THIS WORKSHOP IS OVER. 

If you are looking for the 2023 "Listening With Love to Strengthen and Deepen Our Relationships" please follow this link:

https://www.friendscoupleenrichment.org/events/workshops/2023-fall-online







Listening with love to strengthen And Deepen our relationships

An FCE Online Workshop in 6 Sessions

October 22, 23, and 29, 2022

Registration Closed.
If you wish to be put on a waiting list, please email  2022listeningwithlove@friendscoupleenrichment.org. You can also join our FCE email list to continue to learn about future workshops. 

WHO ARE THE FACILITATORS?

Sharon and Tom Baring

Carol and Rick Holmgren

Gene Sonn and Jess Walcott

This retreat is intended for couples desiring to grow their own relationship and provide a community of support to other couples. 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 couples are welcome. This retreat will be held over Zoom, so it is open to any couple in any location with the appropriate technologies, including those with mobility, child-care, health, scheduling, and other challenges. 


The workshop will consist of 6 two-hour sessions over 3 days: 


Couples are asked to attend all six sessions.  The Zoom link and more information will be sent after you register. 


Cost: We ask for 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 through our website. 


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 September 18 for a 90-minute online "Taster Session."

MORE ABOUT THE FACILITATORS:

Sharon and Tom Baring are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on August 30th, this year! Their oldest child just graduated from college and their youngest is a rising Sophomore 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.


Carol and Rick Holmgren have been married for 34 years and have twin children, who are now 26. They are active in their local Unitarian Universalist church, where Rick serves on the board and leads Sunday services several times each year. During their lives together, they have benefited from a variety of experiences designed to foster their growth as individuals and as a couple, and they were delighted to discover the depth possible through Friends Couple Enrichment when they attended an FCE workshop in 2019. The skills they learned have helped them strengthen their relationships with each other, with their children, and with their community.


Jess Walcott and Gene Sonn have been a couple for 25 years. Together they are raising two creative independent boys and an energetic rescue dog. They have been part of a Quaker meeting in suburban Philadelphia for 11 years now, but their spiritual roots are in a mission-based Catholic church in Camden, New Jersey. They are thankful that Friends Couple Enrichment taught them a whole new way to communicate with each other, which has also made them better parents. They participate in retreats to continue learning and to be able to share this spiritual practice with other couples.


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

"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"