Resources for Pre-marriage Preparation - Organizations

Real Answers March 18, 2011

ACME (Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment – Building Better Marriages), offers retreats, support groups, facilitator training and a regular newsletter to help couples keep marriages healthy. Call 336-724-1526 or 1-800-634-8325, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or visit their website at www.acmesv.org.

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, a clearinghouse for information about all sorts of skills-training programs. Call (202) 362-3332, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, or visit the Web site at www.smartmarriages.com.

Marriage Savers, a church-based program to prepare engaged couples and train mentor couples to help others sustain strong marriages. National headquarters in Potomac, Md., (301) 469-5873, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. You can visit their website at www.marriagesavers.com.

PAIRS (Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills), a program developed by marriage therapist Lori Gordon that offers relationship training for engaged, married and gay couples. PAIRS Foundation Headquarters, 1-877-724-7748 anytime; or visit the Web site at www.pairs.com.

Palmetto Family Council, a nonprofit group working on family preservation. Has produced a marital-health index report. Call (803) 733-5600, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, or visit the Web site at www.palmettofamily.org.

PREPARE/ENRICH, now Life Innovations, has 5 couple inventories to help engaged and married couples identify strengths and weaknesses. To find a counselor using these inventories go to www.prepare-enrich.com/couples.cfm?ID=35.

PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program), a program to teach relationship skills to engaged and married couples. Call 1-800-366-0166, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday (MST – Denver, CO) or visit their website at www.prepinc.com for a directory of people doing PREP courses.

Retrouvaille (re-tro-vi), a Catholic-sponsored program to help couples revive troubled marriages. Call 1-800-470-2230 anytime or visit their website at www.helpourmarriage.org.

List originally compiled by Elaine Oliver for the GCFM Premarital Taskforce, April, 1999.