‘Forever. For Real’ marriage workshop starts Thursday Published Feb. 17, 2009 By Tippi Rasp Enid News & Eagle Lifestyles editor VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- With romance in the air on Valentine's Day, couples might want to consider reinvesting in their relationship with a program that touts it can help couples "make forever work." Vance Air Force Base and Enid Counseling and Diagnostic Center are teaming up to provide a series of classes to provide guidance for married couples. "Forever. For Real," a workshop sponsored by the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative and conducted by ECDC and Vance staff starts Thursday night, Feb 19, and runs eight weeks. The program will be held 6-7:30 p.m., Thursdays, at ECDC, 230 W. Maple. To sign up or for more information on the free classes, contact Michelle Sanders at 213-6690 or e-mail michelle.sanders@vance.af. mil. Dr. Wendi Betz, a licensed clinical psychologist at ECDC, said the program will give couples tools that will help them be better listeners and speakers, talk about tough subjects without fighting, understand one another and keep romance alive. "This is also good for parents wanting to communicate better with their teens, or individuals wanting to deal with conflict better," Dr. Betz said. In the marriage workshop, each couple will receive a couple's manual that will guide them through the workshop as well as provide take home exercises that will maximize the benefits of the workshop, according to the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative Web site. The workshop also is beneficial to engaged couples because it provides a significant discount on the cost of a marriage license. Engaged couples who attend and complete the program together are eligible to pay only $5 instead of $50 for an Oklahoma marriage license. The Oklahoma Marriage Initiative's goal is to provide a community-based workshop to teach couples how to enhance their relationship and beat the odds. The facilitators are PREP (Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) trained and certified by Oklahoma Marriage Initiative to conduct the workshops. Providing marriage education workshops is at the core of OMI, an initiative started in 2000, by then-Gov. Frank Keating. OMI was launched to help reverse the trend of divorce in Oklahoma. The OMI is a statewide public/private partnership dedicated to strengthening families and helping couples gain access to services to help "build and sustain healthy marriages," according to the OMI site. The Marriage Initiative has exclusively chosen PREP for the marriage workshops delivered throughout the state. PREP marriage education workshops are designed to teach practical skills that will enhance marriage or prepare couples for a future marriage. (Article reprinted with permission of Enid News & Eagle newspaper.)