top of page
Image by taylor hernandez

7 Principles for Making Marriage Work
Gottman Couples Workshop

The Gottman Method

Gottman Method of Couples Therapy

The Gottman Method is an approach to couples therapy founded by world-renown relationship experts, Dr. John and Dr. Julie Gottman. Together, they founded The Gottman Institute and Gottman Connect, platforms that offer powerful tools for couples, individuals, clinicians, and professionals. 

​

Most couples seek therapy for singluar issues such as conflict or communication. However, over 20 years of relationship research has found that focusing only on these issues is not enough to get relationships on the right track. The goals of the Gottman Method are to disarm conflicting verbal communication, increase intimacy, respect, and affection, remove barriers to connection, and create a heightened sense of empathy and understanding within the relationship. Improving upon these aspects shows a positive correlation with a couples friendship, willingness to accept influences and turn toward each other, and the over arching sentiment between them (Are we allies or enemies?)​

7 Principles for making a marriage work

7 Principles Workshop

Developed by the Gottman Insitute, the Seven Principles Workshop is an educational workshop being offered across the US and internationally, and has strengthened the relationships of tens of thousands of couples.​

 

The workshop is designed to help couples improve their friendship and fondness for each other, while offering powerful communication and conflict management skills.

​

Bringing levity and a lightheartedness to the room, couples will learn through lecture, demonstrations, videos, and activities. No personal sharing is required. 

​​​

Image by Nik

What will you learn?

This workshop provides evidence based tools to help couples improve relationship quality and satisfaction by:

​

  • Developing skills to manage conflict constructively

  • Identifying and learning tools to address perpetual and solvable problems

  • Improving friendship, fondness, and admiration

  • Enhancing romance and intimacy

  • Creating a couples sense of shared meaning

  • Maintaining gains throughout lifetime

  • Strengthening friendship 

​

This class combines teaching and demonstrations with one-on-one work sessions where you and your partner focus on your relationship with each other.

 

Confidentiality is strictly maintained. Although I encourage questions and comments, you do not need to speak in the workshop if you do not want.

Image by a l

Is this workshop for us?

Couples that would benefit from this workshop:

 

  • ​Pre-engaged

  • Engaged

  • Those who wish to enhance an already "good" marriage or relationship

  • Those who wish to gain conflict management skills

  • Every phase of relationships, from newlyweds to senior couples

  • Those considering couples therapy but who are not "ready" for weekly therapy yet

  • People of ALL backgrounds, ages, faiths and sexual orientations

​

Couples that this workshop is not suited for:

​

  • Those with severe relationship distress

  • Those with significant emotional or physical abuse

  • Those with addictions to drugs, alcohol or gambling

  • Those with serious mental health problems

​

Think you might be a couple not suited for this workshop? All that means, is that therapy has shown to be the most appropriate approach for the type of concerns listed above. You and your partner would likely benefit from more specialized, clinical support. 

​

If you are unsure if this is for you, please reach out so we can discuss further whether this is a good fit.

Your Investment

The cost of the workshop is $475 per couple. This fee must be made in advance in order to register for the workshop. 

​

Register and pay online through the button below for the following dates: 

​

To be announced for 2025 soon! If interested please contact me directly so I know to reach out to you when a date has been established. 

  • Who Is eligible?
    Any person with a physical, mental, or emotional disability in which it is difficult to perform or limits an important life activity (that another person can easily perform). The life activity may only be a problem during certain times. Under the ADA, an individual with a disability is a person who: Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; Has a record of such an impairment; or Is regarded as having such an impairment. ​There are no limitations with respect to the kinds of impairments/disabilities this applies to.
  • Service Animals
    Service animals are dogs trained to perform major life tasks to assist people with physical or psychiatric impairments/disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
  • Emotional Support Animals
    An emotional support animal (ESA) is a person’s pet that has been prescribed by a person’s licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist (any licensed mental health professional). The animal is part of the treatment program for this person and is designed to bring comfort and minimize the negative symptoms of the person’s emotional/psychological disability. All domesticated animals may qualify as an ESA (cats, dog, mice, rabbits, birds, snakes, hedgehogs, rats, mini pigs, ferrets, etc). These animals do not need any specific task-training because their very presence mitigates the symptoms associated with a person’s psychological/emotional disability, unlike a working service dog. The only requirement is that the animal is manageable in public and does not create a nuisance in or around the home setting.
  • What Do I Need?
    Service Animal: It isn’t necessary to possess a letter from a physician that states you are disabled and require a trained service dog, BUT if someone legally challenges a person claiming to be disabled, proof of the disability will be necessary at that point. What you must be prepared to do when in public is confirm you are disabled and provide credible verbal evidence of what your service dog is trained to do. Emotional Support Animal: For a person to legally qualify for an emotional support animal (ESA), he/she must be considered emotionally disabled by a licensed mental health professional (therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, etc.), as evidenced by a properly formatted prescription letter.

Meet your facilitator

You are probably wondering why you should invest your time, energy, and money with me. What do I know about relationships? These are great questions and I welcome your curiosities! 

​

With over 10 years of experience as a therapist for individuals and couples of all backgrounds, I am well versed in addressing issues such as coparenting, communication, conflict, building emotional connection, finding quality time amidst busy lives with children and work, pre-marital, family planning, parenting, infidelity, divorce, coparenting, betrayal, broken trust, alcohol abuse, interracial couples, in-law relationships, LGBT couples, ENM couples, trauma, attachment wounds, resentments, and more. I have chatted with couples about everything from household responsibilities to betrayals and deep seated resentments.

​

I have completed Levels I and II of the Gottman trainings, The 7 Principles Workshop Facilitator training, and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples. 

​​

My personal thoughts...

Relationships are dynamic, complex, and ever-evolving. It is not my role to dictate who should stay together or separate, or to discern who is "right" or "wrong," but rather to highlight healthy behaviors that foster connection and identify actions that may lead to disconnection. 

 

I have a great deal of compassion for people rooted in an understanding that the majority of folks have not had healthy relationship models. Greater complications come with navigating cultural shifts in expectations of gender norms and relationships. Everyone is trying to figure it out the best they can, but we can all get stuck in our defenses and old patterns of thinking or behaving. At the end of the day, we all want fulfillment and joy in our relationships.

 

All of this said, I believe we are capable of learning skills that can enhance our relationships, intimacy, friendship bonds, and foundation. I see myself as a guide to couples bridging gaps in understanding, enabling them to connect and communicate in ways that resonate uniquely with that couple. 

Megan John, therapist in La Grange, IL
7 Principles for making a marriage work
bottom of page