Community meetings

What community meetings are

Community meetings are monthly gatherings of couples who have already completed the weekend retreat and the six weeks of follow-up sessions. They are part of the program's ongoing life, a chance to keep practicing the dialogue tools you learned, hear from other post-program couples, and stay connected to the wider community. Each meeting typically includes dialogue practice, a brief reflection, and time for fellowship, mirroring the rhythm you experienced during the program itself. These are not therapy sessions or support groups in the clinical sense. They are simply a regular gathering of people who have done the same work you have and want to keep doing it.

Why they exist

Tools learned in a single weekend fade if no one keeps using them. The six follow-up sessions reinforce them. Community meetings extend that rhythm into the long term. A monthly gathering keeps the dialogue habit alive, gives you a touchstone outside your own four walls, and puts you next to people who get the work because they have put in the same work. Read success stories from couples who credit this ongoing community with holding their recovery together.

Many couples tell us regular attendance is the difference between holding the changes they made and slowly drifting back into old patterns. Hearing it once, we filed it away. Hearing it from a hundred couples, we believe it. The volunteers who run these gatherings are part of our community, couples who came through the program and stayed to help others.

How to attend

Community meetings are organized by your local Marriage Rediscovery community, not by a central office. To find out when and where the nearest one meets, contact the community closest to you.

• Some communities meet in person at a local parish, retreat center, or community space.
• Some meet on Zoom, useful for couples in rural areas or after a move.
• Some run a hybrid of both.

Meetings are free. They are part of the ongoing life of the community, funded the same way the program is, by couples who came through and chose to give back. Find a local community for their meeting schedule.

Not through the program yet?

Community meetings are for couples who have done the weekend and the follow-up sessions. If you haven't yet, the weekend retreat is the place to start. It runs Friday through Sunday and it's built for married couples who are struggling. Find a date that works and register through your local community. When you're ready to connect online, we are also developing the community forums as a space for couples to stay connected between gatherings.