2025 NARME Plenary Speakers
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Samuel T. Wilkinson is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, where he also serves as the Medical Director of the Yale Depression Research Program. He is the author of Purpose: What Evolution and Human Nature Imply About the Meaning of Our Existence. Dr. Wilkinson received his B.S. in mechanical engineering, summa cum laude, from Brigham Young University and later his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Yale, where he joined the faculty following his post-graduate medical training.
His primary research has focused on depression and suicide prevention and has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He also has a deep interest in what provides people purpose and meaning in their lives.
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Purpose and Meaning in Life: What Can We Learn from Evolutionary Psychology?
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
For generations, many have concluded that evolution implies there is no overarching purpose to our existence. We are merely the accumulation of tens of thousands of intricate molecular accidents. But this conclusion is based on false assumptions, one of which is that evolution was a random process. Empirically, most report that relationships are the most meaningful aspects to their lives. If the origin of the meaning-producing aspect of relationships is somehow rooted in our evolution, then it might be concluded that our relationships that are most meaningful are those with our families, those with whom we share our genes. This is a function of the way we evolved. It is how we were created.
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Mary Anne Mosack is the President/CEO of Ascend, a national non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring youth have the information and skills they need to make healthy choices about relationships, sex and marriage. She is a co-developer of Ascend’s nationally recognized Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) Certification Course credentialing over 3,000 SRA educators across America and Canada. She is also the author of Making Your Message Matter, a popular communication seminar on how to effectively present SRA education as a common sense, primary prevention approach to healthy decision-making and she is co-author of The War on Intimacy. As a recognized thought leader and public speaker, Mary Anne is passionately dedicated to advocating for SRA education to school administrators, policymakers, community stakeholders and parents to ensure youth have the protective assets they need to reach optimal health and life success.
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Coming of Age in a Time of Sexual Vulnerability: Normalizing Optimal Health Behaviors Among Youth
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
This is not the time to shrink back from a culture seeking to take youth hostage with messages normalizing early sexual experimentation, perpetuating gender confusion, and using skewed biological facts endangering healthy adolescent development. The natural challenges of puberty can make youth vulnerable to unhealthy decision-making. As they navigate their own physical and emotional changes, we must ensure that developing youth are not robbed of a clear understanding that sex is a natural and wonderful part of human development that must be contextualized in healthy relationships, boundaries, self- regulation, and a realistic view of the life impact sexual choices can make.
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Carl Caton is the President of the Marriage Initiative and Managing Director of National Marriage Week. The Marriage Initiative helps dynamic marriage leaders work together toward Kingdom goals. He serves on the board of NARME, the National Alliance of Relationship and Marriage Educators. Carl is a student of the human dynamics of community mobilization and advances a proprietary community process called Local Frameworks (TM). He is passionate about the family and has served in the areas of parenting, fatherhood, and marriage. He is the husband of Kelli, his high school sweetheart, the father of two wonderful kids and five grandkids.
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The Emerging Marriage Renaissance
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
The institution of marriage has faced challenges in recent years, with nearly half of young people experiencing the divorce of their parents. Marriage has suffered from a loss of trust, a loss of hope, and a loss of definition. However, there is a renewed hope for marriage as social reality and social science shift their focus from pathologies to health and flourishing. Marriage is a key factor in human and societal flourishing, with studies showing it is a higher predictor of happiness than work and money. A new vision for marriage is emerging and it certainly isn't a revisit of the past. We cannot go back to a failed and abandoned Victorianism or a 1950s American suburban traditionalism. Neither were that great. The future approaches to marriage must take into consideration the economic and technological changes in the workplace, the growing complexities in reproductive medicine, and the more complex nature of family structure. What is emerging is a purpose driven marriage. Researchers at the Institute of Family Studies found: “Flourishing marriages are true partnerships in which spouses are devoted to creating a shared life together that is deeper than the emotional payoff of the marriage. This view of marriage gives us more than feelings of happiness; it helps make our lives rich and meaningful.” Marriage will always be a challenging adventure. But like any great mounting climbing adventure, the view from the summit is both breathtaking and profound.
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Ron Deal, LMFT, is a marriage and family therapist with nearly 20 published resources, an international conference speaker specializing in marriage enrichment and blended families, and a podcaster who frequently appears in the national media. Ron’s latest book, coauthored with his wife Nan and family therapists Dr. Terry and Sharon Hargrave, is The Mindful Marriage: Create Your Best Relationship Through Understanding and Managing Yourself.
Ron is one of the most widely read and referenced authors on blended families in the country with books including Building Love Together in Blended Families (coauthored with Dr. Gary Chapman), The Smart Stepfamily, and Preparing to Blend: The Couple’s Guide to Becoming a Smart Stepfamily.
Ron is founder and president of Smart Stepfamilies™ and director of FamilyLife Blended®, a division of FamilyLife®. He is a member of the Stepfamily Expert Council for the National Stepfamily Resource Center and is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed professional counselor. Ron’s work with stepfamilies has been published/quoted by various publications and news outlets throughout the world. He and his wife, Nan, are popular conference speakers, have been featured in various video series, and lead a support group for parents who have lost a child. Married since 1986, the Deals have three sons, a daughter-in-law, one grandson, and a Golden Retriever and live in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Coregulation or Self-Regulation? Advancing Our Understanding of Marital Attachment and a Maturing Usness
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
What matures partners and their marital usness best, coregulation of emotion or self-regulation? The current field of marital education and therapy is biased toward coregulation. But how does this limit couple usness? How might coregulation and self-regulation work in concert to grow more stable relationships and how do we teach self-regulation? Restoration Therapy (popularized in the new book “The Mindful Marriage: Create Your Best Relationship Through Understanding and Managing Yourself) combines the advantages of attachment theory, emotional regulation, and mindfulness in an efficient and organized fashion that moves couples out of painful coping, facilitates self-regulation, and advances our understanding of adult attachment.
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John Van Epp, Ph.D., formerly a therapist in private practice for 25 years, adjunct professor in Marriage and Family studies, and relationship trainer and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for over two decades with the military, is currently the President and Founder of Love Thinks, LCC, where he has developed evidenced-based relationship courses that have been taught by more than 36,000 certified instructors to over a million participants internationally.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
The Hazardous Landscape of Modern Dating: Evidence from Recent Research
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Divorce rates are down substantially, but marital formation rates have declined even more. Young adults complain that the dating culture is “broken,” and recent survey research confirms the frustrations, challenges, and obstacles of the modern dating scene. With a dysfunctional dating culture, the need for healthy dating education has never been greater. What are the dating challenges and obstacles that young adults who desire to eventually marry face? And how can relationship educators help them improve their dating skills and reach their marital aspirations? This plenary address will map out answers to these two important questions.
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Alan Hawkins, Ph.D. currently serves as the manager of the Utah Marriage Commission, which is hosted by Utah State University Extension. He recently retired after 33 years as a professor of family life at Brigham Young University where he focused on teaching family life education and researching the effectiveness of relationship and marriage education.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
The Hazardous Landscape of Modern Dating: Evidence from Recent Research
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Divorce rates are down substantially, but marital formation rates have declined even more. Young adults complain that the dating culture is “broken,” and recent survey research confirms the frustrations, challenges, and obstacles of the modern dating scene. With a dysfunctional dating culture, the need for healthy dating education has never been greater. What are the dating challenges and obstacles that young adults who desire to eventually marry face? And how can relationship educators help them improve their dating skills and reach their marital aspirations? This plenary address will map out answers to these two important questions.
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Galena Rhoades, Ph.D., is a Research Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Denver. Her research is on romantic relationship development and functioning, and the related implications for children and adults. Her research projects and collaborations include basic science studies on commitment, cohabitation, aggression, infidelity, family background, relationship processes and psychopathology, military families, and adolescent and child adjustment as well as studies on the effectiveness of preventive relationship interventions for couples and individuals. She is currently working as a PI, Co-I, evaluator or consultant on several foundation and federally-funded projects in these areas.
In addition to this research, Dr. Rhoades is the Executive Director for a community-based non-profit program. MotherWise serves women who are pregnant or who've just had a baby and their families by providing workshops and one-on-one coaching about family communication, parenting, and life transitions.
Dr. Rhoades also has a private practice in which she specializes in couples and families. Dr. Rhoades received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Denver in 2007.PLENARY SESSION TITLE
Fighting FOR Your Marriage: Insights from the New Edition of this Classic Book
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Based on over 40 years of research, Fighting for Your Marriage helps couples to talk more and fight less, protect their friendship, keep the fun alive, and preserve and deepen commitment. Now updated with cutting edge research and issues facing today’s couples, this definitive text reveals what it takes to rekindle a lackluster relationship and bridge the emotional distance that can grow between partners. Dr. Galena Rhoades, one of the authors of the fourth edition, will use highlights from the book and the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program it is based on to describe proven techniques and down-to-earth guidance for couples wanting more happiness and connection and less conflict.
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Matt Weidinger is a senior fellow and Rowe Scholar in opportunity and mobility studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where his work is focused on safety-net policies, including cash welfare, child welfare, disability benefits, and unemployment insurance.
Before joining AEI, Mr. Weidinger served as the deputy staff director of the House Committee on Ways and Means and as the longtime staff director of its Subcommittee on Human Resources, with jurisdiction over safety-net programs. He began his career on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant for Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL). He also served on the staff of the 2012 Republican Platform Subcommittee on Economy, Jobs, and Debt.
In addition, Mr. Weidinger has been the principal editor of several editions of the House Committee on Ways and Means “Green Book,” a multi-chapter volume providing background materials and data on tax, health insurance, Social Security, welfare, trade policies, and statistics. He was also a primary staff author of the landmark 1996 welfare reform law (The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act).
Mr. Weidinger has an M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in foreign service from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
An Update on TANF and Relationship and Marriage Education
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is an important resource for low-income families, and since its creation in 1996 has included key purposes of promoting marriage and the formation of two-parent families. Yet few TANF dollars are directed to those important goals, and recent proposals to prioritize more spending on cash assistance could further squeeze what is now spent. I will review the latest on how states spend TANF funds and the potential effect of current TANF reauthorization proposals. I will also discuss ideas for how researchers and practitioners can best weigh in to ensure TANF continues to be a resource for promoting healthy marriage and relationship education.
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Lauren's interest in relationship skills began when her parents divorced after almost 20 years of marriage. Seeking to understand better patterns for her own future legacy, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from TCU. Lauren is the author of two books: In Their Shoes, a book dedicated to helping parents better understand and connect with children of divorce, and Relationship Essentials, which features skills to help people feel heard, fight fair, and set boundaries in all areas of life. Lauren is the President of The Center for Relationship Education, a national non-profit whose mission is rooted in providing relationship skills training to everyone. Her speaking experience spans over 20 years, teaching a variety of relationship skills to teens, adults and corporate teams. She recognizes relationships are key to life success, and this drives her passion for energizing others to invest in relationships with proven tools to enhance connection. She and her husband, Josh, love adventures with their three children. All Colorado natives, they are avid skiers, outdoor enthusiasts and Broncos fans.
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The Rom "Con", Tools to reframe romance and get practical about connection
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Relational wellness programs are almost exclusively assumed dating or marriage-centric. When speaking of relationship education, organizations get labeled as a "dating service" or "marriage counseling". With startling data from the surgeon general's warning - that 1 in 2 American adults experience loneliness and isolation - the field of relationship educators must rally to expand its brand to include relationship skills training for every human connection, not just romantic ones. This plenary session will debunk romanticized myths about finding love in a magical universe and introduce patterning for healthy marriages start in childhood, family structures, peer groups, and community interactions.
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Dr. Green is the Chief Clinical Officer at Arammu, a company focused on training providers in and providing patients with proactive relationship care. He received his doctoral degree from Clark University in Worcester, MA and completed his clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the VA Boston Healthcare System with academic appointments at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine. Starting in graduate school and throughout his clinical career, Jon has loved working with couples, serving as a study therapist on Dr. Cordova’s early Relationship Checkup research and also working with couples and families in concierge mental health settings and in his privatepractice. He has trained hundreds of providers in the use of the Arammu Relationship Checkup and Family Resilience Checkup.
Dr. Green’s work has received awards from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America and the Military Suicide Research Consortium. He is a founding member of the Suicide and Self-Injury Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and is the past president of the Men’s Mental and Physical Health Special Interest Group. Dr. Green’s work has been funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and his research has receivedawards from the American Psychological Association and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. He has published over two dozen peer-reviewed clinical research articles and book chapters.
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The Relationship Checkup: A Model for Proactive Relationship Care
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
This plenary presentation advocates for regular relationship healthcare as a critical component of overall well-being, addressing significant gaps in the current system. Despite the central role of relationships in mental and physical health, preventive care for couples remains underutilized. We will present the rationale and empirical evidence supporting proactive relationship interventions, emphasizing their potential to enhance relational satisfaction, reduce distress, and promote resilience. The Relationship Checkup, a brief, strengths-based intervention, will be highlighted as an accessible and effective tool for couples. Attendees will gain insight into its structure, outcomes, and the growing need for widespread implementation of preventive relationship care.
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Jeremy B. Yorgason is a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. He is also a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. He earned a master’s degree from Kansas State University and PhD from Virginia Tech with emphases in Marriage and Family Therapy, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Gerontology Center at Penn State. Dr. Yorgason teaches classes on adult development and aging, and advanced statistics. His research interests are focused on the impact of health behaviors and illness in couple relationships, family relationships in later life, and longitudinal and dyadic data analysis. His recently published research explores benefits of partner support in young couples managing type 1 diabetes, the benefits of good sleep and exercise in couples’ relationships, and the impact of sensory impairments on social isolation in later life. In his personal time, he enjoys going on walks with his wife, outdoor activities including sports and fishing, and growing trees from seeds.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
Research Based Recommendations for Young Married Couples: Dyadic Health Behaviors, Finances, and Navigating the COVID Pandemic in a National US Sample
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Using data from a nationally representative study of young married couples, Dr. Yorgason will address the benefits in early marriage of shared health behaviors, and of working together as a couple to manage finances. He will also show patterns of marital quality across time and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected marriages. Data supported recommendations for couples in their early marriage relationships will be given.
2024 NARME Plenary Speakers
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Seth Chamberlain is a Division Director in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF’s) Office of Family Assistance (OFA), with oversight of the Healthy Marriage (HM) and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) programs. Prior to work in OFA, he was a Senior Social Science Research Analyst in ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). He has spent over eighteen years working on federal HM and RF programs and evaluations, as well as evaluations of federal sexual risk avoidance education and teen pregnancy prevention programs. Prior to joining ACF, Mr. Chamberlain taught middle school Spanish in Chicago, interned at a program for men convicted of domestic battery, and interned as a clinical social worker at the University of Chicago Hospital. Mr. Chamberlain holds a B.A. from Goshen College and an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.
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Making Family Connections
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Three staff from the federal Office of Family Assistance will discuss current activities of the federal Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) programs.
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Gary Dixson is President of the Foundation for a Better Life (Passiton.org).
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Will Your Values Make a Difference?
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Gary will help people realize: That their values will help them make better decisions. That values put you in a position to make a positive difference. That they already have those values inside them.
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Morgan Cutlip, Ph.D. is an author, researcher, and clinician. She is on a mission to help people feel empowered in all of their relationships so that they feel whole, light, and deeply connected to those they love.
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Get a load of this: The State of Millennial parents and their marriages
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
An overview of the current trends in millennials parenting and marriages. Specifically addressing how the Millennials have changed our culture and how that impacts how we help marriages and tackle an issue that is as old as time but has risen to the forefront: the weight of the mental load.
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Mary Myrick is Preseident of Public Strategies in Oklahoma.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
Oklahoma's Innovation Lab for Touching Lives, Driving Change, and Doing Good Well
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Since the late 1990s, Oklahoma has emerged as a hub of innovation in the development of comprehensive, research-driven strategies that engage systems, communities, and local entities in building the capacity of vulnerable Oklahomans to improve family well-being and self-sufficiency. In this presentation, you will hear from leaders about the foundations of this groundbreaking work involving partnerships between, private, state, and federal agencies, how the work has been sustained for 25 years, and stories of the ways passion, purpose, and opportunity have collectively influenced the Oklahoma’s focus on enhancing the abilities and potential of adult and youth.
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Clarence H. Carter is Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
A Cornerstone for Transformation
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
The Honorable Clarence Carter will share how Tessessee is transforming human services and father involvement.
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Brad Wilcox is Professor of Sociology and Director of National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Wilcox earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar, and his Ph.D. in sociology at Princeton University. Prior to coming to U.Va., he held research fellowships at Princeton University and Yale University. Professor Wilcox's research focuses on the quality and stability of family life in the United States and around the globe. Dr. Wilcox is the author and coeditor of five books including Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization (2024) and Gender and Parenthood: Biological and Social Scientific Perspectives (Columbia University Press, 2013). He has published articles on marriage, cohabitation, parenting, and fatherhood in The American Sociological Review, The Journal of Marriage and Family and The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. His research is featured regularly in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, NPR, National Review, Deseret News, and other media outlets.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
Marriage and the Common Good: How renewing the American Dream and realizing the Pursuit of Happiness depends on strengthening American Families
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
America is in crisis. Happiness is falling, deaths of despair are rising, too many schools are riddled by fights and failure, and the American Dream is out of reach for millions. The problems are visible to us all, but virtually no one is talking about the solution that matters most: Marriage. New research by University of Virginia sociologist and Institute for Family Studies fellow Brad Wilcox shows how much the State of Our Union depends on the state of our unions in this important lecture.
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Megan Harrington is a Senior Producer at Family Theater Productions, Co-Producer of the award winning documentary: The Dating Project
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Why It Matters How We Date
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
According to the U.S. Census Bureau nearly 50% of the United States is single…117.6 million unmarried Americans…almost every other adult 18 and over. The way people seek and find love has radically changed with the trends of online dating, hanging out, hooking up, texting, and social media. Dating is a life script no longer supported, leaving individuals dazed, confused, lonely, and isolated, which results in situationships and cohabitation, rather than marriage and family formation. Through the lens of the feature documentary, “The Dating Project,”we will gain insights on how to bring skills and dignity to dating, because how we date matters to the future stability of our country. It’s time to “save the date.” and bring back the hope of committed love.
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Craig DeRoche is President and CEO of Family Policy Alliance, a Christian organization that is the largest mobilizing force for social conservatives in America. Craig is also the former speaker of the House in Michigan, and former president of Justice Fellowship, hired by Chuck Colson personally. Craig's memoir, Highly Functional is a first person account of his journey in life to depths of addiction, through the court system and into recovery. Craig has personally worked with each of the last four US Presidents and was featured in the Academy Award nominated documentary, 13th on Netflix. He is considered one of America's foremost subject matter experts on family policy, justice, education and addiction. Craig has been married to Stacey for 26 years and they have three daughters together.
PLENARY SESSION TITLE
The Marriage Solution: And How to Get Your Local & State Leaders to Care
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America has it backward. We call our solutions like taking too many drugs or alcohol, gambling, debt, obesity, divorce, suicide and even crime our 'problems,' when in truth people turn to these things to 'solve' their problems. Learn how to talk to local and state leaders differently so that your support for healthy marriages can get more traction where you live. Craig is a former speaker of the House and minority leader. He is also in person who has personal experience with so many of the factors that end marriages and speaks freely of his own addiction recovery, criminal record, financial and other struggles.
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Ron Rogge is a clinical faculty member whose research focuses on understanding dynamics within romantic relationships and families. He is a developer and Chief Research Officer for the Agapé Relationship Wellness App
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Reviving Romance and Fostering Forever Afters: The Agapé App’s Paths to Connection
PLENARY SESSION DESCRIPTION
Although couples counseling can serve as a powerful tool to help couples heal their relationships, couples often struggle to maintain their gains in relationship quality once treatment has ended. This talk will present Agapé, a popular, light-touch, smartphone app that could offer couples a method of building positive interactions back into their relationships and maintaining their counseling gains as they transition out of couples therapy. Agapé builds moments of connection by providing daily prompts to couples and then showing them one another’s answers when both partners have responded. the results offer novel conceptual insights (i.e., a tentative blueprint) into the inner workings of relationship dynamics. Finally, treatment moderation results highlighted that married couples and couples starting the study with lower levels of relationship satisfaction experienced the strongest benefits from taking a few minutes each day to connect with their partners via Agapé.
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Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. Mr. Rowe is also the cofounder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools inaugurated in the Bronx in 2022; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative. He concurrently serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center and a writer for the 1776 Unites Campaign.
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To be updated
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To be updated