AN INVITATION TO ARMY COUPLES
EARN $500 FOR BEING FILMED IN A 1-DAY TALK-SHOW FORMAT
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The U.S. Army is currently mounting a concerted effort to support soldiers and their families. Family struggles with communication, trust, jealousy, and faithfulness can lead to unhappiness, depression and in the worst case, suicide.
Drs. John and Julie Gottman, psychologists and internationally known experts who teach research-based skills to help marriages succeed, have been appointed by Army Chief of Staff, General Casey and Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Chief, General Cornum, to create a program to help support soldiers and their families with struggles like these. The program will be delivered in an interactive on-line format. Four modules will be created that center on the most common challenges faced by couples as they experience the deployment cycle.
Couples will be interviewed by Dr. Julie Gottman together as a group in a one-day talk show format. The interviews will be filmed, and then edited to form the backdrop for the module content. Interviews will be conducted with utmost respect and care for all couples involved. There will be no judgments made. Rather, couples will be asked to share their own triumphs as well as strivings in their relationship. The films and modules will be used to reach out to soldiers and their families around the globe to offer support, compassion and new tools to strengthen relationships through this program.
REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING COUPLES:
Couples must have at least one partner serving in the U.S. Army. Any rank is welcome. Couples may be aged anywhere between 18 and mid-thirties. Couples may be married or unmarried, but must be in a committed relationship. Optimally, couples should be articulate, open, and willing to disclose personal experiences. Couples who have experienced at least one cycle of deployment are preferred over those not yet deployed. Couples may still be in the throes of relationship challenges or they may have navigated past them. Couples who demographically represent the Army population are ideal. We are encouraging people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to apply.
PARTICIPATION DETAILS:
We are seeking five to nine couples for this film project. We are also collecting some demographic statistics on couples who are interested in participating on this project. Couples that are chosen for this project will be contacted via phone by Dr. Julie Gottman. Couples may also be interviewed in person by Drs. John & Julie Gottman at a convenient location.
TO APPLY:
Send an email as soon as possible to militarycouples@gottman.com stating your interest. We will be contacting couples this week and next week. Please write CSF Couples Project in the subject line. In the email please provide the following information for yourself and your spouse/partner:
· Full names of each spouse/partner
· Ages
· Ethnicity
· Email addresses
· Best phone numbers and best times to reach you and your partner
· How long you’ve been married or together in a committed relationship
· Whether or not you and/or your partner has been married before
· How many times you and/or your partner have been deployed
STUDIO FILMINING:
Filming will take place during one full day on January 15th. All participating couples will come to a Seattle TV studio, and meet with Drs. John and Julie Gottman. Three couples at a time will sit together with Dr. Julie Gottman and engage in a conversation as if in their own living room, that centers on some aspect of their relationship. Topics may include how to sustain trust, how to manage conflict, how to recover from past conflicts, etc. There may also be conversation about infidelity and moving beyond it with renewed trust. Again, there will be no judgments passed in these conversations. Emphasis will be respectfully placed on what difficult challenges Army couples face.
CONSENT FORMS:
Edited footage from these films may be shown throughout the military. All participating couples will be required to complete consent and release documentation.
COMPENSATION:
Each couple will be paid $500 for their day of participation at the end of the day. Each couple will also take with them the knowledge that through their participation, they have reached out to and helped thousands of couples who will relate to their experiences as they view this program.
militarycouples@gottman.com