Who are our Workshop Leaders

OMI workshop leaders come from many different backgrounds. Some key groups are listed below:

If you are interested in becoming a part of this service delivery network, or have suggestions about other interest groups to add to the network, please submit a training application.

Business: Business leaders and Employee Assistance Program Managers have become interested in providing relationship skills to employees as a professional benefit and as an effort to increase productivity through stabilization of family dynamics which, if not addressed, can lead to problems in the workplace and/or lost revenue based on poor productivity. The link between healthy and stable homes and healthy and stable work environments is undisputed and a reason for workshop leaders in this professional category to have a stake in providing marriage and relationship education.

Counselors: The Service Delivery System network includes Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT), Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC), Licensed Behavioral Practitioners (LBP), Certified and Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselors (CADC/LADC), and a number of other mental health professionals. These individuals are providing community-based workshops as an opportunity to give back to the community and which, in many cases, results in increased client referrals.

Department of Corrections (DOC): Leaders in this community identified OMI as a natural partner to provide relationship skills to incarcerated individuals as a component of pre-release activities. Because the status of family relationships is the leading variable in recidivism rates, the Department of Corrections has committed to adopting relationship education services as a core component of services provided at many facilities.

Educators: Educators in a variety of high school, university and community education settings have taken the opportunity to include OMI services as a component of the family life skills they teach. Numerous Oklahoma colleges and universities have begun work to incorporate the curriculum into freshman orientation, family science and human development courses, intercession classes and university events. In high schools, 264 Family and Consumer Sciences educators provide relationship education to more than 15,000 students each year.

Faith Leaders: Because 75 percent of first marriages occur in a religious setting, faith leaders are obvious providers of marriage education services. Both pastors and lay couples have become trained by the OMI and are implementing these skills in a variety of programs and activities that aim to better prepare couples for marriage or offer enrichment to members and the community.

Head Start Agencies: Parent Educators within the Head Start system have access to low-income couples or single parents that can benefit from education in relationships and/or skills to provide better family stability for the well being of their children.

Hispanic Groups: The OMI has developed relationships with organizations that provide educational opportunities to Hispanic families. The OMI has worked with these leaders to identify adaptations of the core materials to ensure services are culturally and otherwise appropriate to the needs of this population.

Military Leaders: With three large military bases in Oklahoma, the military has an opportunity to provide education to couples faced with numerous barriers to healthy and stable relationships (i.e. deployment, economic and education struggles, etc.). OMI workshop leaders within this group include Family Advocacy and Family Support employees, Chaplains and Employee Assistance Counselors. In addition to the workshop leaders that provide workshops to couples, the OMI has worked with base officials to offer community events to military couples, base employees and others associated with the military.

Oklahoma Association of Youth Services (OAYS): The OAYS system has established expertise in serving low-income populations, making this community-based service provider ideal as a mode of delivery for workshops. Currently, the network boasts more than 100 workshop leaders from 41 agencies across the state who are including OMI services into the work they do with youth and their parents.

Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS): DHS employees provide services through any through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. Because most families receiving this assistance are single heads of household, participants learn about healthy relationships and ways in which decisions affect their future prospects and the environment in which they are raising their children. Additionally, DHS School-Based Social Service Workers are trained to provide marriage and relationship education services, as they are positioned to access and work with both students and families.

Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service (OCES): OCES educators have a history of effectively providing various educational workshops in communities throughout the state, and have partnered with the OMI to use their expertise to offer relationship education services.

Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH): OSDH Child Guidance psychologists and educators have expertise in identifying and providing a variety of services to low-income populations. In many communities, these workshop leaders have taken the lead in community development around the issue of marriage and relationship education service delivery. They have partnered with organizations and key leaders in the community to offer OMI workshops in settings such as workforce development classes, Head Start parent education classes, University continuing education classes, etc.

Social Services Providers: Workshop leaders from social services agencies and organizations offer relationship education skills to clients and/or as community service opportunities. Some groups that fall into this category include: Abstinence Education, Employment Services, Domestic Violence, Mental Health and Substance Abuse, etc.

Tribal Groups: The OMI has partnered with tribal groups to provide workshops to Native American families through appropriate social service programs. Some tribes that are currently providing OMI services are the Chickasaw Nation, and the Choctaw and Comanche Tribes. OMI staff continues to work with leaders from other tribes to begin incorporating these services.