Listening with love to strengthen And Deepen our relationships
Listening with love to strengthen And Deepen our relationships
An FCE Online Workshop in 4 Sessions
October 25 & 26, 2025
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Sharon and Tom Baring
Kirsten Brink and Andrew Dembski
Friends Couple Enrichment invites you to an online retreat for couples desiring to grow their own relationship and to provide a community of support to other couples.
Leader Couples Sharon and Tom Baring, and Kirsten Brink and Andrew Dembski will facilitate this retreat. It is preventive medicine, not therapy. We will focus on developing and enhancing listening and speaking skills to allow us to be fully present to ourselves, to our partners, and to other couples.
This retreat is for any couple in a committed relationship. Same-sex and non-binary couples are welcome. This retreat will be held over Zoom, so it is open to couples in any location with the appropriate technologies, including those with mobility, child-care, health, scheduling, and other challenges.
The workshop will consist of 4 two-hour sessions over 2 days:
Session 1: Saturday, Oct. 25, 11 am - 1 pm PT / 2 pm - 4 pm ET
Session 2: Saturday, Oct. 25, 3 pm - 5 pm PT / 6 pm - 8 pm ET
Session 3: Sunday, Oct. 26, 11 am - 1 pm PT / 2 pm - 4 pm ET
Session 4: Sunday, Oct. 26, 3 pm - 5 pm PT / 6 pm - 8 pm ET
Couples are asked to attend all sessions. The Zoom link and more information will be sent after you register.
Cost: There is no set charge for this workshop, although we welcome a donation of any amount toward the ministry of Friends Couple Enrichment. We suggest $40/couple. All donations are tax deductible. A link for making your donation will appear once you submit your registration. You can also donate now. (Under "Additional Details," please enter "Program Fee. for October 2025 Online workshop)
For a glimpse of what happens in a workshop, read the blog entry "What Happens in an FCE Event" by Cathy Walling and Scott Bell.
If you are still uncertain about whether Couple Enrichment is for you, consider joining us on August 3, 2025 for a free 90-minute online "Taster Session."
WHO ARE THE FACILITATORS?
Sharon and Tom Baring have been married for 25 years and have two grown children, the youngest of whom is a rising junior in college. As an extension of their marriage under the care of Chena Ridge Friends Meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, they have participated in many couple enrichment retreats as well as an ongoing growth group and were trained as a leader couple in 2015.
Kirsten and Andrew encountered FCE early in their relationship, when they were still dating at a distance. After taking an FCE workshop at the Friends General Conference Summer Gathering they quickly adopted the practice of regularly dialoging. They are now married and living in Fort Worth, Texas.
WHAT IS FCE?
WHAT IS FCE?
Friends Couple Enrichment (FCE) is a ministry arising from the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with a particular focus on couples in committed relationships. Couple Enrichment workshops facilitated by Friends Couple Enrichment help couples celebrate the joys and strengths of their relationship, and learn new ways to nurture ongoing joy and commitment. Although FCE was founded by Friends, our workshops and event are open to couples of all (or no) religious persuasion. We
What Previous Participants Have Said
What Previous Participants Have Said
"We've attended more than a dozen CE workshops. We keep going back to renew our commitment to each other and experience a rebonding between ourselves and witness the bonding of others."
"We've attended more than a dozen CE workshops. We keep going back to renew our commitment to each other and experience a rebonding between ourselves and witness the bonding of others."
-- "Judith and Jonathan, Ottawa, Canada"
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