Eight Dates: A Series of Relationships Designed to Foster Communication and Closeness for a Healthier Partnership Under God – Metropolis of San Francisco

Eight dates

A relational series designed to promote communication
and proximity for a healthier partnership under God

By Presvytera Pat Tsagalakis

Register now!

The Department of Family Welfare and the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco are pleased to announce their highly anticipated relationship series, Eight Dates, based on the book Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by John Gottman, PhD, and Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD. This will take place every two months on Thursday evenings via Zoom, starting October 14 and is free to all interested couples.

The series is divided into bi-monthly Zoom meetings where members of the Family Welfare Ministry team cover a specific relationship topic through prayer, reflection, interactive questions, video presentations, focus groups and discussions. closing remarks. Homework for each couple present is to read the corresponding chapter of Eight Dates and plan a date night to discuss and practice the advice from the session and the book.

Topics covered include: trust and commitment, conflict, sex and intimacy, work and money, family, fun and adventure, growth and spirituality and dreams, all of it. in an Orthodox Christian context.

“Recognizing the many challenges people face in life and in their marriage, it is of the utmost importance to Metropolitan San Francisco that we provide useful tools and resources to strengthen couples as they grow older. in their relationship with one another and draw closer to Christ. Said His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco. “Whether you are newly married or have been together for decades, this is a wonderful opportunity to improve your relationship and strengthen the bond of unity as a couple.”

“Eight Dates is a way for us to connect with couples young and old,” says Presvytera Pat Tsagalakis, deputy director of the Department of Family Welfare. “We look forward to continuing this wonderful marriage enrichment program to strengthen the bond between couples – including those of our beloved clergy – in the parishes of our Metropolis and the Archdiocese.”

The Fall 2021 series will include a new special section designed specifically for clergy couples. “We realized that the relationship with the clergy is often ignored or rejected in favor of helping parishioners,” explains Presvytera Pat Tsagalakis. “While of course our parishioners remain our top priority, we have created something for this session that we hope will address some of the very unique challenges that many clergy couples face. “

The Family Welfare Department kicked off its inaugural Eight Date sessions in fall 2020, with more than 200 couples, many of whom praised the series, including calling it “crucial to our marriage,” “Exactly what we needed to plan our wedding” and “the most important thing my husband and I did for our wedding in 25 years”.

Eight Dates draws on rigorous scientific and psychological research into how we fall in love, using case studies of real couples whose relationships have improved after spending time with and following each other. the dates. Drs. John and Julie Gottman have spent more than three decades studying the habits of 3,000 couples and are bestselling authors and founders of the Gottman Institute, which uses an in-depth, research-based approach to improve family relationships.

For more information and to register for this free program, please visit www.familywellnessministry.org/eight-dates

Watch the promotional video of the eight dates https://youtu.be/e_S-S1PXncY

Download the Eight Dates flyer.