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Company History

SYMC is a multi-faceted organization which encompasses my coaching practice, the training of coaches in SYMC methods, and an extensive volunteer organization. Each of these entities within SYMC has a specific focus and they intertwine to create an amazing web of service that is greater than the sum of its parts. SYMC has two separate parts. The first is SYMC, Inc. a for profit entity under which I operate my coaching practice, Lifeworks Coaching Services and the SYMC School of Coaching. The second is SYMC Global Village a 501c3 not for profit organization which advocates for marriage worldwide. The Global Village hosts our online discussion forum, trains and administers our volunteer services and sponsors Marriage Fidelity Day and promotes marriage in many other large and small ways.

Lifeworks Coaching Services was founded in April of 2002. Its inception was as a coaching practice with the singular goal of helping couples salvage their marriages following the ravages of infidelity, the frustration of neglect or the terror of abuse . In August of that year Save Your Marriage Central was born as an informational website which promoted the concepts of my methods for saving marriages.

In October of 2002 I launched the first SYMC free newsletter which is published periodically and contains in depth articles relating to marriage. By the end of 2002 there were more than 100 subscribers to the newsletter. At this time the newsletter has evolved into an eZine. In April of 2004 editorship was handed over to a team of PR and writing experts who began revamping it and positioning the eZine as a marketing tool for SYMC its products and services. These professionals are part of the SYMC network of volunteers.

My coaching practice grew from only a handful of paying clients at the end of 2002 to more than 35 at the end of 2003. Clients found me through my website and through my participation at an online forum for saving marriages where I volunteered my time and honed my skills. Many were referred by satisfied clients whose marriages improved drastically as they worked with me.

I created the SYMC R&D Team in July or August of 2003 to gather input and ideas on different projects and initiatives I was toying with. The team languished towards the end of 2003 and has very recently been revived. It is now under the administrative management of one the SYMC volunteers.

Somewhere around September 2003 things began to snowball. First was the lightning bolt out of nowhere as I watched couples in need reaching out to anyone and everyone who would support and aid them in their journey. Saving a marriage takes more than a coaching session, more than a book, and more than just the two partners working at it. It takes a village to save a marriage - it takes care and support and advocacy by many many people and by society as a whole.

About the same time, as I was thunderstruck by that thought, I was sending off yet another email to someone whose advice I valued and counted on when pondering a particular issue, when I was hit again. The SYMC Board of Advisors was born. Originally it consisted of experts in various fields. Today we have two separate advisor groups. The first is a closed Board of Advisors, trusted colleagues and professionals whose background, knowledge, thoughtfulness and insights are invaluable to the direction of SYMC. Second are consulting advisors who give input on specific areas of interest such as technology or marketing.

Within weeks of those events I was working with a particular couple who were also being unofficially mentored by a woman I knew through my participation in the as an online volunteer. A desire to coordinate our efforts in order to do even better work for this couple was the spark of creation for the SYMC School of Coaching. It began as a training curriculum for marriage mentors who would work in conjunction with coaching clients in order to craft a web of support for their efforts in doing the hard work of personal growth and positive change in their marriages. Within weeks I had four students enrolled in the Mentor Training Program and six by the end of the year.

Initially I envisioned the program as a training ground for marriage healing concepts and strategies. I hoped to coordinate with another school of coaching to offer the coaching piece in collaboration with an established entity. As time went on and I supervised the work of the mentors in training I found that I was teaching coaching concepts as much or more as marriage concepts. Another thunderbolt in the middle of the night and the Mentoring Program died and rose again as the SYMC School of Coaching, the first in the world to offer training in both disciplines. The school launched officially in March of 2004.

We continue to add to our extensive list of class offerings. We have invited experts in a variety of fields to teach SoC students. Examples are classes about domestic abuse, the effects of pornography on intimate relationships, nutrition and fitness, and mental illness and when to refer a coaching client for therapy. Classes are taught using the teleclass forum. The new class schedule will premier in the fall of 2004.

The SoC also hosts teleclasses for the general public on topics of interest. The infidelity series is a five session class. In addition we have a former victim of domestic abuse turned survivor, advocate, and educator discussing the hallmarks of violence in the home. We offer a nutrition and diet class which covers things such as the effects of stress in troubled relationships and how diet can help.

During the same time period, fall of 2003, one of the new Board of Advisor members volunteered to create, host, and moderate a Yahoo! Group where I could have a forum for daily writings and reminders. The SYMC yahoo group is geared more to the maintenance and enrichment of marriage than towards healing from trauma or infidelity. There are more than 100 members of the group.

In February 2004 we started a support group for women who were separated from their spouses due to the mate's ongoing infidelity. This group was designed to move our clients' attention and focus away from the painful obsessions regarding the affair and onto lighter topics. It also gave these women a space to connect with other women who were advocates for their marriage. The group structure was such that each meeting's topics were chosen and led by one of the group members, thereby giving them more material for occupying their thoughts away from painful circumstances.

In April of 2004 we extended the scope of the group to include any women who were interested in participating and renamed it SYMC Girls' Night Out. A similar group for men is being discussed.

Sometime over the winter of 2003 I came across an article about a national day of awareness for womenís heart disease. The symbol, printed on t-shirts and made into jewelry, was a beautiful red dress. It was so striking in its difference from the plethora of ribbons used to designate awareness for everything from breast cancer to AIDS. The more I saw it the more I was convinced that we needed an awareness day of some sort to promote marriage and family. The media glamorization of infidelity as a love story has always rankled and when the two crossed in my mind the idea for a National Marriage Fidelity Day took form.

Marriage Fidelity Day promotes marriage and fidelity to the promises the partners made to each other in their wedding vows. The focus is on those who have remained faithful and the very real possibility of healing once infidelity has struck. The awareness day encourages average people to take a stand against infidelity in their families, churches, workplace, and in the media. For 2004 we will work to have the day proclaimed as such by individual states, and then to make it a national campaign in 2005. This project is being headed by a SYMC volunteers with experience in political grassroots activism.

As part of the grassroots activism we are also developing the idea of local SYMC chapters. These groups will advocate for marriage and the family by speaking at local events, writing their legislators, taking a stand when they see marriages threatened by affairs, being an educational outreach to professional communities, and lending an helping hand to couples they know who are struggling and in need of support.

I am currently working with a local television producer on a DVD which will discuss the issues of marriage and infidelity. In it I will talk about the process for ending an affair and healing the marriage. When we finish short clips will be available on the website for free and the full recording will be for sale.

The Global Village is a network of volunteers that advocate for and support marriage around the world. In January 2004 I hosted an informational teleclass outlining my vision of the Village and begging for volunteers. From that call weíve added members around the US and into Canada. The effort is headed and administered by a Volunteer Coordinator.

The Village is now a not for profit organization, a separate entity in its own right. The SoC collaborates with the not for profit entity to provide mentors as part of the package of coaching services. This adds to the level of support we can offer and brings to life our vision of the village as a powerful force in helping couples heal their marriages . There is a minimal additional fee for mentors which goes directly back into creating opportunities for others in need.

Some of the accomplishments of the Village to date:

• Provided temporary housing to a straying spouse working to end an affair
• Creation and maintenance of the Village Gathering, our online discussion forum
• Creation and maintenance of a lending library
• Donation of clothing to a betrayed spouse in financial need
• Donation of books to a betrayed spouse
• Provided temporary housing for a betrayed partner in need of someplace safe as she initiated a Protection Phase Separation
• Training and administration of the EI program
• Training and administration of the Mod Squad - moderators at our online discussion forum
• Numerous volunteer hours working to do whatever is needed to assist couples in crisis
• Marriage Fidelity Day national drive

SYMC is a dynamic, growing and changing entity. The inner core of advisors and volunteers is deeply involved in the process of recruiting more members and taking leadership roles throughout the organization. As we grow and evolve, the dream of changing the face of how marriages are healed worldwide will become more and more a reality. And perhaps, one day, the need for an organization such as SYMC will cease to exist.

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