 By Theresa Mabry Encompass Director of Operations As a marriage coach, I’ve seen firsthand how a healthy marriage can transform an entire family. When couples learn to communicate with empathy, manage stress as a team, and rebuild trust, their children notice—and they flourish. A secure marriage doesn’t just make life better for two people; it creates stability, confidence, and hope for the next generation.
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 By Kermit Rowe ECC Relationship Coach Katana Wolfcomer and Brendan Myers were an engaged couple like all other engaged couples… in love and planning for a lifetime of happiness together. But they also knew they still had challenging issues of spotty communication and wavering trust, complicated by unresolved grief and childhood dysfunction, and it drove them to seek a better way before committing their lives to each other.
They found Encompass Connection Center’s foundational RINGS program, which is focused on strengthening relationship skills through practicing the truths of good communication. I, along with dozens of Clark County pastors, signed an Encompass-inspired pledge about two decades ago that I wouldn’t marry a couple unless they had some premarital counseling. AI-generated statistics support this claim with proven data that explain why: Studies show that completing premarital counseling reduces divorce rates by 31%, with couples reporting a 30% higher marital success rate. That translates into improved communication, stronger conflict resolution skills, and greater emotional well-being and satisfaction within their relationship. Katana and Brendan have even more practical and experiential reasons why:  By Cindee Johnson Relationship Champion and Encompass Partner Our wedding was just a couple of months away. I was a divorced, single mom of two young children. Dave had never been married and had no children of his own. My kids bonded so well with him, and he fully supported my commitment to keeping their relationship strong with their birth father.
One relaxing Friday evening in August 1989, while talking over dinner about our upcoming marriage, the subject of date nights came up. I wondered out loud, “Will we still do evenings like this once we’re married?” “Why, yes, we will.” And yes, we have. And yes, we still do--nearly 36 years later as empty nesters. At the time, we had no idea how meaningful that decision would become.  By Dr. David Marine Mabry Executive Director of Encompass Connection Center As we step into August, we’re exploring what it means to do family life through the stages—starting today with marriage in mid-life.
Marriage in the 40–65 range brings unique joys, challenges, and adjustments. Children may be leaving the house or growing more independent. Aging parents may need increasing support. Careers evolve or plateau. Our own bodies, dreams, and identities shift. And yet… something beautiful can happen here. Theresa and I have been married since 1993. We’ve weathered a lot together—raising kids, ministry transitions, career changes, personal growth seasons. What strikes me most as we live in this “mid-life” chapter is not how much we’ve changed… but how essential it is that we keep changing. The key isn’t resisting change. It’s embracing the person your spouse is becoming, and continuing to show up as the person you’re becoming too.  Dr. David and Theresa Mabry (center) with their children, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. By Theresa Mabry Encompass Director of Operations David and I had been married for 13 years when we took our first relationship assessment. He was getting ready to begin work at the Marriage Resource Center—what you now know as Encompass Connection Center—and we were invited to help teach relationship classes to couples.
I remember thinking, “Well, they’ve asked the right people! We've been married long enough to teach this stuff with our eyes closed.” Boy, was I wrong.  Mabry family portrait 1976. David is bottom left corner. By Dr. David Marine Mabry Encompass Executive Director I grew up as the third of four boys in a rural, working-class family just outside a small Ohio town. To put it simply, we didn’t have much—and I don’t just mean financially. Our home was filled with stress, instability, and frequent conflict. I have few happy memories from those early years. What I do remember most is waking up to my parents arguing and navigating the constant emotional turbulence that came with it.
My mother carried deep emotional pain, and my father—quiet and passive—often disappeared into the background in the face of her outbursts. My brothers and I were largely left to figure things out on our own, often getting into trouble at home and school. We endured emotional abuse and confusion about what family was supposed to feel like. I lived with a constant sense of insecurity and instability. It felt like the ground beneath us could shift at any moment.  Our blog posts in June will focus on reflections surrounding fathers, fatherhood, and their influence in our lives.
By Theresa Mabry Encompass Director of Operations My dad’s 82nd birthday is this Friday, June 28th. Normally, I would celebrate with him, eating some peach pie or cobbler, hanging out with the family, laughing, and enjoying his stories. But that celebration won’t happen with him because he is no longer living on earth with me. My dad passed away way too young. He was 54 years old, and I was only 26. Our time together was way too short-lived and I would give anything to have him here in person; especially in June to celebrate Father’s Day and his birthday. By: Ronda Nissley
Encompass Co-Director I grew up in the small town of Kalona, Iowa as the seventh of nine children. My mother never worked outside the home and Dad was employed by a variety of small Christian schools and church agencies – earning a modest income even by standards of that day. Looking back, I’m sure our family would have been classified as “poor” by pretty much any economic measure. To my parent’s credit, I never figured that out until I was an adult. Thanks to my mother’s large garden and skills as a seamstress-we were always well fed and clothed. Encompass Executive Director Lavern Nissley shared this 23-minute SOUL Talk presentation on "The Good: Investing in Healthy Families and Relationships" at The Nehemiah Foundation's annual Case for Community Summit September 8, 2023.
You may want to download a number of items he refers to in the presentation:  The September theme for our social media and blog posts is devotion/faith. As always, there will be relationship health connections in terms of insights, tips, and tools.
By Lavern Nissley Executive Director of Encompass Would you agree that family is the primary means of transmitting faith to the next generation? It certainly seems clear from a familiar scripture in the Jewish Torah known as the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” So how is that done in our setting, some 3,500 years later? Is anyone actually writing stuff on doorframes and wearing headbands with faith messages? |
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HostsDr. David Marine and Theresa Mabry are Co-Directors of Encompass since June 1, 2024. TOPICS
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Funding is provided by Clark County Job and Family Services, Charles L. Shor Foundation, Nehemiah Foundation, Springfield Foundation, Turner Foundation, and private donations and fees.
Program content is the sole responsibility of Encompass Connection Center and does not necessarily represent the views of the funders.
Encompass Connection Center services are provided to all eligible persons on a non-discriminatory basis. Encompass Connection Center complies with all applicable laws and regulations concerning discrimination does not discriminate on the basis of the potential participant's race, gender, gender orientation, age, disability or religion.
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Program content is the sole responsibility of Encompass Connection Center and does not necessarily represent the views of the funders.
Encompass Connection Center services are provided to all eligible persons on a non-discriminatory basis. Encompass Connection Center complies with all applicable laws and regulations concerning discrimination does not discriminate on the basis of the potential participant's race, gender, gender orientation, age, disability or religion.
Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 37-1485217