The Creating Lasting Family Connections® Marriage Enhancement Program (CLFCMEP) is an award-winning, nationally recognized comprehensive persona, couple and family strengthening curriculum. This curriculum was designed to specifically address stresses within a marriage or committed relationship experiencing any form of physical or emotional separation. The CLFC Marriage Enhancement Program has proven helpful in increasing 9 essential relationship skills in participating couples regardless of marital status or gender representation within couples. The program has proven to be effective in couples facing any of the following: returning after a period of substance abuse treatment, incarceration, military deployment, an extended period of overtime hours at work, out-of-town work assignments, distance learning or education, long-term medical care, etc. The CLFC Marriage Enhancement Program has demonstrated powerful increases in the 9 relationship skills listed below which in turn tend to  improve longer- term outcomes like reduced prison recidivism, reduced substance use and the overall quality and meaningfulness of the relationship.

The CLFC Marriage Enhancement Program is a comprehensive, scientifically proven, personal and family strengthening program that has received wide national recognition. The CLFC Marriage Enhancement Program is listed in the Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy and was listed in the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices from 2013 through 2018. The CLFC Program, along with the entire CLFC Series, was further recognized as a featured practice in SAMHSA’s Recovery to Practice Newsletter and was featured in the National Criminal Justice Association’s Justice Bulletin.

The Creating Lasting Family Connections® Marriage Enhancement Program (CLFCMEP) helps couples to develop a variety of skills married partners find useful in establishing or re-establishing family harmony. Topics include marriage enrichment, effective communication, refusal and conflict resolution skills, using positive parenting techniques, and encouraging other responsible and healthy attitudes and behaviors.

Components of the Creating Lasting Family Connections® Marriage Enhancement Program

Couples are provided the opportunity to complete exercise and practice skills specifically designed to:

• Strengthen relationship skills
• Develop emotional awareness and expression skills
• Develop effective communication skills
• Help uncover hidden motives and dynamics in relationships
• Help couples learn more about themselves and their partners
• Help couples recognize and meet each other’s deepest emotional needs

In a quasi-experimental research study with a comparison group conducted by Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) and McGuire & Associates, the adapted version of CLFC also achieved statistically significant improvements in all 9 of the following targeted measures:

• Communication skills
• Conflict resolution skills
• Intrapersonal skills
• Emotional awareness skills
• Emotional expression skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Relationship management
• Relationship satisfaction
• Relationship commitment

These results were published in Family Process, a peer-reviewed journal, in 2013 (Shamblen, et al).

The Creating Lasting Family Connections® Marriage Enhancement Program is offered in 2 Flexible Formats:

Weekend Retreat/16 hour Program

8 Session/16 hour Program

In other words, a couple may receive 16 hours of marriage and family enhancement skills over the course of one weekend in a retreat setting or 16 hours in 8 sessions over the course of 8 weeks (1.5 to 2 hours session per week) depending upon the format that best meets their current needs and preferences.

The Creating Lasting Family Connections® Marriage Enhancement Program Testimonials

“I have been thoroughly impressed with the Healthy Marriage classes presented by COPES. This is a learning tool that has helped me and my partner to both continue to grow and be ourselves. I would strongly recommend this class to anyone who hasn’t had the chance to deal with COPES programs before. The staff and personnel were wonderful. I’m glad that I joined the class.”
– Landon P.

“I believe that the COPES Healthy Marriage Program is a very positive & useful program to help couples individually and collectively to establish or re-establish a positive foundation in their relationships.”
– Navada P.

“I learned how to listen and talk to my wife! God Bless!!”
– Lawrence P.

“We feel that this class has helped us tremendously. We can now express ourselves or one another without fighting and we now argue fairly. We also learned a lot about ourselves as individuals. We learned about our past and how that applies to our daily lives and relationships.”
– Tenica & Max

If you are interested in purchasing the CLFC Marriage Enhancement Program, CLICK HERE.