Workshops deal with the issues from this list that are of most interest to participants. Use the Needs Assessment to determine what your groups' greatest needs are. The first four can be done as stand-alones for one session up to a full day.

1. Surprised by Joy--rediscovering joy in the midst of trials. Whenever we face challenge or loss in our relationships, finances, careers or health, the first casualty is often our joy. Gaylyn transparently shares how she rediscovered her joy in the midst of heartbreaking experiences including her son's terminal illness and her fiancés tragic death. As she draws upon her own poignant stories, Gaylyn offers women practical principles they can use to reclaim joy despite whatever challenges they may be facing. No matter what you're going through, you can be surprised by joy!

2. Reconcilable Differences.  Turn relationship chaos or conflict into intimacy. Conflict is inevitable but it doesn't have to be debilitating. In this presentation, Gaylyn shares simple principles from God's word that women can apply immediately to their relationships, diffusing conflict, creating win/win solutions and enhancing emotional intimacy. Let conflict open the door togreater intimacy in your relationships.

3. What You See is What You Get. Transform your life with a new perspective. Do you ever look at your life and see only heartache and problems? In this presentation, Gaylyn offers encouragement to women longing for hope and peace despite challenges in their lives. Sharing simple ways to stop focusing on the perceived hopelessness of difficult circumstances, Gaylyn offers effective alternatives. Through her stories and principles, she provides a clear path women can follow to change their outlook and experience hope and peace no matter what they are facing in life. You can transform your life just by changing your perspective.

4. All Stressed Up and No Where to Go?  Learn to manage stress for a balanced, victorious life.
   Maxed out? Too busy? Take control of your life! In this lively presentation Gaylyn shares seven practical strategies to help you embrace a balanced, victorious life. People of all ages and situations experience stress, but it doesn't have to get you down. In fact, stress can actually improve your life! Discover simple, yet amazing ways to make stress work for you - not against you. Don't let stress keep you from the balanced, victorious life you long for!

5. How to Avoid Sabotaging your Relationships. Many people think they don’t need to learn about relationship killers, because they already know how to do that. But often people are not even aware of the things they are doing to destroy their relationships. This session focuses on some of the things people tend to do wrong in their relationships, especially in how they fail to communicate well. A demonstration illustrates how we often kill our relationships, without even being aware of what we are doing. Participants have the opportunity to reflect on what they are doing to destroy their relationships.
   
   
6. How to Build your Relationships. Active listening is the cornerstone of effective relationships. True loving listening is a skill that must usually be learned. We demonstrate how not to listen, and how to listen more effectively. Then the participants have an opportunity to practice loving listening. They become aware of what level other people may be on and how to respond appropriately. Specific skills and behaviors are presented to keep in mind when listening to others.
   
   
7. How toDraw People Out. The key to drawing a person out lies in the "clues" he or she releases. When something is important to us, we send up clues to see if anyone will notice and be interested. Clues are a direct line to the heart. Participants discuss the topic, watch the skill demonstrated and practice four key ways to respond to clues to draw clients and others out: silence, questions, self-disclosure and observations.
   
   
8. How To Motivate People to Solve Their Problems. When someone comes with a problem, people are often tempted to give advice on what the other person should do. But this probably isn't the most helpful to them. In this session, we learn seven steps for helping others explore options, so they can come up with a solution themselves. Participants watch a demonstration where one person helps another solve a problem. Then they practice using the seven steps with a partner, on either a real or hypothetical problem.
   
   
9. Confront Effectively. For many people, confrontation is the most difficult part of relating to others, yet it is essential to godly relationships. This session guides participants through guidelines and skills on how to confront others, from preparing for the confrontation, to steps to take when confronting. Both verbal and nonverbal ways to handle resistance when confronting are considered. The demonstrations and practice in confronting effectively help us become more comfortable and effective in confronting others when necessary.
10. How to Respond to an Attack. Receiving confrontation well is just as important, and often even harder, than giving confrontation, especially when we are confronted in anger. In this session the participants discover ways to diffuse an attack. Demonstrations show how to respond effectively and what to avoid doing when confronted in anger. Participants can dramatically see the difference that their reaction has when they are confronted in anger. Then they practice the skill in pairs.
11. Manage Conflicts Effectively. Conflicts with others are rarely easy to handle. This session starts by looking at some core beliefs about healthy relationships and conflict. We then discuss ground rules for effective conflict resolution, as well as a suggested step-by-step strategy for managing conflicts. This strategy helps to slow the process down, and reduces inappropriate expression of feelings. Demonstrations help participants see effective ways to handle conflicts and what to avoid when in conflict.
12. Help Others Manage Conflicts. We sometimes observe others experiencing conflict that they are unable to resolve on their own. This session gives participants two strategies to help others who are in conflict. The first strategy is helping one person who comes to us; the second is being a mediator between two people with a conflict. Each contains specific steps to take. Two demonstrations illustrate these strategies, followed by a discussion of the demonstrations and practical application of how this skill can be used in our own lives.
13. Build Trust. Trust is the foundation of every healthy relationship, including family, work, friendships, and even your higher power! Yet trust has so often been broken that many find it hard to trust anyone. This session considers the significance of being able to trust others, as well as being trustworthy ourselves. It looks at things we do to destroy trust, and things that build trust. Building trust is important both on the individual level and on an organizational level. The materials include worksheets on building trust with issues to consider on our own and also issues to discuss with family, friends or co-workers. If the workshop is for leaders, this module will include a session focusing on building trust on an organizational level.
14. Assist Clients in Crisis. People often associate grief only with death, but any significant loss can bring about grief and needs appropriate grief work. The focus of this session is understanding grief, not only for managing our own grief well, but also to enable us to help others manage theirs. The group examines each stage of the grief process and considers the importance of not skipping any stages. The session ends with an opportunity for participants to talk in pairs about something they are grieving.
15. Manage Stress  (Two or more sessions). Stress affects everyone, and a joyful, productive life depends on having skills for handling it well. These sessions provide an understanding of how stress works and how our perception dramatically affects the amount of stress we feel. They also supply strategies on how to manage stress well. Participants have the opportunity to: a) identify their own stressors; b) look at their reactions to stress; c) learn how to handle their own distresses, d) identify and use resources for managing stress, and much more. We look at examples to see others handled stress. Practical applications help individuals learn how to lower the stress that is under their control, and learn to better manage the stress situations they cannot change.
16. Maintain Margin. Margin is a sufficient reserve of time, energy and money to provide for our needs and the needs of others. Margin is as essential as food, air and water. Without it people begin to wither and die: emotionally, and interpersonally. One serious consequence of not maintaining margin is burnout. Participants take a Burnout Inventory to discover where they are. Through small group and whole group discussion as well as reflection, participants begin to build their own strategy to maintain more margin in their lives.
17. Be An Encourager. Encouraging others is "love with feet on it." This session leads participants through an understanding of why encouragement is so important. They have the opportunity to explore practical ways to encourage others in small groups and the large group. They also write a note of encouragement to someone. Participants leave with a fresh understanding of the incredible results that can come from a small investment of time and energy through encouragement.
18. Wrap-Up. Each workshop concludes with an opportunity for participants to integrate the knowledge and skills they have gained, in order to apply them more effectively. The three areas covered are: a) Assessing their response to the facts presented and skills gained. b) Examining personal issues. c) Considering specific ways to grow in the months ahead, based on the workshop and materials.