Bethany Christian Services Offers FREE Relationship Workshops

Bethany Christian Services, the nation’s premier  family preservation and adoption agency, believes that healthy relationships are key to forming healthy families, and healthy families are the building blocks of a successful society. The non-profit organization promotes healthy marriage and offers a program specifically for “Building and Enhancing Relationships, Employment and Life Skills.” The program, dubbed BE REAL, presents several seminars to help develop skills that will build strong, healthy family relationships whether one is single, in a relationship, engaged or married.

The Atlanta Branch of Bethany Christian Services has been offering the BE REAL program free of charge through a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, for the last nine months.  Several upcoming workshops are scheduled in the greater metro Atlanta area, including an event exclusively for married couples on Fri., Aug 9 and Sat., Aug. 10, at the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center in Peachtree City, 2443 Highway 54 West.

The two-day workshop includes complimentary classes, materials and even meals, starting with a hot breakfast each morning. There is a reduced room rate for couples wishing to stay in the hotel overnight, and Bethany Christian Services will even assist with transportation and childcare costs where applicable.

At the BE REAL workshop, couples will learn valuable relationship enhancing skills, including: communication, conflict management, problem solving, employment, career services, parenting, financial planning and positive life skills training. Skills will be taught through “ice breakers,” open conversation, role-playing and more.

Stefanie Turner, MPA, director of Family Strengthening and Enrichment, says, “It’s important to note that our BE REAL workshops are not marriage counseling; it’s more like a relationship tune up where couples build and enhance relationship skills. While we hope that these classes will strengthen any marriage, they are not meant as a substitute for marriage counseling for those who need it. We do have a counseling center at our Bethany Christian Services office in North Druid Hills, and I am happy to refer couples there, if requested.”

All local married couples are eligible for the free Aug. 9-10 BE REAL workshop, regardless of the stage of their marriage or their income level. Other available workshops include Sept. 21-22, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Perimeter, and a singles workshop July 27 (for adults 19+) at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Perimeter. Enrollment and participation in the BE REAL program is voluntary.

For more information on the BE REAL program, call 1-888-443-7263. To register for the Aug. 9-10 workshop, visit http://www.bethany.org/atlanta/be-real/trainings.

Bethany Christian Services is a global non-profit organization delivering compassionate and professional services in family preservation; helping children, women and families for nearly 70 years. Bethany Christian Services of Atlanta helps over 300 children find security in caring and loving families, annually, through foster care and adoption. Of the 400,500 children in U.S. foster care, there are an estimated 104,000 children waiting to be adopted. For more information on the family preservation services offered through the Bethany Christian Services Atlanta branch, please visit www.bethany.org/atlanta.