Accepting new clients (HMSA, UHA, HMAA). Cash Pay for some of our therapy services.
Practical tools. Research-based strategies. A stronger, more connected relationship.
Register early and save $75! Use discount code EARLYBIRD at checkout to receive the early-bird rate of $175 per couple—a $75 savings off the regular registration price of $250.
Kurtistown Assembly of God
17-550 Volcano Highway
Kurtistown, Hawaiʻi
One registration covers both partners.
Register by September 30, 2026, and enter code EARLYBIRD at checkout to receive the early-bird price.
INVEST IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP
Every lasting relationship needs intentional care.
Join Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists Aaron Collins and Frank De Gracia for a Gottman Seven Principles couples workshop on Hawaiʻi Island.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is a practical, research-based workshop designed to help couples strengthen their friendship, improve communication, navigate conflict, and deepen their connection.
Based on the research of The Gottman Institute®, the workshop combines engaging teaching with guided exercises that couples complete privately. You will not be required to share personal information about your relationship with the group.
The workshop is primarily designed and marketed for married couples. Engaged couples and unmarried couples in a serious, committed relationship are also welcome.
Whether your relationship is strong, experiencing a season of disconnection, or simply ready for renewed attention, this workshop offers practical tools you can begin using right away.
During the workshop, you and your partner will learn practical ways to:
• Strengthen your friendship and emotional connection
• Better understand one another’s inner world
• Express appreciation, fondness, and admiration
• Communicate more effectively
• Navigate disagreements more constructively
• Work through recurring areas of conflict
• Create shared meaning, values, and goals
• Build habits that support lasting love
This workshop is primarily designed for married couples who want to strengthen their relationship. Engaged couples and unmarried couples in a serious, committed relationship are also welcome.
The workshop may be especially helpful for:
• Newly married couples
• Couples who have been married for many years
• Engaged and premarital couples
• Seriously committed unmarried couples
• Couples wanting practical communication tools
• Couples who have become disconnected
• Couples who want to be proactive about their relationship
• Couples seeking to strengthen an already healthy relationship
Because the program was originally developed as a marriage workshop, some materials use marriage-related language. Unmarried couples are welcome to apply the principles to their own committed relationship.
This is a psychoeducational couples relationship-enrichment workshop—not couples therapy, premarital counseling, or crisis intervention.
The workshop may not be appropriate when there is ongoing domestic violence, fear of a partner, coercive control, an active or undisclosed affair, or an immediate relationship crisis.
Please contact the facilitators privately if you are uncertain whether this workshop is appropriate for your relationship.
Arrive, check in, receive your workshop materials, and enjoy a light dinner before the program begins.
We anticipate serving pancit noodles, along with water, juice, and coffee. Participants are welcome to bring a dish to share, but contributing food is entirely optional.
Teaching and workshop activities will begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. Please arrive early enough to complete registration and be seated before the program begins.
Food and light refreshments will also be available after the workshop concludes at 9:00 p.m.
Doors will open and breakfast will be available beginning at 8:00 a.m.
Teaching and workshop activities will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m.
A scheduled lunch break with bento lunches will begin at noon.
The workshop will continue after lunch and conclude at approximately 5:00 p.m.
Water, juice, coffee, and light refreshments will be available throughout the workshop.
Akua Family Therapy - Kurtistown Office
Kurtistown Assembly of God
17-550 Volcano Highway
Kurtistown, HI 96760
• Admission for both partners
• The complete Friday-and-Saturday workshop
• Two Couples Guides
• One copy of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
• A light dinner or snack on Friday
• Saturday continental breakfast
• Saturday bento lunch
• Water, juice, coffee, and light refreshments
• Guided exercises completed privately as a couple
• Practical relationship tools you can continue using at home
Please identify any food allergies or dietary restrictions on the Couple Information Form. We will do our best to accommodate dietary needs but cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment.
Comparable weekend offerings of this workshop are commonly priced between $300 and $450 per couple.
For this first Hawaiʻi Island offering, we are providing registration at a significantly reduced rate as a courtesy to couples in our community and to make the workshop accessible to more families.
We also invite those who are willing and able to pay it forward by helping support our upcoming workshops in the Philippines. Contributions are entirely optional and are not required to receive the reduced registration rate.
This is a special introductory rate. Future offerings of the workshop will likely be priced closer to regular market value.
One registration covers both partners.
Register by September 30, 2026, and enter code EARLYBIRD at checkout to receive the early-bird price.
Discounted registration is also available by private invitation for pastors and ministry leaders. Please contact us for more information.
Space is limited. Registration is confirmed after payment is completed.
Born and raised on Hawaiʻi Island, Aaron Collins is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the owner and clinical director of Akua Family Therapy. He graduated with honors from Argosy University and has been licensed in Hawaiʻi since 2017.
Aaron is trained in Gottman Method Couples Therapy and is passionate about helping couples strengthen their friendship, improve communication, and build healthier, more connected relationships. Married since 2010, Aaron has not only taught Gottman principles professionally but has also put them into practice in his own marriage for more than a decade. This personal experience gives him a practical and relatable perspective on the ongoing work of building a strong, enduring relationship.
Aaron is also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an evidence-based approach that helps clients process traumatic and distressing experiences, reduce their emotional intensity, and move toward healing.
His clinical experience includes supporting individuals, couples, and families, as well as at-risk youth facing significant emotional, behavioral, and relational challenges. For more than 30 years, Aaron has served the East Hawaiʻi community through volunteer work, ministry leadership, youth advocacy, nonprofit coordination, and community events. He is also an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and has mentored and supervised graduate interns and pre-licensed therapists since 2023. Aaron brings deep local roots, warmth, practical insight, and extensive clinical and community experience to his work.
Frank de Gracia, LMFT, CSAC, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, and founder of Enjoy Life Hawaii Counseling. He specializes in helping couples and individuals strengthen their relationships, improve communication, navigate conflict, and create meaningful, lasting change.
Frank integrates evidence-based approaches—including Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy—with a practical, compassionate, and relatable counseling style. He has also facilitated several Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work workshops on Oʻahu.
Originally from Oʻahu, Frank is traveling to Hawaiʻi Island to collaborate with Aaron Collins, LMFT, in presenting this couples workshop. Together, Frank and Aaron also plan to take the Seven Principles workshop to the Philippines in late February and early March 2027, where they hope to equip and encourage couples with practical, research-based tools for building stronger relationships.
Aaron and Frank are preparing to take The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work workshop to the Philippines in March 2027.
They plan to lead three workshops with the goal of supporting approximately 150 couples. Contributions will help provide workshop materials and make the program accessible to couples who might not otherwise be able to participate.
You may contribute any amount. Every gift helps another couple receive practical, research-based tools for building a stronger and more connected relationship.
When registering, you will have the option to leave a tip. Any tip you choose to add will be used to support the March 2027 Philippines workshops.
No tip is selected by default. Contributions are entirely optional and are not required to register or receive the reduced workshop rate.
Thank you for helping us strengthen couples, marriages, and families beyond Hawaiʻi.
Contributions are optional and separate from the workshop registration price. Contributions made through this registration page are not tax-deductible unless processed through and acknowledged by a qualified charitable organization.
The workshop includes teaching, examples, and guided couple exercises.
Exercises and conversations are completed privately between partners. You will not be required to discuss personal relationship concerns in front of the group.
This workshop is educational and does not include individualized assessment, diagnosis, treatment, or crisis intervention. Participation does not establish a therapist-client relationship with either facilitator, Akua Family Therapy, or Enjoy Life Counseling.
No. The workshop is primarily designed and marketed for married couples, but engaged couples and unmarried couples in a serious, committed relationship are also welcome.
Because the program focuses on building a lasting partnership, it may be less appropriate for couples in the early or casual stages of dating.
No. This is a psychoeducational couples relationship-enrichment workshop. It does not include individualized assessment, diagnosis, or treatment.
No. Couple exercises are completed privately. Participants will not be required to disclose personal relationship information publicly.
Yes. The workshop is designed as a shared couple experience. Registration covers both partners, and both should attend the Friday and Saturday sessions.
Yes. Registration includes a light dinner or snack on Friday, continental breakfast and bento lunch on Saturday, and water, juice, coffee, and light refreshments.
Yes. Participants are welcome to bring a dish to share on Friday, but doing so is entirely optional.
Childcare is not provided. Couples are encouraged to make childcare arrangements in advance.
Bring comfortable clothing and writing materials. Your workshop book and Couples Guides will be provided.
The Friday and Saturday sessions are designed as one complete workshop. Couples should plan to attend both days. Partial registration and prorated pricing are not available.
Yes. Discounted registration is available by private invitation for pastors and ministry leaders. Please contact us for details.
No. Tips and pay-it-forward contributions are entirely optional. No tip is selected by default during checkout.
Cancellations received by October 30, 2026, are eligible for a refund less nonrefundable payment-processing fees.
Cancellations received from October 31 through November 6, 2026, are eligible for a 50% refund.
Registration fees are nonrefundable after November 6 because workshop materials and meals will have been purchased.
Registration may be transferred to another eligible couple with advance approval. Partial refunds will not be provided if only one partner attends or if a couple misses part of the workshop.
If the organizers cancel the workshop, registration payments will be refunded.
Set aside one meaningful weekend to invest in the relationship you share every day—and consider helping another couple do the same.
One registration covers both partners. Space is limited.
Phone: 808-646-3150
Email: connect@akuafamilytherapy.net
Contact us with questions about registration, ministry-leader discounts, workshop suitability, dietary needs, or supporting the Philippines workshops.
Hosted by Aaron Collins, LMFT, Akua Family Therapy
Co-facilitated by Frank De Gracia, LMFT, Enjoy Life Counseling
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is a couples relationship-enrichment workshop based on the research and materials of The Gottman Institute®. This workshop is educational and is not a substitute for couples therapy, mental health treatment, crisis intervention, or emergency services.
