The marriage/divorce paradigm has changed dramatically in the past 15 to 20 years. There are many ways couples create marital relationships and many ways to define family today—even for those couples that end up divorced. This workshop will highlight seven alternatives to traditional marriage currently in practice (some of which may be viable alternatives to divorce) that helping professionals should be aware of in order to best help couples they work with.

Main points of the workshop:

·      Examine current marital trends and statistics

·      Look at the reasons behind the changing trends

·      Discuss each of the seven alternatives to traditional marriage

·      Assess treatment plans for couples that want to change their traditional marriage to an alternative one

·      Discuss what clinicians are seeing in their own practices & how therapeutic interventions will continue to evolve.

By taking this course, participants will:

·      Be able to name 7 alternatives to traditional marriage

·      Understand what their clients are needing and asking for when it differs from the traditional marital paradigm

·      Learn circumstances under which each marital model works best

·      Become able to facilitate a couple’s transition to alternative an lifestyle