Take a Class!
Before learning to drive, you must learn basic skills. The same can be said for anything that you want to do successfully – including being a first time dad or newly married.
Right from the Start and our community partners offer a wide array of classes designed to equip you with the skills necessary to build healthy relationships, right from the start.
In a review of over 100 studies on the impact of Marriage Education, researchers found clear evidence that Marriage Education programs work—to reduce conflict, improve communication, increase parenting skills, increase stability, and enhance marital happiness.
Find a class that meets your needs!
Calvin and Rosa Thomas Ministries
Presents
“IT’S A Love Affair”
3rd Annual Relationship Conference
February 10-11, 2012
Dating, Engaged, Married, Separated, or contemplating divorce? Something for Everyone! Please, join us for new, exciting workshops and round table discussions!!!
Teaching sessions * Nightly Preaching* Door prizes * Banquet Speaker
Friday Night Ministry @7:00 p.m.: Rev. Roderick Green
Guest Minister First African Baptist Church, Columbus, GA
Saturday, February 11th from 9 a.m. to 12 noon
Sessions to be conducted include:
“Basic Training for Couples” workshop for couples
“How not to fall for a Jerk/Jerkette” for single adults.
Relationship/abstinence skills class
For middle and high school students
Refreshments will be served during the morning session
Cost: Workshop & Banquet $90.00 per couple
Workshop & Banquet $45.00 per person
Workshop only $25.00
Banquet only $25.00
Middle and High School participants $15.00 Workshop & $25.00 Banquet
Location: Quality Inn Columbus Georgia
1325 Veterans Pkwy, Columbus, GA, 31901
Banquet: Saturday @ 6:30 p.m.
Special Guest:
Pastor Miriam Harlan
St. John AME Glenville, AL
The Chosen Ones Dance Ministry of Kingdom Faith
Columbus, GA
Gospel Violinist Eric Taylor
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Eric has received numerous prestigious awards during his musical career and has performed all across the country and abroad. He has made special appearances on TBN, The 700 Club and Turning Point. He has performed with Kirk Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, Vickie Winans, and Kim Burrell just to name a few of the gospel and Jazz artists that he has shared the stage with over the years.
Come and experience gospel music like you’ve never heard before in Columbus!
Sponsors/Supporters:
For information contact: Rosa Thomas 334-408-1090 or 706-570-5981
Black Marriage Day
Hall of Fame
Induction Ceremony
The Liberty Theatre
Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 5:00PM
Ticket Price: $15.00 in Advance
$20.00 day of Ceremony
Tickets available at The Liberty Theatre Box Office
Sponsored By:
www.blackmarriagedaycolumbusga.org/

Preparing for Marriage:
A class for engaged couples
Get your marriage off to a great beginning, right from the start! Learn the essential skills to help you build a strong foundation for a lasting marriage. Couples will learn effective communication skills, conflict managment, financial responsibility and much more! Couples living in Georgia who complete this class will qualify for a discount on their marriage license.
You’ll Learn:
• Effective communication skills
• Conflict management
• Appropriate expectations
• Financial responsibility
• And much more!
Next class time is TBA.
Class Schedule:
Friday night, March 9th
5:30 - 6:00 p.m. Registration
AND
Saturday, March 10th
9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Class
(Must attend both sessions)
Location: Pastoral Institute Community Room
2022 15th Avenue
Columbus, GA 31901
Tentative Preparing for Marriage 2012 Dates:
April 20-21
May 18-19
June 16 (All Day Session)
August 17-18
September 14-15
October 12-13

Playing Nice in the Sandbox is a research-based approach to teaching healthy and effective communication skills in the workplace.
This workshop will give co-workers the skills needed to:
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Work more efficiently and successfully as a team.
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Resolve conflict without damaging relationships.
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Preserve and enhance a friendly work environment.
The net-net result of strong relationships in a working environment is a more stable, more productive and more satisfied workforce.
What the research says:
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Employees who work in an environment with predominantly healthy relationships are happier and therefore more productive and less likely to leave; both of these factors have a direct positive impact on a company’s bottom line.
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In what has become known as the “spillover effect,” healthy relationships at work facilitate healthy relationships at home; negative relationships at work facilitate negative relationships at home. Skills learned have a positive impact both at work and at home which, again, increases company health.
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Healthy relationship and good conflict resolution skills can be learned. That is what this workshop is all about.
Participants will:
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Learn new techniques for results-oriented communication.
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Identify the four most common sources of conflict that damage all relationships.
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Learn to recognize the problem behind the problem.
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Discover how expectations drive our life either in a positive or negative direction.
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Learn a 3-step approach to delivering feedback that’s specific, non-accusatory and gets results.
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Determine the most effective and ineffective approaches to communicate with others.
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Understand the critical role appreciation has in the workplace.
The material presented in this workshop is based on the research-based and highly popular relationship education curriculum, PREP, which has been tailored for the corporate audience.
For more information on Playing Nice in the Sandbox, or to schedule a workshop, contact Carmen Overton at 706-649-6507, ext. 1210 or coverton@pilink.org
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Prepare/Enrich – Individual Premarital Counseling
Individual Premarital Counseling is also available utilizing Prepare/Enrich, a customized coupled assessment completed online that identifies a couple's strength and growth areas. Based on a couple's assessment results, a trained facilitator provides 4-8 feedback sessions in which the facilitator helps the couple discuss and understand their results as they are taught proven relationship skills.
Couples will:
- Explore strength and growth areas
- Strengthen communication skills
- Identify and manage major stressors
- Resolve conflict using the Ten Step Model
- Develop a more balanced relationship
- Explore family of origin issues
- Discuss financial planning and budgeting
- Establish personal, couple and family goals
- Understand and appreciate personality differences
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call the Pastoral Institute at (706) 649-6500.
How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk or Jerkettte
Follow your heart without losing your mind. Learn to find the "one" by recognizing subtle, hidden signs of future problems, judging your partner's true personality, and focusing on your emotional health so you're not the jerk or jerkette. Everyone deserves a shot at true love, so make your journey less heartbreaking by weeding out the ones not worthy of your time first.
Boot Camp for New DadsA class for about to be dads
This is for men only! No women over two feet tall allowed.
We will discuss the challenges new fathers face like uncontrollable crying (from baby and mom), in-laws and living on little or no sleep.
In partnership with Columbus Regional Healthcare System
| Date: |
February 25, 2012 |
| Time: |
9 a.m. – 12 noon |
| Location: |
One Baby Education Place – Main Street Village Main Street Village Shopping Center, Building #10, 6298 Veterans Parkway; Columbus, GA 31907 |
| Cost: |
$30 |
Or call 706-660-6421 to register by phone.
Upcoming class dates & times: (4th Saturday of each month) 9 a.m. – 12 noon
March 24
April 28
Connections - Healthy dating relationships for teens
This seminar teaches middle and high school teens skills essential for success in their dating relationships. This information is taught in a fun and interactive environment including games and role-playing.
Teens will learn practical skills such as:
• Self-understanding
• How relationships work
• Dating and breaking up
• Dealing with problems
• Effective communication and
• What to expect from dating and marriage.
Teens will walk away from the Connections class with a greater understanding of themselves and the knowledge to make wise and healthy decisions.
If you would like to schedule a Connections class at an area school, youth group or youth organization, give us a call at 706.649.6507, ext. 1210 or email rightfromthestart@pilink.org.
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Survival Skills for Healthy Families
Learn the skills and patterns that consistently show up in healthy families.
Survival Skills is a fun and interactive program in which parents and children learn new ways of living and working together. Each of the sessions is organized around practical guidelines for healthy family interactions—building on the positive, healthy habits that exist within a family.
The concerns for single parent and step families will be included.
This program is built on three main skills: to speak, to listen, to cooperate.
Topics covered include:
• Parents in Healthy Families
• Children in Healthy Families
• Adult Relationships-Couples in Healthy Families
• As Children Grow-Change in Healthy Families
• Solving Family Problems
We encourage the whole family (over 8 years of age) to attend including any other people in the household such as grandparents and other family members having involvement with your family.
If you would like to schedule a Survival Skills class for your organization, give us a call at 706.649.6507, ext. 1210 or email rightfromthestart@pilink.org. Faith-based and secular programs available.
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Wait Training (Why Am I Tempted)
This seminar teaches youth (ages 12-18) the reasons, skills and support to choose abstinence from sexual activity until marriage—providing medically accurate, researched-based, culturally relevant information to teens at a critical time in their development.
Teens will be able to:
• Understand the negative consequences of risk behaviors.
• Recognize, value and seek the benefits of abstinence as a critical strategy for the development of life-long healthy relationships.
• Understand the effects drug & alcohol use on increased vulnerability to sexual advances.
• Dream of a happy home life and future.
• Develop necessary skills to strategically pursue and achieve those dreams.
W.A.I.T. Training for teens and workshops for parents of teens are available through our community partner Abstinence to Leadership. If you would like to schedule a class at an area school, youth group or youth organization, contact rightfromthestart@pilink.org or 706.649.6507 ext. 1210.
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