What is Marriage Education?

Why Marriage Education Matters

Adapting Programs for Diverse Populations

Finding a Marriage Education Program

Becoming a Marriage Educator

Would you like to help individuals and couples gain the knowledge and skills needed to create a strong and loving marriage? There are many paths to becoming a marriage educator, and we are here to help you choose the one that meets your commitment to helping families. If you're interested in providing marriage education programs, you probably already know that a healthy marriage is one that is safe, secure, and loving and is a cornerstone of family life and community well-being.

You may be interested in becoming a marriage educator, or you may already be a marriage educator who wants additional training or resources. Either way, you've come to the right place.

Many Paths

Teaching individuals and couples the knowledge and skills they need to create and maintain a strong marriage is rewarding work. You can take many paths to become a marriage educator: family life education, counseling, and ministry to name a few. Many programs are available to choose from and most provide training experiences to help you become an effective facilitator. You can also develop your own program to meet the unique needs of your community.

Different from Counseling

Teaching marriage education is different from counseling or from leading support groups for individuals and couples. The best marriage education programs are skills-based. They help individuals and couples learn how to better manage conflict by developing and practicing effective ways of communicating with one another and effective ways of recognizing and responding to the ongoing issues and challenges of a life-long marriage.

What it involves

Marriage Education is most often taught in group settings through a series of classes or workshops. Workshops include a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and exercises.

Teaching marriage education involves three things:

Learning about marriage education programs and curricula
Attending a training in the program or purchasing a teaching kit
Starting a program in your community

Marriage Curricula

The NHMRC is dedicated to capturing and listing the ever-growing healthy marriage curricula options available in the field. Some healthy marriage programs are very new while others have been around for decades. Our hope is that the curricula included will represent a wide variety for people to consider. Many of these programs are taught across the country; for individuals seeking further information on specific curriculum, we encourage you to contact the curriculum developer directly. Curricula List.

Although curricula approach marriage education in different ways, many marriage education programs address several core components. Typically, marriage education curricula discuss the qualities of a healthy relationship or marriage, and are designed to help participants increase their knowledge of or develop skills in the following areas:

Communication
Conflict resolution
Commitment
Problem solving

Though there are some consistent themes, like the ones listed above, there are also differences that you should consider when selecting a curriculum. Some of the differences to be mindful of are:

Training requirements: What are the requirements of the curriculum with reference to time and cost (participation, materials, etc.)?
Hours of curriculum: How many hours are required for completion of the program?
Target audience: Is the curriculum designed for a specific audience (engaged couples, married couples, etc.) or is it for a general audience?
Faith-based or secular: Is the program designed for a faith-based setting or a secular one?

To keep this listing accurate, we encourage curriculum developers to inform the NHMRC of updates by contacting us at info@healthymarriageinfo.org. The field of healthy marriage is growing rapidly, and as such, we will regularly update this listing. We welcome visitors to check back often for the latest information.

To have your curriculum considered for addition to the list, please complete a submission form (DOC - 110 KB) detailing your curriculum and either e-mail the completed form to info@healthymarriageinfo.org or fax to 703-385-3206 . Please note that once a curriculum listing is received it may be added to the site within 10 days. There is no need to contact the web administrator to confirm receipt.

DISCLAIMER: Inclusion on this Web site does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, its funders or affiliates. This listing is intended for informational use only and is believed to be accurate as of its posting.

Marriage education programs often use a core curriculum. There are curricula for youth, engaged couples, distressed couples, married couples, unwed couples, couples having a baby, and couples of various ethnic or religious groups. After deciding on a curriculum, the next step will be to get trained.

For more on marriage curricula click here

The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (NHMRC) is compiling a list of healthy marriage and relationship education curricula to be prominently displayed on the NHMRC Web site. This list will be an excellent resource for marriage-education practitioners, Federally-funded healthy marriage grantees, and interested individuals and couples. If you would like to submit your curriculum for consideration as part of this list, please complete the attached form. Incomplete submissions will prevent your curriculum from being listed.

The NHMRC will accept new submissions for the curricula listing on a rolling basis throughout the year. To be considered for inclusion on the initial posting, please e-mail the completed form (make form prominent and a link to the actual form) to info@healthymarriageinfo.org or fax to 703-385-3206 by June 12, 2008. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us using the email address listed above or at 1-866-91-NHMRC or 1-866-916-4672.

Inclusion on the Web site does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, its funders or affiliates.

(Important Note: We are unable to list parenting education, fatherhood, abstinence education, and other non-healthy marriage and relationship curricula at this time.)

NHMRC Curricula Listing form (DOC - 110 KB)

Training Marriage Educators

Training talented marriage educators (like you!) can make a good curriculum great. They can also make a good curriculum only so-so. These people are one of the most crucial components and investments you will make in your healthy marriage program. Marriage educators are the people who deliver, teach the material and skills, hold classes and interact with the participants. In other words they are the "face" of your program.

You have to complete a curriculum training program which often ranges from 2-5 days and become certified or approved to teach that curriculum.

Download our tip sheet: Characteristics of Successful Marriage Educators (PDF - 70 KB)

Training

Training to become a marriage educator can range from "out of the box training" through DVD, videos, and other instructive materials to more formal processes that require attendance at multi-day training workshops. Some curriculum developers have strict requirements, while others do not. Most training programs charge a fee. We've assembled information to help you learn what it takes to become a marriage educator, what marriage education can do for couples and individuals, and common elements of marriage education programs.

Information on marriage programs and curricula is available through our library The curricula descriptions include details on the program's requirements for delivering their particular marriage education model. We encourage you to contact these programs directly for their most up-to-date information.

If you are already a marriage educator, our Toolkit for Marriage Educators can help you build or enhance your program.