Engage, Excite, Energise
Growing your Marriage through the Stages of Life
Better Marriages Australia 2023 Annual Conference
Saturday 9 September 2023
Engadine Anglican Church
REGISTER NOW
Better Marriages Australia is excited to announce that registrations are now open for the 2023 Annual Conference, to be held on Saturday, 9 September 2023, in Engadine, in the beautiful Sutherland Shire of Sydney. We invite you to Register now and join us for a wonderful conference experience.
In 2022, 40 enthusiastic couples took part in our Connect in Kiama Conference and provided us overwhelmingly positive feed back on their experience. This year’s venue will be the Engadine Heathcote Anglican Church, which has extensive facilities, and we are aiming for even more couples to attend and grow their marriages! Then, our Celebratory Finale Dinner will be held in the Function Room at the nearby Engadine Club which will provide us with a great facility for Dinner, Music and Dance. We would warmly invite you to join us for this wonderful conference experience culminating in a special finale celebratory Dinner.
The Conference program shown below, includes details of our Keynote Speakers and workshop topics. You can download a PDF of the 2023 Better Marriages Australia Conference Flyer here.
The Conference Fees are as follows:
Check out the Membership Registration page on our website where you can become a member of Better Marriages Australia and receive a discount on your Conference fees
Conference Fees*
(includes lunch, morning and afternoon tea)
Non-Members (for the day) $165 (per couple)
BMA Members (for the day). $134 (per couple)
Celebratory Finale Dinner. $100 (per couple)
(Dinner.Music.Dance – Bar Service available).
*There is a 3% surcharge for Credit Card (or soon to be available PayPal) payments.
Please Note: You are now able to complete your full registration for the conference on this website, so that it is a more streamlined process for you to register. So book your place, provide your workshop preferences, detail any special dietary requirements and pay for your conference fees all in the one process by selecting the Register Here button on the right-hand side of this page.
Engadine Anglican Church will be running a K to year 6 program at the same time as the event. Please email your interest to [email protected] for more information.
Conference Keynotes:
Dr Jenny Brown
Staying connected through the parenting years
Discover how children impact a marriage- for better and worse. The focus will be on ways to keep a marriage strong through the parenting years, from babies to young adults.
Jenny founded the Sydney Family Systems Institute in 2004 and is a clinical member and supervisor for the Australian Association of Family Therapy.
She is the author of the best-selling book: ‘Growing Yourself Up’ and has developed ‘The Parent Hope Project’, a program to enable parents to be a confident resource for their struggling children.
Her most important roles are as a wife to David for 42 years, a parent of adult children and a proud grandparent. Jenny is also actively involved in a church plant in the centre of Sydney.
Heather and John McAlpine
Growing your Marriage through the Stages of Life
Engage your mate, Explore your expectations and Energise your relationship.
Discover the tasks and joys that each marriage season brings, as you make a decision to take action in keeping your love alive and thriving.
Heather and John have been married for 42 years and are the Trainer Couple and Chair Couple for Better Marriages Australia. Together they have been leading Marriage Getaways in Australia, Uganda, South Africa and India for almost 40 years.
John is a GP with a Master of General Practice Psychiatry, with a special interest in training medical students as an Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong.
Heather is a Relationship Therapist, Supervisor and co-author of the bestselling book ‘Elevate Your Wellbeing’. Her current writings and workshops focus on the Power of Apology and Freedom through Forgiveness. She is the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship studying Marriage and Family Education in the UK.
Heather and John in their current marriage season, delight in having more time with each other as well as their 3 adult children and 3 grandchildren.
Conference Program:
8:45 am Registration
9:15 am Introduction
9:30 am Keynote Dr Jenny Brown
Staying Connected through the Parenting Years
Discover how children impact a marriage- for better and worse. The focus will be on ways to keep a marriage strong through the parenting years, from babies to young adults.
10:30 am Q & A
11:00 am Morning Tea
11: 30 am Keynote
John and Heather McAlpine
Growing your Marriage through the Stages of Life
Engage your mate, Explore your expectations and Energise your relationship.
12:45 am Lunch
1:30 pm Workshop 1 options
- Jenny Brown
Grow Your Children by Growing Yourself Up
Explore how focusing on our own growth in maturity is a gift to our children’s growth in resilience.
- Sam and Sanaa Labib
Sex Positive Marriage in a Sex Negative World
Understanding the ebbs and flows of sexual desire in different stages of marriage and exploring sex as a powerful way of communicating what words fail to do.
3. Glenda and Simon Devlin
Building Positive Sentiment in Your Relationship
Future proof your relationship and stay happily connected. Explore ways to enhance appreciation of your partner and have more fun together.
- Noeline and Paul Drayton
Creative Connections that Empower and Energise our Marriage
Learning skills and using resources to create intentional spaces to grow our relationship.
2:45 pm Afternoon Tea
3:15 pm Workshop 2 options
- Jenny Brown
Grow Your Children by Growing Yourself Up
Explore how focusing on our own growth in maturity is a gift to our children’s growth in resilience.
- Sam and Sanaa Labib
Sex Positive Marriage in a Sex Negative World
Understanding the ebbs and flows of sexual desire in different stages of marriage and exploring sex as a powerful way of communicating what words fail to do.
3. Glenda and Simon Devlin
Building Positive Sentiment in Your Relationship
Future proof your relationship and stay happily connected. Explore ways to enhance appreciation of your partner and have more fun together.
- Noeline and Paul Drayton
Creative Connections that Empower and Energise our Marriage
Learning skills and using resources to create intentional spaces to grow our relationship.
4:30 pm Panel Discussion
5:00 pm Wrap up
5:15 pm Close
5:30 pm AGM
6.30 Celebratory Finale Dinner
Club Engadine Function Room