Inventories for Learning More about Your Relationship
If you wish to learn or discover more about your relationship,
you and your partner should consider taking a relationship inventory designed for
either engaged or married couples. These inventories provide couples
feedback about their relationship in a number of important areas,
such as finances, sex, personality issues, dealing with friends/in-laws,
leisure activities, religion/values, and other areas. Results from
these inventories provide couples a helpful springboard for discussing
and exploring their relationship in more depth. The three most
widely used inventories are FOCCUS (REFOCCUS for married couples),
PREPARE (ENRICH for married couples), and RELATE. Clergy or mental
health professionals who work extensively with premarital couples
are generally trained to use one of these instruments. For more
information about the inventories, you can contact the organizations
below:
FOCCUS - Contact Family Life Office, 3214 N.
60th Street , Omaha , NE 68104 , phone 1-888-874-2684, or http://www.foccusinc.com.
PREPARE/ENRICH - Contact Life Innovations, P.
O. Box 190 , Minneapolis , MN 55440 , phone 1-800-331-1661, or
the website at http://www.lifeinnovation.com.
RELATE - Contact the Marriage Study Consortium,
P. O. Box 25391 , Provo , UT 84602-5391 , phone 1-801-378-4359,
or the website at https://www.relate-institute.org.
In addition to the three inventories above, BRIDGES has recently
been developed to help couples explore their spiritual relationship
in greater depth. BRIDGES (Building Relationship Interaction, Decision-making,
Growth and Enrichment through Spirituality) includes an inventory
for the couple to complete that will help them explore their spiritual
relationship with one another. BRIDGES helps couples identify shared
values, explore their differences, and build connection through
shared activities. For more information about BRIDGES, contact
the Center for Marriage and Family , Creighton University, 2500
California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178 (phone: 402-280-2908). BRIDGES
can be ordered through FOCCUS, Inc., 3214 North 60 th Street, Omaha,
NE 68104 (phone: 402-551-9003).
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