EMS - Emergency Marriage Seminar

Workshops for Couples and Individuals- 3 hours each
• "Me and My Shadow"
• "Teenagers and Sexuality"

Weekend Encounter Retreats - Length varies
• "Affair Recovery"
• "Divorce Recovery"
• "The Extraordinary Marriage"
• "Harboring Hope"

Seminars for Pastors or Ministry Leaders
• "Safeguarding Your Church"
• "Healing Within the Church After an Abuse Incident"

Seminar Pricing

The staff of the Affair Recovery Center conducts groups, workshops and seminars for a variety of audiences to raise the awareness of hope, healing and restoration in relationships. Our experienced speakers are gifted communicators and have lived through their share of pain and suffering to testify to God's goodness and love.

Ministry organizations, community groups, churches and leadership teams can all benefit from the practical and Biblical information and suggestions offered in our seminars. These sessions are interactive, reality-based and candidly approached to ensure that questions are answered and that a plan is established, if necessary, to move the group forward to the next logical step.

"EMS - Emergency Marriage Seminar" Next Seminar: October 12-14
The goal of this seminar is to put your marriage back on track by helping you re-establish intimacy in your relationship. top

See our EMS page for more details

"Me and My Shadow"
Has it ever seemed like there were actually two conflicting personalities within you, fighting for control of your life? One wanted to be good and do what was right, but no matter how hard you tried, you ended up doing things you knew were wrong and, even after promising not to do them again, you couldn't stop yourself.

If you ever felt this way, then you are in good company, for even the Apostle Paul lamented, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Romans 7:15)." The psychologist Carl Jung studied this phenomenon extensively and coined the notion of a shadow self, a part of the personality that consists of all that we don't like and try to hide about ourselves.

Left unrecognized, the shadow self will always strive to make itself heard, and can cause us to act in sinful and destructive ways. However, when given a voice, our shadow self can be a source of wisdom and personal growth. This workshop helps people recognize, confront, and even befriend their shadow sides and live a more honest and authentic life. Participants will learn about the basic concepts of shadow psychology, and will participate in therapeutic activities designed to recognize and engage their own shadow side. top

"Teenagers and Sexuality"
From suggestive music videos to incessant sexual references and activity on popular television shows to easy access to internet pornography, teenagers today are forced to come of age in a world filled with sexuality. Unfortunately, the grossly distorted depiction of sex in popular culture is force-fed to young people at a crucial time when they are just developing their own sexual identities. The end result is that many teenagers come to believe that what they are seeing is both normal and acceptable. What's worse, they often try to emulate the behavior, and often carry a destructive view of sex into their adult lives.

Concerned parents know the difficulties of raising teenagers with a godly sexual identity in today's culture. This workshop can help with honest and proven information and strategies for building, protecting, and maintaining healthy sexuality in young people. The seminar is led by a trained counselor and veteran youth worker and operates from the standpoint that sexuality is a gift from God and that teenagers must learn to cherish and protect this gift. This session can be tailored for parents, teens, or a combination of both. top

"Men and Temptation"
It has never been easy to be a good man, but today the challenges seem even more monumental. We live in an age that champions immediate gratification of every whim and provides easy and endless access to all manners of sexual indulgence. Once, the temptation of illicit sexuality meant sneaking to dark stores, theaters and city streets, but no more. Today, men can secretly indulge their hidden desires from the comfort of their offices or their living rooms, compliments of mainstream cable pornography channels and the internet.

Even when a man is able to reject these things, he still faces constant temptation from the beer commercials during football games to the catalogs in the mailbox. At the same time, men today are bombarded with contrary messages, often from the women they love, that they should not be sexual at all.

So what is a good man to do? This workshop is geared towards helping men reinforce and strengthen their boundaries and defenses against sexual temptation. It also helps men claim and embrace their sexual natures without sacrificing their masculinity. top

Weekend Encounter Retreats- Length varies<

"Affair Recovery"

Now available online! See our course list.

The trauma of an affair can devastate not only a marriage, but extended family and friends as well. Unfortunately, affairs are at an epidemic level in our country, and they leave a path of grief, anger, pain, and spiritual emptiness in thousands of marriages from all walks of life. While the wounds left by infidelity are formidable, they do not have to be fatal. In fact, we firmly believe that with some effort, a marriage can emerge stronger than it was before. Recovery and healing however, takes a lot of work, and that work is what this intensive workshop is all about.

This weekend-long session is led by trained counselors of both genders who specialize in affair recovery, and is conducted in the company of other couples who can support, encourage, and empathize in the restoration process. During the weekend, couples will not only focus on healing from the many types of affairs, but also on addressing the personal factors (some of them deep-seated issues) that led somebody to take the destructive step into infidelity. top

"Divorce Recovery"
Sometimes despite the best efforts of one or both partners, a marriage can crumble, leaving behind a legacy of despair and broken dreams. While new beginnings can be extremely painful, they can also be a source of rebirth and personal discovery. Unfortunately, what often accompanies the demise of a marriage (and perhaps a family as well) is a profound sense of isolation and loneliness. Such negative feelings can render a person immobile and helpless as to where to turn. Our weekend intensive workshop was created with the intent of helping individuals experience healing and hope for their futures.

The workshop is led by both male and female professional counselors in an environment in a supportive, community environment. Participants will experience hope through fellowship with others facing the same painful challenges. Sessions will focus on everything from healing to realizing the possibilities for the future, and will utilize therapeutic, interactive, and informational formats. During this workshop we do not attempt to minimize the pain but helps individuals move through it and toward the future. top

"The Extraordinary Marriage"
Most of us grew up on fairy tales where the prince and princess lived happily ever after, but the story ended there and never peeked in on the mythical couple two or twenty years later. We are sold on the legend of romantic love that conquers all and forgives all wounds. Many people carry such notions into their marriages, and become confused and angry when the honeymoon ends and things become ordinary or even exasperating.

However, when the marriage moves beyond the honeymoon the most meaningful growth can occur if the partners are willing. Every marriage can use a spark of new life, and this weekend is designed to help married couples deepen in their mutual love, understanding and appreciation for each other resulting in dramatic personal growth. The weekend combines presentation of new material with activities designed to enhance and strengthen the marriage adventure. top

"Harboring Hope"
This is a discipleship group helping women respond to their spouses, encouraging them to focus on the hope that is in God. Many of the women in this group are still in difficult marriages and find tremendous encouragement through fellowship with others.top

"Safeguarding Your Church" - a three hour workshop
It is the stuff of daily headlines: sexual abuse involving a member of the clergy or other church workers. The recent wave of high-profile sexual incidents, combined with a steady stream of local scandals in several denominations, has cast a negative light on the institutional church, and brought forth tremendous suspicion towards church staff and volunteers.

Because even the healthiest church is not immune from the possibility of abuse, every church should take steps to protect itself and its members. While it may be impossible to completely abuse-proof a church, this seminar is designed to build safeguards against it. Topics include types of abuse, how to effectively screen employees and volunteers, computer usage issues, how to react to accusations, creating safe parameters for human interactions within your church (including some of the dangers involved with pastoral counseling), how to recognize warning signs, and protecting the children in your care. This is an essential seminar for pastors and ministry leaders.top

"Healing Within the Church After an Abuse Incident" - a three hour workshop
Sometimes, despite the most conscientious efforts, a church becomes embroiled in a sexual scandal. Whether a pastor is caught having an affair, a Sunday school teacher is discovered engaging in inappropriate activity with a minor, a deacon is caught accessing pornography on the church computer, such sexual scandals can leave deep scars, legal issues and a cloud of suspicion hanging over everyone associated with the church.

This workshop is designed for churches that are recovering from such an incident. Participants can include both church staff as well as the congregation. Topics for discussion include how to assess the damage, methods for restoring trust among church attendees and staff, dealing with the results of the incident, and working through residual emotions. The session will include therapeutic opportunities for expressing and experiencing feelings in a safe environment with a trained counselor. top

Seminar Pricing

Seminars are priced based on length and do not include travel expenses or lodging.
Three hour seminars - $500
One and a half day - $750
Weekend workshops - $1500

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