CENTER FOR RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Les Parrott and Leslie Parrott, Directors

Even more than academic standing, career prospects, and earnings potential, students are concerned about establishing healthy relational roots. They want to break the cycle of soured relationships they have frequently witnessed and experienced among family or friends. In what may be a first for an American educational institution, Seattle Pacific University established the Center for Relationship Development (CRD) to help students learn to build healthy, lasting relationships. Initially funded by grants from the Murdock Charitable Trust, the Center is dedicated to fostering positive relationships, whether they be with classmates, roommates, parents, teammates, siblings, bosses, or potential marriage partners. The Center aims to solve relationship problems before they begin. Its efforts focus on three major areas: education, outreach, and research.

Education. Along with the Department of Psychology, the Center for Relationship Development annually sponsors two academic courses in relationship development. Relationship Development I focuses on practical principles for building healthy relationships. The class addresses such issues as the meaning of friendship, gender differences, family-of-origin concerns, unconscious relationship needs, and the dating process. Relationship Development II is an advanced course presenting a practical basis for making healthy relational commitments. It focuses on such topics as love, intimacy, mate selection, and the meaning of covenant relationships.*

Outreach. The Center for Relationship Development also sponsors special programs designed to meet specific relationship needs. These include the following:

1. Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS). This marriage preparation workshop is offered each spring for engaged and newlywed couples. Topics include "The Myths of Marriage," "Sexuality and Marriage," "Fighting the Good Fight," and "Money Matters."
   
   
2. The Marriage Mentor Club. A unique feature of the SYMBIS program links participants to married couples who serve as mentors during the newlywed's first married year.
   
   
3. Relationship Emphasis Week. Each spring, the Center invites a nationally recognized speaker to campus for a series of presentations on relationship issues. Featured guests have included Stephen Arterburn, author of Addicted to Love, and Lewis Smedes, author of Caring and Commitment. Activities that focus on relationships during this week include Chapel, group, leadership forums, and faculty luncheons.

Research and Evaluation. The CRD conducts ongoing scholarly research on relationship issues and puts that information to work in its education and outreach efforts. It also continuously evaluates its programs to ensure their effectiveness.

*Note: Both Relationship Development I and II must be successfully completed for grades if the student desires to apply these courses toward a psychology major or minor.