Alabama Healthy Marriage
& Relationship Education
"I truly loved this program! It has helped me understand things more clearly about relationships, and it's made me think more about my future! I will definitely be remembering the advice
that was gave to help me in the future. I really wish in the future I could have another
class like this for my future and for the times to come."
- Recent participant
Available Classes
Education is powerful! Take time to learn about healthy relationship skills – it will be one of the best investments you can make for your family and community. We’re delighted to offer these relationship and marriage education programs through community partners. Each program is based on research with families and couples. Learn information and skills that will help strengthen your relationship/marriage.
-
Relationship Smarts Plus – For youth (grades 9-12) SAFE offers the evidence-informed and evidence-based Relationship Smarts Plus (RS+) curriculum, a developmentally appropriate Relationship Education curriculum specifically designed for youth.
-
Smart Steps for Stepfamilies – This evidence-informed and evidence-based educational curriculum consists of six 2-hour modules and is designed for couples in structurally complex families (i.e., one or both have a child from a previous relationship).
-
Together We Can: Caring for My Family – Together We Can is an evidence-informed Relationship Education program for use with co-parents. The purpose of the program is to equip co-parenting mothers and fathers with skills for cooperative co-parenting and for making healthy decisions about their relationship.
-
ELEVATE: Taking Your Relationship to the Next Level – ELEVATE is a couples education curriculum that blends practical skills with an understanding of the physiology of human interaction to enhance healthy relationship knowledge and skills. Grounded in best-practices of family life education, two distinct characteristics of ELEVATE are (1) the practical strategies and tools taught and (2) the inclusion of mindfulness practice activities that help couples regulate their heart-brain response to stressful triggers.
-
Couples Connecting Mindfully – Couples Connecting Mindfully is an evidence-informed Relationship Education curriculum that primarily emphasizes physiology, emotion, and the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction skills to address personal stress and to facilitate emotion regulation and healthy interactional patterns in couple relationships.
In 2007, SAFE began partnering with Auburn University to provide free relationship education classes. These classes are taught to singles, single parents, step-parents, married and premarital couples, high school students as well as incarcerated participants through the Department of Corrections,
both state and federal.
Outcomes
COUPLES PROGRAM OUTCOMES
- 80% reported that they learned necessary skills to communicate with their partner after participating in relationship education
- 90% reported that they can handle conflict with their partner
- 100% reported they have the knowledge to reduce stress in their relationship through mindfulness practices
YOUTH PROGRAM OUTCOMES
- 90% reported that they had improved knowledge and skills for what makes a healthy relationship after program participation
- 85% reported an increase in the knowledge of early warning signs of an abusive relationships
- 80% reported that they were confident in their abilities to use the skills and knowledge presented in the program
Contact Us
For more information regarding the Alabama Healthy Marriage & Relationship Education Initiative, please contact:
Linda Dickson
256-245-4343
Ollie Kates
256-245-4343