David Carder

Dave Carder currently serves as Pastor responsible for Counseling Ministries and is a prominent author on marriage issues.  He also serves as a consultant to various support groups and gives pastoral oversight to COMI (Caregivers of the Mentally Ill) and Family to Family (the NAMI family training program).

Sample Keynote:  Close Calls:  Don’t Play with Fire!

This keynote is highly recommended for marriage and fatherhood teach-ins - in any setting. Show the DVD and we guarantee a riveting wake-up call. Guaranteed to lead to lively discussions that will leave them wanting more. Order on DVD at http://www.iplaybacksmartmarriages.com/

Gary Chapman, PhD

Director of Marriage and Family Life Consultants, Inc. He is author of 25 books, including the NY Times bestseller, The Five Love Languages, which has been translated in 35 languages with additional versions for men, children, teenagers, and singles. Other titles include The Five Languages of Apology, Desperate Marriages, and Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way. He leads marriage seminars nationally and internationally. His nationally-syndicated radio program, A Love Language Minute, airs daily on more than 100 stations.

Ron J. Clark

Ron J. Clark is a happily married man and father of two. He is a national leader in the field of fatherhood and male responsibility and is often asked to speak at conferences and workshops across the country. He is a successful business man who became involved in the real estate market and currently owns and co-owns several properties. Ron J. Clark possesses several years of experience developing and implementing services for fathers and families. Ron J. Clark is capable of assessing your specific needs and providing your staff with training and consultation as needed. He has provided services that get results for over 200 community groups, and he can do the same for you.

Howard Markman, PhD

Professor of psychology and co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver and a practicing marital therapist and workshop leader. His groundbreaking longitudinal research on the prediction and prevention of relationship discord and divorce, funded for 25+ years by NIMH and NICHD, has produced over 125 journal articles, books and papers. With Scott Stanley, he developed the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), and more recently the Love Your Relationship Couples Retreats based on PREP. He is the leading marital researcher and marriage educator in the country and is an APA Fellow and recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Service Research Award from Smart Marriages. Markman & Stanley and colleagues have conducted state of the art marriage education evaluation studies of PREP including current ones involving religious organizations and the U.S. Army. He is co-author of the book 12 Hours to a Great Marriage, as well as the best-selling Fighting for Your Marriage. He appears regularly in the media (Oprah, Today, USA Today, etc.). His interests also include the science of prevention, the dissemination of empirically-based interventions to communities and social policy makers, the effects of relationship discord and divorce on mental illness, and the psychology of love.

David Olson, PhD

President, Life Innovations, and professor emeritus, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow and clinical member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Association of Marital Therapy (AAMFT) and is past president of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) and the Upper Midwest Association of Marital and Family Therapists (UMAMFT). He has received several research and theory awards from a variety of organizations including ACME, APA, AAMFT, AFTA, ACA. He has developed over ten couple and family inventories including PREPARE, ENRICH, PAIR, AWARE, Family Strengths, Family Satisfaction and FACES (four versions). Over 50,000 counselors have been trained to
use PREPARE/ENRICH and over a million couples have taken the program. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems he developed has been used in over 1,000 studies of couples and families. He has written more than 100 articles and 20 books including the most recent: Empowering Couples: Building on Your Strengths, Marriage and Family: Intimacy, Diversity and Strengths, Building Relationships, and Families: What Makes Them Work.

His frequent media appearances include the Today Show, CBS Morning
Show, Good Morning America and Oprah.

Richard Panzer, PhD

Richard A. Panzer, Ph.D., is the founder and Executive Director of Free Teens USA, Inc., and president of the Center for Relationship Intelligence LLC. A public speaker and developer of family life educational programs, he has spoken to public officials, educators, social workers, parents? and community groups all over the U.S., and in Beijing, Antigua, Trinidad, Montreal, Toronto, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Paris, Prague, Seoul, Sydney, Okinawa, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Dr. Panzer is the author of the Free Teens Living in the Age of AIDS/Deciding Your Future multimedia program, which exists in ten languages and has been used in 38 states and many countries around the world, and the Relationship Intelligence curriculum, as well as writer/director of The Real Deal about Love, Relationships, and Marriage and LoveSmart DVD series and the co-author of The War on Intimacy. A graduate of Yale University, Dr. Panzer has been married  to his wife, Miho for 27 years and is the father of 4 children. He has a Doctorate in Educational Communication and Technology from New York University.

Michele Weiner-Davis, MSW

Director of The Divorce Busting Center in Boulder, CO, where she and her clinical staff help clients strengthen marriages and prevent divorce using her solution-oriented, down-to-earth approach to marital problem-solving. Among the first in her field to courageously speak out against unnecessary divorce, Michele is passionate offering couples tools to make their marriages work and keep their families together in her lively seminars. She also teaches those in the front lines - therapists, clergy and lay people how to work with couples to stack the deck in the favor of marriage. Her Marriage Breakthrough and Keeping Love Alive programs are taught by marriage educators in church, military, community and professional settings worldwide. She is the author of seven books including her best-selling, Divorce Busting, The Divorce Remedy, The Sex-Starved Marriage and her latest, The Sex-Starved Wife (2008). Her work has been featured in nearly every major newspaper and magazine and she is a frequent guest on shows such as TODAY, 20/20, 48 Hours, CBS Morning Show, Oprah, O’Reilly Factor and CNN. She and her husband, Jim, are the parents of two children.

The Emotionally Destructive Relationship
Seeing It! Stopping It! Surviving It!

This powerful seminar offers practical, biblical, wisdom to help those stuck in destructive relationship patterns. Leslie has helped hundreds of people move beyond their fears and learn to live free. Imagine how much happier you would feel if you could:

Say “no” and mean it

Have the courage to make choices for yourself

Confidently speak your thoughts and feelings in a constructive way

Heal from a negative self-image and low self-esteem

Invite someone into healthy change so that destructive patterns are broken.

The T.R.U.T.H. Principle

Do you struggle to live out God’s truth from your heart? Many Christians know more truth than they actually apply. Leslie offers a unique 5-step process called The TRUTH Principle that can help you:

Feel like God is really your friend

Respond to difficult situations without losing your temper or your faith

Identify and break free from internal lies in order to deeply embrace God’s truth.

Develop the discipline to take your desires from dreams to reality.

Becoming the Best Possible You

Low self-esteem and a poor self-image shackle many women. The consequences include destructive relationships, recurring negative emotions, and depression. Leslie’s message empowers you to identify internal lies, move beyond them, and embrace God’s truth. You will discover:

 

Freedom to be yourself, instead of feeling inferior to others.

The unique way that God has gifted you.

Confidence to counter your negative self-talk with affirming, live giving words.

Courage to take good risks like going to college or starting a new business.

Wisdom to learn from your mistakes instead of allowing them to cripple you.

Depression Proof Your Life

One in five women will be diagnosed with clinical depression in their lifetime. It’s the number one cause of disability in women today. Yet, many of us aren’t intentional about preventing depression in our lifestyles. Leslie helps you learn how to:

 

Speak up and say “no” without guilt so you stop feeling used.

Manage stress so that you don’t feel overwhelmed.

Stop pretending things are fine when they’re not, and make your relationships more authentic.

Find God’s peace even during suffering or the loss of a dream.

I Just Want to Be Happy

Is your life characterized more by stress than joy? Jesus said He came to give us an abundant life, but how do you find it? Picture how different your life would be if you could:

 

Control your to-do list, instead of letting it control you.

Feel and express your true feelings (when appropriate) without shame

Resolve interpersonal conflict in a win/win way.

Do your work with a sense of eternal purpose.

How to Act Right When Your Spouse Acts Wrong

Sometimes it’s harder to respond in a godly way to the minor irritations of married life than the more difficult challenges. Leslie’s powerful message enables married couples to:

 

Take responsibility for faults and failures, instead of denying, avoiding, or blaming.

Show love toward your spouse, even when you feel selfish.

Respond, instead of react, when a spouse upsets you to minimize destructive conflict.

Implement the gift of consequences so that hurtful behavior is less likely to continue.

The Hidden Power of Humility

Do you long for great relationships with your spouse, children, extended family, and friends? Leslie offers five exercises that can provide immediate improvement in any relationship. Apply them to your relationships and discover how to:

 

Feel less defensive when someone criticizes or corrects you.

Cooperate with one another without resentment.

Experience a newfound joy to willingly serving others.

Admit mistakes and failures without fear.

Let go of past hurts and forgive generously.

Honey, Can We Talk?

This question instills fear in many couples, but it can also be a way to draw close to each other. Uncover five core ingredients necessary for emotional closeness to flourish. You will be empowered to:

 

Identify your true feelings and learn the right words to communicate them.

Move beyond superficial chit-chat to personal, in-depth sharing.

Use gender and personality differences to build a deeper respect for one another.

Reduce negative body language that results in misunderstanding and conflict.

Each of these talks can be modified or expanded for a single talk or entire weekend retreat.

 

Ron J. Clark

Ron J. Clark is a happily married man and father of two. He is a national leader in the field of fatherhood and male responsibility and is often asked to speak at conferences and workshops across the country. He is a successful business man who became involved in the real estate market and currently owns and co-owns several properties. Ron J. Clark possesses several years of experience developing and implementing services for fathers and families. Ron J. Clark is capable of assessing your specific needs and providing your staff with training and consultation as needed. He has provided services that get results for over 200 community groups, and he can do the same for you.

Lecturer, educator and author of 15 bestsellers including Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, the number one best-selling book of the last decade and his latest, Mars and Venus Collide: The New War Between the Sexes. In the last ten years, over 30 million Mars and Venus books have been sold in over 40 languages around the world. An expert in the fields of communication and relationships, Gray’s focus is to help men and women understand, respect and appreciate their differences. He has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The View, Politically Incorrect, Larry King Live and others and has been profiled in USA Today, Time, TV Guide, People, New Age Journal, Forbes and other publications and is the premier Better Life relationship coach on AOL. He lives with his wife and three children in northern California.

Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD

Partners in life and work, are authors of two new education programs: Couplehood As A Spiritual Path designed for faith based couples and Imago Connects designed for all couples. These programs are based on Imago Relationship Therapy, a therapy for couples which they co-created. They also co-founded Imago Relationships International, a non-profit organization that supports 2000+ therapists practicing in 30 countries. They lecture and train internationally and have authored and co-authored nine books on intimate relationships including the classic best sellers Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples; Keeping the Love You Find: A Personal Guide; and Giving the Love That Heals: A Guide for Parents. Getting the Love You Want is celebrating its 20th anniversary this years with a new foreword and extensive revisions. All together their books have been published in over 57 languages. They have appeared on many radio and television shows and been written about in many newspapers and magazines. Harville’s appearances include sixteen Oprah Winfrey Shows, one of which won Ms. Winfrey an Emmy and was included in her top 20 shows in her 20th anniversary celebration. Helen is sole author of Faith and Feminism: A Holy Alliance and has been inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame for her work in empowering women and girls which includes launching a billion dollar campaign called Women Moving Millions. They live in New Mexico and New York and have six children and four grandchildren.

Sue Johnson, Ed D

Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa in Canada and Research Professor in Marital and Family Therapy at Alliant University in California. She is the Director of the International Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy and the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. Her best known professional books are, The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (2004) and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002). Her latest book, for the public, Hold me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love has just been released. Sue has received awards for her work from AAMFT and AFTA and is an invited fellow of APA. Professionally, she is either traveling the world talking about love and attachment and couple therapy, writing, seeing couples or conducting research on couple interventions. Personally, she loves being with her husband and kids, kayaking on Canadian lakes, and dancing tango.

Pat Love, Ed D

Co-founder of the Austin Family Institute is a former distinguished graduate professor, author, and master trainer who has contributed to marriage education through her books, articles, training programs, With daughter, Kathleen McFadden, she co-founded Love Education and the Certified Love Educator (CLE) training program. Her classics, Hot Monogamy and The Truth About Love have taken her around the world spreading the good news about marriage and commitment. In 2007, she and co-creator, Jon Carlson launched the comprehensive DVD Course, Love-What Everyone Needs to Know and with, co-author, Steven Stosny, introduced her latest book, How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It. She is a frequent media guest with multiple appearances on Oprah, Today, and CNN and is a regular contributor to magazines such as Tango, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Glamour, and Woman’s World. She lives in Austin, Texas and is a mother and
grandmother.

Cloé Madanes