Getting Ready
WHO IS THIS FOR?
This course is for any couple that wants to get back on track to building a secure and satisfying marriage or relationship.
Taking the Course Alone: Read This >
Couples Recovering from Infidelity: Use this course once you have processed the truth of an affair and are ready to start building a new relationship together. In the Five Stages of Affair Recovery, the Building Us course is part of the Cooperation Stage, in which couples work together to rebuild their relationship in a way that is satisfying and secure.
COURSE CONTENT
The Building Us course guides partners in working together to build a new relationship by focusing on four primary steps.
NOTE: At times, this course refers to couples working through infidelity issues since this course was created as part of the affair healing process. However, the lessons of this course apply to any couple seeking to strengthen their marriage, regardless of whether they are specifically dealing with affair recovery.
Blueprint: Your Shared Vision
Each partner describes her/his vision of a future marriage. Partners then create a shared vision for their marriage.
First Thoughts: Question & Discussion
Video Lesson
3 printable exercises to help you define a shared vision for the future of your relationship.
Foundation: Your Expectations & Boundaries
Partners define their boundaries for all the major areas of their relationship (time, money, sex, friends & family, etc.) and agree to respect them together.
First Thoughts: Question & Discussion
Video Lesson
2 printable exercises to help you establish a secure foundation of trust by defining relationship expectations, both offensive (what you agree to bring to the relationship) and defensive (what you agree to exclude from the relationship).
Tools: Your Relationship Needs
Each partner defines what is most important to them in their marriage by considering 14 different areas of relationship need. Couples learn each other's primary needs with practical steps that can be taken to increase satisfaction in those areas.
First Thoughts: Question & Discussion
Video Lesson
2 printable exercises to help each partner learn what the other most desires and how they can best meet those needs.
Maintenance: Your Ongling Connection
Strategies that will help you maintain the building work you’ve started in this course. This is just the beginning—a start to the momentum of change that can continue for the rest of your relationship.
First Thoughts: Question & Discussion
Practical habits you can establish together to help you maintain the health of your relationship.
Recommendation of Additional Resources
What if your partner is uncooperative?