What is Thrive?
Frequently asked questions
There are often lots of questions about what we do and why we do it! Before you contact us- check out our FAQ list to see if it answers your question.
About the Relational Skills
- Relational skills are what makes all our other skills better! Relational skills are foundational for healthy and joy-filled relationships.
- Relational skills provide the ability and capacity to build meaningful connections with the people in our lives. With practice, relational skills are what we use to maintain our relationships during strain, conflicts and difficulties so we endure hardship well as we stay connected.
- Learn more here.
Relational skills are the set of abilities that help us coordinate our lives, understanding, motivation, timing, moods, values, attitudes and actions with whatever is going on in the hearts and minds around us.
Relational skills are brain-based skills that are essential for developing healthy connections and relationships. Ideally, these skills are learned from our families beginning in infancy. However, all of us have gaps, ranging from minor ones to large ones. To fill these gaps, we need to intentionally develop the skills that we didn’t receive in our early years.
Ultimately, relational skills are about accuracy of perception. The best relational skills allow us to see and treat ourselves and others as God sees and treats us.
An overview of the relational skills can be found at https://thrivetoday.org/the-19-skills/. Scroll down and select any of our 19 skills to access more information and resources for building that skill.
getting started
- Take our Free Assessment to measure your ability to stay relationally engaged.
- Get your copy of The Joy Switch to learn the foundation of the 19 relational skills. Practice the skills included at the end of each chapter to begin your skill-building journey.
- Begin working through our Foundational 5 Resources (some of the resources are still in the process of being created). Begin with the free webinars, then move onto the courses to learn the theory behind the skills or to practice the skills.
- To dig deeper into the skill theory, take our most in-depth educational courses – Course 1, Course 2, and Course 3.
- For those who are serious and eager to jumpstart their skill training, our 5-Day Live training is a great place for a skill training intensive and to acquire skills that you don’t have. Learn more at https://thrivetoday.org/whatisthrive/.
- Watch this free marriage webinar.
- Read “The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled Marriages”. This is a short and easy book and provides exercises to help you and your spouse build joy and connection.
- View our Marriage Date Night Series with your spouse or with a group of friends. You can purchase this 3-night series individually or as a bundle.
- Start a Marriage Small Group online or in your community using The 4 Habits of Joy Filled Marriages curriculum.
Developing the relational skills in your own life will inevitably spill over to your parenting capacities. However, the following resources are geared specifically for parents:
- Read “The 4 Habits of Raising Joy-Filled Kids” book and implement the habit builder sections in the book.
- Join us at our website geared specifically for moms – https://thrivingmamas.org/. Here you can follow our blog sharing the experience of fellow moms as they implement the relational skills in their homes.
- Check out a recorded event for mothers called Encouragement for Maxed-Out Moms. This resource is designed to be taken with a group of fellow moms and is available for group purchase.
- View our free videos for using the relational skills in parenting and examples of using the skills with infants.
- Check out this free webinar on how to keep sanity in your family during times of crisis.
- Ultimately, relational skills are about equipping people to better manage what they feel. Counseling is, in many ways, the avenue where we guide people to better manage what they feel, so counseling and relational skills intersect!
- View this free webinar directed specifically toward counselors, pastors, coaches to learn how relational skills can help you and your counseling practice.
- The Joy Switch is a useful on-ramp to introduce clients to skill training. This book is a quick and easy read that offers 19 practice exercises. The Joy Switch gives a solid foundation on why we need relational skills while the exercises provide hands-on practice. This book is great for individual as well as group practice.