Listening with love: Renewing Your Relationship

An FCE Online Workshop in 4 Sessions

October 17 & 18, 2026

Leader Couples for the Fifth Annual October Online Retreat, hosted by Friends Couple Enrichment:

Carol & Rick

Dave & Steph

Sharon & Tom

This fifth annual Online Friends Couple Enrichment Retreat is an opportunity for couples desiring to grow and renew their relationship within a community of support.

This is an online retreat, making it easy for anyone to attend without travel. Although most participants will be joining from home, we encourage people to do something to mark the specialness of this dedicated time together. This could be as simple as having a nice arrangement of flowers near the computer you will be using to join the retreat, or preparing some special meals to enjoy together during the break or after the conclusion of each day's sessions. Everyone can choose their own adventure. The point is to make it special for you.

Leader Couples Sharon and Tom Baring, Carol and Rick Holmgren, and Dave Diller and Steph Bean 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.

The workshop will consist of 4 two-hour sessions over 2 days:

Session 1: Saturday, Oct. 17, 1 pm - 3 pm ET
Session 2: Saturday, Oct. 17, 5 pm - 7 pm ET
Session 3: Sunday, Oct. 18, 1 pm - 3 pm ET
Session 4: Sunday, Oct. 18, 5 pm - 7 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.

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.

Dave and Steph attended their first Friends Couple Enrichment workshop 25 years ago. Finding it a wonderful way to enrich their relationship as they began a family together, they committed to becoming a Leader Couple in 2005. They are active Quakers in the Baltimore Yearly Meeting and Adelphi, MD Monthly Meeting.

Carol and Rick Holmgren chose to become a Leader Couple later in life, as they approached retirement. They were among the first cohort of Leader Couples to complete the online, self-paced training initiated in the early 2020s, and have helped usher Couple Enrichment into the world of Online Retreats.

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 Participants Said ABOUT THE
2025 ONLINE RETREAT

"This is a beautiful way to spend time with your beloved, enjoying time together, and investing in your future."

"The workshop was very meaningful for both of us and helpful in strengthening our relationship."

"The couple's enrichment format offers a wonderful door to respectful and caring communication with partners, friends, and colleagues!"

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