Psychology Professor James Córdova envisions that, one day, couples’ “relationship checkups” with mental health professionals will be as easy to schedule as dental appointments. That could have significant effects on individuals’ mental health, he adds. Even just one or two brief sessions of relationship counseling have been proven to decrease individual depression and suicidal ideation, according to studies conducted by Córdova and his co-authors.
““If you improve relationship health, everything else comes with it.”
“The thing about relationships is, a rising tide raises all boats,” says Córdova, director of the Center for Couples and Family Research. “If you improve relationship health, everything else comes with it.”
Córdova’s Clark-based startup company, Arammu Inc., has an almost $2 million multiyear contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to train more than 1,000 military family life counselors to apply his Relationship Checkup model to couples counseling.
He created the model — originally called the Marriage Checkup and consisting of two 1-hour sessions — 25 years ago. His book, “The Marriage Checkup: A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health,” has been popular with psychologists and couples alike.
“We’re starting in the military with regular relationship health checkups and then hoping to be able to follow that path out into the civilian world,” Córdova explains.