As part of the 2012 Conference on Family Wellness, Dr. John Van Epp, author of “How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk,” psychologist and minister, will offer a free “date night” for dating and married couples featuring a talk on the importance of matrimony in today’s marriage-bashing society.

Van Epp will speak on: “It Takes a Village: A Call to Strengthen Marriage in the Community,” on Friday, March 9, at 7 p.m., at Hillsboro Church of Christ, 5800 Hillsboro Rd., Nashville. Child care is provided.

The Conference on Family Wellness is coordinated by the Lipscomb University Department of Family and Consumer Sciences within the College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information on the Conference on Family Wellness, contact John Conger at 615.966.5729 or at john.conger@lipscomb.edu.

About Dr. John Van Epp

Van Epp has conducted numerous seminars and workshops over the past twenty years on topics related to marriage, family, recovery, singlehood, emotional make-up, relationships, and divorce. His popular PICK curriculum, presented in his video "How to Avoid Falling for a Jerk," is being taught in 10 countries and over 45 states by hundreds of churches, singles organizations, educational settings and agencies. His new book, "How To Avoid Falling in Love with A Jerk," was published by McGraw-Hill. He was recently chosen as one of AOL's Love & Sex Coaches. 

Van Epp's second program, Marriage LINKS, applies his Relationship Attachment Model to maintaining the closeness and intimacy in marriage. He has presented his program internationally in seminars and conferences, including the Smart Marriages Conference of the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education in Washington D.C., Orlando, Fla., and Denver Co.; Singapore's National Conference on Truth and Relationships; the Eastern Educational Research Association; international and chapter conferences for the North American Association for Separated and Divorced Catholics; and the annual conference of the Ohio Association for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Both the PICK and LINKS courses are "teach-out-of-the-box" courses including an instructor course on DVD and are being taught internationally by over 5,000 instructors in counseling and agency settings, public and private junior and senior high schools, colleges and universities, prisons, military installations, extension classes, coalition and community programs.

Van Epp has worked with many couples in their premarital relationship. His years of clinical counseling experiences and extensive research in premarital, marital and family relations have been enriched by his previous experience as a minister and former position as an adjunct professor teaching advanced graduate coursework in marriage and family studies. He has an M.A. in pastoral counseling and psychology, and a second M.A. in church history from Ashland Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Akron.

Van Epp and his innovative Relationship Attachment Model, book and relationship courses were awarded the Smart Marriage Impact Award (2008) and have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, Psychology Today, O magazine and Cosmopolitan. He has appeared on the CBS Early Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Fox News and Focus on the Family. 

Van Epp will also speak to the Healthy Marriage Network on Thursday, March 8, at Lipscomb University. To register for the meeting and luncheon, go here:  HMN registration