In the course of this consultancy I consulted with a wide range of relationship educators, researchers, marriage celebrants, representatives of different ethnic and community groups, and other stakeholders. I am very grateful to all the people who shared their expertise with me in the two months I was conducting this project. I hope that my final report reflects some of the wisdom they shared with me.
The consultations took a variety of forms including a series of teleconferences, face-to-face meetings, e-mail discussions and submissions, and fax and written submissions. Below I list the people who assisted me. If I inadvertently have omitted anyone, I apologize.
Teleconference 1 - Wednesday, 22 September 1999 at 9.30am
Elizabeth Alvey Anglicare South Australia Helen Lockwood Lutheran Community Care Anne Matuszek Centacare Family Services Tony Molyneux Anglican Counselling Centre
Teleconference 2 - Thursday, 23 September 1999 at 9.30am
Lynley Giles Saint John's Toorak Gillian Mickan Marriage Educators Association Michele Simons University of South Australia
Teleconference 3 - Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 9.30am
Sermin Baycan Geelong Migrant Resource Centre Mercedes Espulveda Kinections Estrella Herzog Kinections Salvador Nunez Orana Family Services
Teleconference 4 - Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 11.00am
Christina Graves Centacare Family Services
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Teleconference 5 - Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 1.00pm
Bruce Allsopp Interrelate - Family Life Movement of Australia Dianne Hand Warlga Ngurra Aboriginal Women's Refuge Bev Henwood Warlga Ngurra Aboriginal Women's Refuge William Montague-Elliott Interrelate - Family Life Movement of Australia Jean Packham Kununurra Crisis Accommodation Centre Norma Roberts Interrelate - Family Life Movement of Australia Judy Taylor University of South Australia
Teleconference 6 - Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 2.30pm
Georgina Taylor Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages Warren Handcock Registrar-General's Office Val Edyvean Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages
Teleconference 7 - Thursday, 7 October 1999 at 4.00pm
Carol Astbury Civil Celebrant Peta Callahan Civil Celebrant Gavin Cotterell Registrar-General's Office Beryl Eissens Civil Celebrant Cyril Fenn Civil Celebrant Dee Potter Civil Celebrant
Teleconference 8 - Friday, 8 October 1999 at 4.00pm
Frank Giggins Bethany Family Support Meredith Hodgson Relationships Australia Steve Martin Stepfamily Association of Victoria Janet Muirhead Relationships Australia Jenna Schoer Relationships Australia
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The Australian Institute of Family Studies hosted a full day Marriage Education Research Round Table meeting on September 9, 1999 at the Collins Street, Melbourne headquarters of the Institute. I attended the meeting and was fortunate to have the chance to discuss and hear others' views on research priorities in marriage and relationship education with the following people.
Kevin Andrews Member of Parliament Fiona Carberry Department of Family and Community Services Megan Cook Department of Family and Community Services Dr Moira Eastman Australian Catholic University Bruce Findlay Swinburne University Helen Glezer Australian Institute of Family Studies Susan Gribbens Relationships Australia Denise Lacey Catholic Society for Marriage Education Robyn Parker Australian Institute of Family Studies Peter Saunders Australian Institute of Family Studies Beth Seddon Relationships Australia David Stanton Australian Institute of Family Studies Ruth Webber Australian Catholic University Debra Wheare Department of Family and Community Services
I attended the National Conference on Marriage Education conjointly run by the Catholic Marriage Educators Association and the Australian Marriage Educators Association of Australia. During the conference approximately 40 people attended a meeting and offered their suggestions to me. The meeting was held at 1:00 on Thursday, 30 September 1999. A complete list of attendees was not taken, but among the people who made contributions were:
- John Collins
- Maria Gigla
- Jenni James
- David Jansen
- Tony Kerin
- Penny Kerr
- Simon Margisson
- Brian Morgan
- Robin Mulhulland
- Victor Vella
I conducted a series of individual meetings with a series of experts who provided extremely helpful suggestions and advice. In particular I want to acknowledge the input from the following people.
- Mr. Paul Harnett, School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University.
- Professor Alan Hudson, Department of Psychology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
- Professor Drew Nesdale, School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University
- Professor Patricia Noller, Department of Psychology, University of Queensland.
- Mr. John Robson, National Administrator of PREPARE/ENRICH.
- Associate Professor Matthew Sanders, Department of Psychology, University of Queensland.
- Ms. Michelle Simons, University of South Australia.
The Couples Interest Group of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy has an international e-mail discussion group with approximately 200 members. Many of the members are highly distinguished, internationally recognized researchers on couple relationships. I posted a series of questions to that group, and received many very helpful suggestions. I would like to specifically acknowledge submissions received from the following.
- Professor James Cordova, University of Illinois, USA.
- Professor Kurt Hahlweg, Department of Psychology, University of Braunschweig, Germany.
- Professor Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Department of Psychology, Indiana University, USA.
- Professor Howard Markman, Department of Psychology, University of Denver, USA.
- Associate Professor Matthew Sanders, Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia.
- Professor Steven Sayers, Department of Psychiatry, Allegheny University of health Sciences, USA.
- Professor Tamara Sher, Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA.
- Dr. Scott Stanley, Department of Psychology, University of Denver, USA.
- Professor Bob Weiss, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon.
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Extremely helpful additional written and e-mail submissions were received from:
Sheila Erger Relationships Australia, Hobart Barry McCarthy Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Canberra Anh-Linh Pham Cabramatta Community Health Centre Diane Sadler MEAA Executive Committee member An Van Vu Catholic Vietnamese Community, Sydney Tony Wright Registrar-General, Tasmania Michelle Simons University of South Australia
I also want to thank:
Ms. Margaret Andrews editor of the magazine Threshold who allowed me to publish an article in Threshold informing readers about this project and seeking submissions from readers about the project. She also graciously provided me with copies of relationship education materials she and Kevin Andrews MP have developed. Mr Andrews also offered several very helpful suggestions.
Ms. Michelle Simons, as editor of the Marriage Educators Association of Australia newsletter that published an article by me on the project and seeking submissions form relationship educators.
Mr. John Collins who as co-convenor of the National Conference on Marriage Education assisted me to meet with many dedicated and helpful relationship educators during the national conference.