Fatherhood Channel

After becoming trained as Marriage Education Instructors by the nonprofit PAIRS Foundation in 2011, Deborah and Todd Lovell today lead marriage retreats for visually-impaired Veterans and their spouses at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia.

PAIRS VA Marriage Retreats are today helping thousands of Veteran couples restore love, intimacy and trust through programs offered by many of the 300 VA Chaplains and Behavioral Health professionals trained by the nonprofit PAIRS Foundation.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about marriage education and relationship skills training from PAIRS Foundation’s Inbox.

Join PAIRS National Trainer Lauren DelGandio for a complimentary one-hour online preview of five essential steps for love and intimacy, Monday, May 3, 7:00-8:00PM Eastern.

To celebrate the 10,000th visitor to FatherhoodChannel.com, we’re giving away a free iPod Touch. Subscribe to FatherhoodChannel.com for a chance to win! But hurry, we’re almost at 10,000 and only the first 18 new subscribers win! Learn more …

Caring for service members and veterans impacted by traumatic brain injury has become an increasingly urgent national priority. A new publication from the Defense and Brain Injury Center and innovative programs offered through VA Hospitals in collaboration with PAIRS Foundation help caregivers and families address the impact of TBI, promote healing, and strengthen marital resilience.

Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Heritage Foundation on the scope and economic impact of childbirth by single mothers highlight the economic impact of the absence of husbands and fathers, which is also a strong contributing factor to failure in school, crime, drug abuse, emotional disturbance, and a host of other social problems.

For couples experiencing continued marital distress, two recent studies show the potential for significant, lasting improvement through marriage education and marriage therapy. Considering the emotional, health, social, and economic benefits of sustaining healthy marriages, the studies offer strong incentive for couples to pursue marriage education or marriage therapy before actively considering divorce.

Former President Bill Clinton, Alonzo Mourning, Nnamdi Asomugha, Heather Graham and other celebrities led hundreds of young volunteers to Carrfour Supportive Housing’s future Verde Gardens community in Homestead Sunday for a day of service as part of the Clinton Global Initiative University’s (CGIU) weekend program in Miami. The Carrfour community is one of the most innovative programs in the nation to help formerly homeless families achieve self-sufficiency and independence through affordable housing and wrap-around programs including relationship skills, vocational, micro-enterprise, and rehabilitative services.

Four years after a suicide bombing that claimed the life of a 16-year-old Florida youngster, PAIRS Foundation and the Daniel Cantor Wultz Foundation teamed up with iTunes to release a free iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad application to promote tolerance by helping young people strengthen families, relationships, schools, and communities.

Answer these six questions to find out how your love life measures up with a free report.

What’s working well in your marriage? These tips from the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center can help you take the pulse of your relationship and consider opportunities to take your marriage to another level.

PAIRS DTR, a free iPhone app available today from iTunes, helps couples, families, parents, and friends strengthen relationships. Developed by the nonprofit PAIRS Foundation, a leader in relationship skills training, PAIRS DTR for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad guides users through a practical, five-step communication exercise that can be posted on Facebook or shared by e-mail.

Their eyes still sparkle with the innocence of youth; their eager smiles and endearing manners invite understanding and empathy. For many of these children, behind their eyes, smiles and natural charm are traumatic images, memories, and anxieties that rob them daily of the carefree joys of childhood. These children do not live in Haiti or anywhere else that is the focus of global campaigns for urgent public support, rescue and contribution. They live in Miami-Dade’s Liberty City, minutes from Florida’s southern capitals of relative wealth, abundance, and extravagance. Over the past month, a team of instructors and research staff from PAIRS Foundation had the privilege of working with the fourth and fifth graders of Liberty City Elementary School, sharing practical skills and strategies for better understanding themselves and others, deepening empathy, expressing emotions, resolving differences and conflicts, and caring for the relationships they cherish.

Escape to a remarkable 23-acre retreat at the luxurious Hyatt Regency Bonaventure Conference Center and Spa in Weston, Florida (minutes from Fort Lauderdale airport) for four days of professional training on the best practice in marriage enrichment, March 10-13, 2010. Immerse yourself in powerful, proven, experiential curricula that deliver lasting benefits for participants in marriage, fatherhood and family education programs.

T. Williard Fair, President of the Urban League of Greater Miami and Chairman of the Florida Department of Education, encourages efforts to strengthen marriages and families as the foundation for revitalizing schools, communities, and improving the well-being of children during a visit to a PAIRS relationship skills class in Liberty City.

Join our mission of creating a safer, saner, more loving world through evidence-based educational programs for fatherhood, marriage and families. PAIRS professional training prepares educators, counselors, health care professionals, clergy, and others to deliver the world’s premier relationship skills training programs. Enrollment is now open for professional, certification training in English and Spanish, Weston, Florida, March 2010.

Seven in ten parents of school-age children responding to a recent survey said they’ve considered separation or divorce. Six months after participating in a nine hour class to improve communication, emotional understanding, empathy and conflict resolution skills, the percentage who said they never consider separation or divorce doubled.

A sour economy, soaring healthcare costs, and difficult job market is leading increasing numbers of men to marriage education classes for tips and tools to bring greater harmony to their families, improve relationships with spouses and children, and strengthen their ability to weather financial challenges.

How do we respond when tragedy afflicts loved ones who are instantly a world away? How can we answer when family and friends are trapped dying or dead within collapsed homes and buildings, babies and their mothers are crying out unanswered prayers for help amidst the chaotic ruins, thousands of corpses are bearing silent witness to helplessness in the face of tragic devastation, basic services that provide sustenance and life are eviscerated, and disease and desperation is rising each moment from the ruins? For the residents of Carrfour’s Little Haiti community, some answers were clear.