Free Virtual Relationship Checkups Available Through UK Family Center
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 2, 2021) — Are you looking to strengthen your relationship with a significant other in 2021? The University of Kentucky Family Center is once again offering its free Relationship Checkups sessions this Valentine’s Day.
Appointments are available Feb. 8-17 virtually (excluding Sunday, Feb. 14) and last approximately 60 minutes.
These free checkups are offered to couples in Kentucky and are available to married, engaged, same-sex and dating couples. Participants will receive a free copy of "Hold Me Tight" by clinical psychologist Sue Johnson, following their checkup, while supplies last.
"The 'Hold Me Tight' book is a great resource for couples because it is a road map to help them become more open, attuned and responsive to each other," said Tracey Werner-Wilson, director of the UK Family Center. "Other self-help books tend to focus on solving the issues or creating a contract of give and take, like a bargain, between the couple, aimed at satisfying the individual needs within the relationship but fail to recognize the importance of the emotional bond between the couple. 'Hold Me Tight' focuses on the emotional bond between the couple.”
These relationship checkups focus on discovering the couple's strengths. After identifying their specific strengths, each couple learns how they can use those assets to improve their relationship. All couples are encouraged to continue cultivating their relationship beyond the sessions.
Appointments can be made by calling the UK Family Center's office at 859-257-7755 or via email at ukfamilycenter@uky.edu. All checkups this year will be facilitated virtually.
After scheduling an appointment, "couples can expect to complete a brief questionnaire that asks them questions about their relationship, including questions about how often they have fun together, level of comfort and respect with partner, etc. Our therapists will review the responses of couples to identify strengths in their relationships," said Ron Werner-Wilson, a professor in the Department of Family Sciences, who supervises students in the couple and family therapy program.
Graduate students in the family sciences master’s program conduct the checkups as a component of their required practicum hours. Each fall, six new students join the two-year graduate program. This program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE).
Students in the program require a total of 300 practicum hours of face-to-face client contact. For students, these checkups provide a great opportunity to gain some of the necessary experience.
For more than 30 years, the UK Family Center has offered couple, family and individual therapy addressing a variety of needs in the Central Kentucky region. The center can help with stress and anxiety, parent child interactions, interpersonal relationship issues, and much more. The center is a part of the UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.