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Marriage Prep 101
Category: Health and Medical Counseling & Mental Health Counseling & Mental Health [Edit]
Fort Mason CenterBldg C, Ste 300
San Francisco, CA 94123
Neighborhood: Marina/Cow Hollow
(415) 905-8830
- By Appointment Only:
- Yes
About This Business:
I offer couples counseling and individual therapy to people from all cultural, gender, and economic backgrounds. My focus is helping people cultivate… read more »
10 reviews for Marriage Prep 101
10 reviews in English
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Review from Liz K.
10/23/2011
My now-husband and I completed the course this past spring in San Francisco. We've since moved across the country but have taken what Michelle and Patrick taught us along with. Their techniques for conflict resolution and communication are great and have helped us be better partners for one another. The class also brought up some great conversations that we'd never had surrounding our family of origin. Both of us made connections in the class regarding how we each operate as individuals and how our family of origin inspires some of our actions and reactions. Good stuff. And doing the marriage bond was a really, well, "bonding" experience! We put parts of our bond into our marriage ceremony, which really helped "seal" our union even more.
Highly recommend anyone who is in a serious relationship, thinking about marriage, engaged to be married, or a newlywed to take this. -
Review from Nicole A.
San Jose, CA
10/2/2011
My fiance and I did Marriage Prep 101 a few weeks ago and thought it was definitely worth it. While the class didn't goo too deeply into any of the subjects discussed, it helped start conversations we might not have otherwise have had. While the Gannons use a lot of examples from their own relationship, which gives the class more color, most of the information the present is research-based. The only thing I would change if I could is the length of the class. I'd prefer it be Saturday-Sunday instead of Friday night-Saturday, and it'd be even better if it was more than two sessions, going deeper into some of the topics discussed. Either way, I'd recommend it to any serious couples wanting to build a long-lasting relationship.
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Review from Jeff M.
San Francisco, CA
9/23/2010
My wife and I attended this workshop as a result of the Yelp reviews. They're not lying! I found the workshop to be:
ENTERTAINING:
Mr. and Mrs. Gannon teach the course just as they are...very married. It's as entertaining as it is educational to see their interaction as they drop the walls of the psychotherapist to give us real life examples of their functional (and sometimes nonfunctional) relationship.
WELL-STRUCTURED:
Unlike other workshops you might attend for work, when we break for small groups, it's with your spouse or betrothed. Therefore, you're deep in discussion immediately. If anything, it's tough for them to pull people back to the instructional parts of the workshop, which they do with grace and efficiency. We covered everything they outlines, although there is plenty of homework, too, to keep moving in the right direction.
CONFIDENTIAL:
Also, it's private. You're so involved with your partner that you hear NOTHING the other couples say. The topics they touch on are approached from a social-scientific perspective, backed by research and documentation.
PRACTICAL AND APPLICABLE:
We use the tools they showed us. I take timeouts. We sometimes play listening games. The conflict resolution elements have been most helpful. Learning how to structure a household, identify incompatibilities vs. differences, and languages of love have been indispensable.
SECULAR:
While they were sensitive to religious concerns, they left their participants' religions to the privacy of the couple breakout sessions, sticking to psychological studies and their own experiences for workshop material. I particularly appreciated this approach.
WORTH IT:
The class brings up topics that you might not otherwise discuss until crisis mode, when you're least likely to be able to hear your partner. This alone is worth the money. If you'll spend 10k on a stupid sparkly rock, $400 to learn to work together in your marriage is nothing. Compared with the cost of divorce...pony up.
We're not the first to get married, and we don't have to figure it ALL out through trial and error. Good luck!
(this is an example of where more stars would be useful) -
Review from Mandy H.
San Francisco, CA
9/14/2007
My husband and I took this class several months before our wedding and highly recommend it to the engaged, almost engaged, or recently married.
The class and the strategies it teaches are research-based and non-religious. The teaching couple is genuine and hilarious, as well as highly qualified: they're both psychologists and they're a happily married couple, having worked hard to build the marriage they want.
I appreciated that this class had us take a "Relate" survey/questionnaire that compared my point of view and my husband's point of view on a long list of topics: communication, conflict, family models of relationship, priorities, children, religion, money, etc. It was a good way to highlight where our perspectives were somewhat different so that we could understand that and communicate effectively about it.
Much of the class consists of communication and conflict-resolution type strategies and exercises. Probably most adults need these skills, married or not, but especially so if you want to actually live your life with someone. Students aren't forced to share with other students, so don't worry about being put on the spot in front of the group.
Our class was at Fort Mason, easily accessible by public transit and with abundant parking. They served us food from Green's to go, provided useful workbooks and articles, and answered all manner of questions with professionalism, humor, non-judgment, and insight. Students were of many ages and backgrounds (religious, cultural, economic, geographic, etc.). I don't remember any gay couples in our class, but I think they'd be welcome. The Marriage Prep 101 website has a lot of useful information, and just got re-vamped for a friendlier and more aesthetically-pleasing interface than the site used to be. The class was very worthwhile and we wish that everyone wanted to take a class like this one and could do so. -
Review from Heather T.
San Mateo, CA
3/10/2008
My fiance thought I was dragging him to a Mormon marriage class since the "Relate" test we took before the class was produced by BYU. Much to his relief (since we're both not religious), it was completely secular.
My fiance and were in the instructors' 60th class, and found it very helpful. I second everything the first reviewer said -- the couple leading the class are hilarious, with great stories and an approachable style.
After hearing about an experience a friend had with a class taught by another organization (which drew participants into the drama of other participants' lives), I really appreciated that the class was focused on the individual relationship you have with your significant other.
Even the food they provided was great -- desserts Friday evening, bagels Saturday morning, and yummy food from Green's restaurant and sandwiches from another place that were all good.
With all the wedding planning that goes on, it made sense to us to plan for the marriage as well as the wedding day itself. I've recommended to several friends that they take this class -- some are engaged already and others are living together but not yet engaged. I'd think it'd be worth it either way.Listed in: Marriage-Related
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Review from Donkey G.
San Francisco, CA
6/16/2008
I highly recommend this course to anyone in a serious relationship whether it be long term, engaged, or even already married. As a matter of fact, I wish I had discovered it long ago! This workshop has many strengths, but to name a few: VERY PRACTICAL, strengths focused, and a great introduction to conflict resolution skills. I thought they put a balanced energy in strength, conflict, and goal identification.
The instructors use humor (they're real, not hoaky) to help illustrate theory/demonstrate excercises, present science based research in an enlightening way (much to my relief-I left the lectures behind in college), and gave us the opportunity to practice everyday skills in the workshop. . They made themselves available for private questions- overall guidance to everyone throughout the duration of the workshop for all excercises.
To conclude: The fiance was surprisingly impressed. In short, he thanked me for signing us up! I recommend Marriage Prep 101 with utmost confidence to anyone looking to grow as an individual and/or as a couple. -
Review from Bob S.
San Francisco, CA
6/16/2008
My fiance and I took this course and absolutely loved it!It provides a neutral setting to talk about challenging issues in the relationship and focus on the resolution.You also get to reflect on many of your strengths as well.I found the instructors to be knowledgeable and real.They do not preach about how a marriage should work in theory, they talk about the tools we can all use to make a marriage work in practice.I would recommend this course to anyone getting married.In fact my fiance and I plan to attend the course every five years.
My advice, don't wait until you have a conflict to discuss it.Chances are at that point one of you will be defensive.This is a great way to put everything on the table and talk about it in a rational way. -
Review from Danielle M.
San Francisco, CA
7/19/2008
We spend so much time planning a wedding and sometimes forget that the whole point is that it's really about a marriage. Spending $400 and ten hours planning for our marriage in this workshop was a great investment.
This class provided us with a great opportunity to learn about our similarities and differences, identify strengths and weaknesses and develop helpful tools to communicate more effectively. The course was fun and the Gannons (husband-wife therapists leading the class) used lots of funny stories from their own marriage to illustrate their point.
The class was comprehensive, informative and extremely practical. I can't recommend it enough. -
Review from Andrew G.
Palo Alto, CA
8/15/2010
This workshop was very helpful for my fiancé and I to learn more about each other. Many of the topics raised provoked discussions that we would not have had until they became real problems for us. It was also nice to hear their stories on how they were continually working on their marriage. You'd think it would be very simple for two marriage counselors to make it work. They emphasized that keeping a good marriage together required constant attention from both parties. Of particular value was certainly learning about our conflict styles and how we could work issues instead of ignoring them until they blew up on us. If you're keen to walk down the aisle, check these two out and they'll show you all about what's necessary to stay together.
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Review from Shawntae T.
San Jose, CA
4/26/2010
My fiance and I attended the Marriage Prep 101 class last weekend. The course took place in the Fort Mason Center for 3 hours on Friday and 7 hours on Saturday (with a 1hr lunch). We absolutely loved the class . It was awesome that the class was taught by a married couple (Dr Michelle & Patrick Gannon). They gave many examples of different experiences they've had together, which made the class so much more real for us. They didn't put on a show for us as to what a perfect couple is....they have their imperfections (which also made us feel like we aren't alone). We were given the opportunity to do many one-on-one exercises from the workbook they provided us. Prior to the course we both took a RELATE test which gave compatibility results. Many of the exercises involved what we found in our results. There were very few, actually only one exercise done with the group, so for those of you who aren't into group discussions..no worries. My fiance and I talked about lots of things that wouldn't come up in any day-to-day conversations. Conflict resolutions, financial situations, child rearing techniques, family background and how it affects who you are now, sex life, etc. I know women are naturally more interested in communication, but even my fiance' really got into. They served refreshments the first night, bagels for breakfast on sat and a yummy catered lunch! We had a chance to talk with other couples during our breaks as well. Our $420 was well worth it! I encourage ALL engaged couple even newlyweds to take this class!!!
