Publications

Books:

Tony Garascia, MA, MS, LCSW, NCC, Clinical Director (blog)

When a couple marries each has dreams of being lovers, partners, companions, and friends. They often pledge to each other that love is permanent. Yet sometimes the passion fades and a couple wishes for a new energy. Staying in love takes more than a set of life skills. It is an act of the imagination. When falling in love each pursued the other with energy and passion. The four images of lover, partner, companion and friend can be re-imagined and re-dreamed and can restore the original energy of a couple’s relationship. They can sustain a marriage when the going gets tough and dreams are tested. They can propel a marriage back into the future.  And they can help a couple rediscover the pattern of pursuit and bonding that is so needed in order to be happily married.  The book The Honeymoon Habit explores these themes and much more. Buy here.

Before “I Do” helps engaged couples examine the thorny issues of marriage through the lens of the best of behavioral science and Catholic sacramental theology. The workbook is designed for use in couple-to-couple or small group marriage preparation programs. Six sessions are offered with each session focusing on a particular skill set for building strong marriage relationships. Sessions conclude with compelling real-life case studies of couples with questions and activities for reflection. Buy here.

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With cohabitation before marriage becoming a very common practice, marriage preparation ministers are challenged to convey the church’s teaching, while alerting couples to societal misconceptions and potential future problems caused by living together before marriage. Getting Married, Living Together is an effective and inexpensive resource to present to and share with couples preparing for marriage. In sensitive, yet straightforward language, it provides an insightful examination of common assumptions and misconceptions about living together, reviews potential future problems and offers positive steps couples can take toward a happy, enduring and sacred union. Buy here.

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Tony Garascia, a marriage counselor, pastoral minister, and author of Before”I Do”, the best-selling marriage preparation resource, presents Catholic Remarriage. This is a workbook for couples preparing for remarriage or seeking convalidation in the Catholic Church. Together with their pastoral minister, the couple learns to address unresolved issues from the previous marriage(s), assess the health of the new relationship, identify potential problem areas, and work to resolve any specific concerns before moving ahead to a new sacramental marriage. The workbook contains eight units that can be adapted to a variety of settings and circumstances. While these units are designed for use in counseling individual couples, they are readily adaptable for use with small groups or even couple-to-couple programs. The units help the couple explore their relationship within the context of sacramental marriage and the Church’s commitment to the good of both the couple and the sacrament. The simple, yet provocative exercises reach into the depths of a couple’s relationship while protecting their privacy. Buy here.

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Jeremy Linton, PhD, LMHC, NCC, Staff Therapist

Overcoming Problematic Alcohol and Drug Use is a workbook for use with clients in treatment, informed by the most current research and literature in the substance abuse field. Offering a field-tested alternative to the disease model of addiction, the book introduces a six-session curriculum for treating persons with substance abuse issues and can be used as a self-help resource for persons with substance abuse issues, or as a practice guide for human service professionals. Drawing on years of research on cognitive-behavioral therapy, the stages of change model, motivational interviewing, and solution-focused therapy, the author has put together a comprehensive and effective guide to change. The book provides up-to-date information and interventions for treatment, as well as questions for thought and personal reflection, specific and concrete examples, and session assignments and worksheets to assist in the implementation of change. Readers are encouraged to put the information they learn into active practice, in order to set personalized goals and implement strategies that are proven to work. The combination of research-based approaches makes this workbook unique and easily adaptable for individual use or as a curriculum for treatment.  Both those seeking help for alcohol or drug problems and counselors looking for resources to enhance clinical effectiveness with their clients will find this to be an invaluable guide. Buy here.