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The Alabama Healthy Marriage and Relationship Initiative

 From the AHMREI website:

“Healthy relationships and strong marriages are for everyone! We provide programming for youth, non-married parents, pre-marital couples, step-families and married couples. There is mounting research evidence that the trends of increasing marital and family instability have a negative impact on children, adults, families, and their communities. The research is clear: healthy relationships and marriages, and resulting family stability benefit the physical, social, and emotional well-being of adults and children. Even though we know that healthy couples lead to healthy families and healthy children, there has been little effort to systematically provide educational resources and prevention programming that focuses on relationship skills for couples and individuals. AHMREI is focused on ensuring that this important area is not a "missing link" in family life education and prevention programming in Alabama”

Please contact Allison Nessler - For Youth
(256) 547-6888 ext. 112

Please contact Lisa Brown - For Couples
(256) 547-6888 ext. 107

 

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Lisa Brown
Healthy Relationship
Program Director/
Educator

Cam Nessler
Healthy Relationship
Program Educator/Data Manager

Victoria Smith, BSW
Youth Data Manager

Allison Nessler
Youth Healthy Relationship
Program Director/Educator

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Emma Clapp,
M.S., CFLE, CPLC

Educator/
FSC Executive Director

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Bart Clapp, DNP,
CRNP, FNP-C

Educator

Caitlin Johnson
Youth Relationship Educator

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Available Classes

Are you interested in having the educators come to you to do a class?  Our educators have offered classes in high schools, colleges, churches, jails, drug rehabilitation centers, community agencies, homes, community centers, and right here at the Family Success Center.  If you are interested in hosting a class or joining a workshop, please feel free to reach out.  All classes are free!  And for workshops and classes held for adult individuals, we can provide food and even childcare (though limited spaces are available)  Reach out to 256-547-6888 ext. 112.

Our Curricula

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.

Classes for Youth (Teen/Young Adult):  Relationship Smarts

Relationship Smarts Plus 4.0 - For youth we offer the evidence-informed and evidence-based Relationship Smarts Plus (RS+) curriculum (Marline Pearson, 2013; ACF Curriculum Resource Guide), a developmentally appropriate Relationship Education curriculum specifically designed for youth. Over the years, we assisted the program developers in refining the content based on feedback sessions we held annually with participants. Based on this feedback, the current edition of the program contains more information on skills for identifying unhealthy and abusive relationships and information on the use of social media in dating relationships. Current topics also include: self-esteem building and assertiveness, understanding healthy relationship development; communication skills; conflict/anger/stress management skills; empathy and emotional understanding; affection and intimacy.

Couples

  • ELEVATE: Taking Your Relationship to the Next Level - (Futris & Adler-Baeder, 2014) 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.

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