Sustaining a happy marriage

[The Patriot]

Sustaining a happy marriage

09-13-2010 02:12 AM

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Mon, 2010-09-13 10:09


Sustaining a happy marriage


Heather Joy


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Sustaining a happy marriage

Heather Joy

Have things between you and your spouse been tense lately, do you feel like you both just aren’t connecting anymore? In today’s world of high tempo operations and multiple deployments military families are feeling the stress more and more and living oversees brings along a whole other basket of hassles that can stress a marriage.
The 48th MDOS Family Advocacy wants to help. Family Advocacy is now offering the marriage LINKS program or Lasting Intimacy through Nurturing, Knowledge and Skills program to help couples learn how to sustain commitment and enjoyment for a lifetime. Jennifer Inman, a family advocacy outreach manager, explains that the LINKS program was developed by Dr. John Van Epp and is a research based workshop that is now being used at military installations around the world to help strengthen relationships. Van Epp has been counseling in private practice for over 23 years, the author of the book “How to Avoid Falling in Love With a Jerk”, and an AOL love and sex coach.
The LINKS program uses a tool called the Relationship Attachment Model or RAM that helps couples better visualize their feelings of closeness and/or intimacy according to Marie Moore, a family advocacy outreach manager. Moore explains that the program is spread out over six sessions and focuses on the five elements of the RAM – know, trust, rely, commit and touch.
“At each session we build upon what actually each element means and how to improve it,” explained Moore.
Each element focuses on strengthening important marriage links like knowing each other, trusting in each other, depending on each other, committing to each other and physically fulfilling each other according to Van Epp’s LINKS program overview.
“LINKS is how you develop these (elements), each of these, and how you do it in the right order, and if you do that then the likelihood that you will have long term satisfaction in that relationship is high,” added Inman.
Although LINKS is designed for married couples, anyone in a relationship is welcome to attend according to Moore. She adds that they have even had someone attend that had just ended a relationship, looking for answers on what went wrong and what they could do differently in their future relationships.
The next LINKS six week session starts September 15. Call family advocacy at DSN 226 – 8070 for more information or to sign up for a workshop.









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