlottesville.

In this workshop, you will:

• Explore the stages of your relationship journey;
• Discover what each of you brings to the relationship;
• Learn new skills for having difficult conversations;
• Wedding planning together;
• Learn easy ways to nourish your relationship daily; and
• Create a vision for your relationship.

Judith is a Certified Imago Relationship Therapist and Workshop Presenter devoted to supporting couples create lasting, loving relationships.

Contact Judith to find out more:
~ phone: 434-971-4747 ext. 114
~ e-mail: minterimago@yahoo.com
~ website: www.creatingauthenticrelationships.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Today I am happy to share with you a wonderful pre-marital couples seminar offered by Judith Minter, LCSW on Saturday, February 21st, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM right here in Charlottesville.

In this workshop, you will:

• Explore the stages of your relationship journey;
• Discover what each of you brings to the relationship;
• Learn new skills to address ‘important conversations’;
• Learn easy ways to nourish your relationship daily; and
• Co-Create your own unique relationship vision.

Judith is a Certifed Imago Relationship Therapist and Workshop Presenter devoted to supporting couples create lasting, loving relationships.

Contact Judith to find out more:
~ phone: 434-971-4747 ext. 114
~ e-mail: minterimago@yahoo.com
~ website: www.creatingauthenticrelationships.com

Couples I meet, who are not getting married in a church or other place of worship where pre-marital counseling is required, often ask me if I can recommend some sort of counseling to help them get off to a great start and deal with any challenges in their relationship before they become problems. I often refer these couples to Judith Minter, a friend and colleague who specializes in Imago couples counseling.

Now, however, Judith is offering something really special here in Charlottesville, specifically for engaged couples, and I’m so happy to tell you about it. Here’s the info… and this comes highly recommended… by me!

Here’s a little bit of what you will learn:

• The normal stages of a relationship
• Skills for important conversations
• How to nourish your relationship daily
• How to create relationship vision
• How to manage differences safely

Marriage is a huge commitment and Judith’s seminar can help you prepare for whatever the future may bring as well as enhance and protect the loving relationship you already have. Give yourselves a wonderful gift and give Judith a call: 434-971-4747 ext. 114 or send her a message at jminter@cpatherapy.com to find out more about her upcoming seminar and to register.

Imago pre-marital counseling can prepare you for the trip!

GUEST POST by Judith Minter, LCSW

I remember when I was growing up that it was common then for all little girls to dream of their wedding day as being the most beautiful day of their lives when they would be marrying ‘Prince Charming’ and would live, yep- you guessed it- ‘happily ever after.’ Millions of little girls play-acted this scene complete with veil, flowers from the neighbor’s yard, and their young friends as bridesmaids. In those days, little attention was paid to the ‘ever after’, even among adults, and it was assumed that once you married that the rest would take care of itself. The marriage ceremony was the destination.

Now, we have grown to know that the relationship between two committed people is really a marvelously exciting journey with no end destination. As part of the painful knowledge gained by the high divorce rate of the 70s, 80s and 90s, we have learned that marriage takes work and that it takes two committed people to do that work. The relationship journey is really the destination.

Think of it like a garden with the wedding being the finished product of the landscaper and his workers. It looks beautiful with much color and vitality. It pleases the viewer to no end. But as we know after the landscaper and his workers leave, for the garden to remain vibrant and alive, care and nurturing must continue or the garden will wither and die and be taken over by weeds. We must lovingly attend to it and water it to maintain the original beauty and to encourage healthy new growth. So it is with marriage.

Growth continues to happen after marriage, both for each individual and as a couple. The two single individuals who married have to learn to be a couple and to identify as a couple without sacrificing their sense of individuality. This is not so easy. Our partner holds the mirror for us to see our rough edges that we carry into our relationship. Most of us are allergic to that, but this is a natural and necessary part of the developmental stages a couple must pass through on their relationship journey.

More and more engaged couples are seeking pre-marital counseling to gain knowledge and skills to be better prepared to handle the normal challenges and changes a marriage will inevitably face. They are aware that committed relationships take work, not only to maintain them, but to enrich and deepen the connection over time. They recognize that gaining skills to handle these challenges is an investment in the health of their relationship and their family.

Some of the skills and knowledge gained in pre-marital counseling are:

• How to continue the important work of nurturing our partner and our relationship,
• Effective communication skills, especially for those ‘difficult’ discussions (money, children; religion; sex; decision making, misunderstandings, etc)
• Awareness of:
  • the expectations each brings to the relationship;
  • the patterns each brings to the relationship, especially noticeable when stressed, that disconnect;
  • our partner as really being a separate individual who often has different experiences from us;
• Skills to bridge the gap when misunderstanding occurs;
• What really attracts us to our partner;
• How to create a satisfying partnership and live in couplehood,

And more…..

In Imago Relationship Therapy, we see all of these areas as golden opportunities for growth. To us, when conflict appears, it is growth trying to happen. How else would we notice where we need to grow without a little discomfort? It invites us to know ourselves better. It invites us to know our partner more fully and with more depth and understanding. It invites us into a deeper sense of partnership as we work through these areas. It offers us the road to take to enrich our connection and our future together. It creates a vibrant and healthy ‘ever-after’.

CONTACT INFO. for Judith Minter, LCSW:
Judith has been certified as an Imago Relationship Therapist since 2000, and is a Certified Imago Couples’ Workshop Presenter. As soon as the materials are published, she will present day-long pre-marital Imago workshops. She is in private practice
~ address: 100 East South Street, Charlottesville
~ phone: 434-971-4747, ext. 114
~ website: www.CreatingAuthenticRelationships.com (currently being remodeled)
~ email: jminter@cpatherapy.com