Marriage Seminars - Are They Worth It

Marriage seminars are becoming very popular with a variety of people and you may have thought about attending one yourself. In certain parts of the world you cannot have a church wedding without first attending a marriage seminar. The idea is that by going to one of these courses, the couple get a chance to explore the various issues that they may face during married life. The person leading the seminar will show them how to explore their different responses and how best to communicate with each other.
Do these courses work? That is actually hard to quantify as it is difficult to measure the success rate. If a couple attends a relationship seminar and decides not to get married you don't keep any statistics on them. If after attending the seminar they go ahead and get married and perhaps divorce in five years time, the statistics are already skewed. Some couples do benefit but some just attend as it is mandatory and they won't be allowed have their big day in the Church without having a certificate to prove they were there.
The other form of marriage seminar is the one organized for those that are already married. These seminars run all over the country. There are a variety available. For example, you can attend a Christian seminar or one designed for another religion. Some seminars have no religious bias at all. The idea is to give couples an open platform in a neutral setting to discuss issues that may be preventing them from connecting properly. Do these types of courses work? Well yes for some people but it really depends on what type of couple you are and what your problems are. If you are very private and don't like discussing issues in front of other people you are unlikely to find that this type of event will help you.
You would probably benefit from one to one marriage counseling instead. What can work for everyone is some education into how relationships work and how to fix those that are not working properly. A great book for anyone to read and implement is the Magic of Making Up. As the title suggests it is aimed at those who are having problems and want to resolve them. If you have a read of the testimonials you will see how many people credit it with giving them back their happy relationships. Even if you haven't reached the point of breakup you can benefit from reading and applying the knowledge that you learn from books like these.
We can all benefit from better communication skills. It is just a pity that it takes a crisis or thoughts of a marriage seminar for us to realize that we need help and soon. Don't take your relationship for granted. It needs care and attention in order to flourish. But when it does you will be so much happier.