On this page, I describe the three major programs I offer that are guaranteed to turn terrible marriages into terrific marriages. I've been tempted to break this page up into three pages just to make it easier to navigate. But because these three programs present a logical progression toward a successful outcome, I've kept them together. Try to stick with it until you come to the end.

Program #1: The simplest way to restore love to your marriage

In 1986 I wrote His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-proof Marriage, to help spouses identify and learn to meet each other's most important emotional needs. Six years later I wrote its companion book, Love Busters: Overcoming Habits That Destroy Romantic Love, to help couples avoid hurting each other.

Then, a year later, I wrote 5 Steps to Romantic Love, a workbook to help couples complete the assignments in the chapters of the first two books. It includes contracts, questionnaires, inventories, and worksheets that I've used in my counseling practice.

When couples read these books, answer the questions at the end of each chapter, and complete the assignments found in 5 Steps to Romantic Love, their love for each other is restored, and their marriage becomes terrific. Hundreds of thousands of couples from scores of countries are happily married today because they followed the advice I give in these books.

But the advice I offer must be followed. We all know what it takes to lose weight -- decrease food intake and increase exercise. All that's needed to be slim and trim is to follow a program of moderate eating and exercise. It's all about motivation. Follow the program and you lose weight.

My program of marriage recovery is exactly the same as most weight loss programs. Whenever it's followed, the marriage recovers. I know of no other program of marital recovery that can make that claim. In fact, if you follow the advice of most marriage recovery programs today, your marriage will not recover. That's why a 1995 Consumer's Report survey found marriage counseling to be the least effective form of psychotherapy. Only 16% found the experience to be helpful.

For those who complete my program of marital recovery, 100% find the experience to be more than helpful -- it solves their marital problems. But just like in dieting, the successful outcome depends entirely on motivation. Only those who are not motivated enough to complete the program fail.

So I have created a second program to help motivate couples to complete the lessons of His Need, Her Needs, Love Busters, and Five Steps to Romantic Love.

Program #2: The Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar and Home Study Courses

Part 1: The Online Seminar

One of the biggest motivational problems that some spouses face as they go through the lessons of His Needs, Her Needs and Love Busters is that they don't have the big picture. They don't grasp how each part of the program fits all the other parts. If one spouse doesn't understand how each lesson of these courses helps create a great marriage, how can he or she be motivated to complete the assignments? Where there's poor vision, there's often poor motivation.

So I've provided a way for you to have my entire program of marital recovery explained by me! I do that in the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar where I take you through every one of my Basic Concepts. I try to give you my vision of why they're so important in marriage. And I also provide special encouragement to spouses who are reluctant to do much to improve their marriage. It enables both spouses to form the same vision and understanding of where their marriage should be headed, and gives them added motivation to accomplish it.

But the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar does more than just give you the facts. It also helps you organize the problems you face so that you can solve each of them in a systematic way. By the time the seminar is over, you will have completed numerous questionnaires that are designed to help define your marital goals.

Part 2: The Home Study Courses

The online seminar prepares you for the home study courses I've written to accompany His Needs, Her Needs, Love Busters, and Five Steps to Romantic Love. You identify the problems that must be addressed when you view the online seminar and you solve them when you complete the home study courses.

The two home study courses that I offer are His Needs Her Needs: Habits for a Lifetime of Passion and Love Busters: Overcoming Habits That Destroy Passion. The books, His Needs, Her Needs, Love Busters, and Five Steps to Romantic Love, come with Lesson Assignment booklets and audio CDs, where I personally guide you through each lesson and encourage you to complete it. These two courses are designed to help you understand the problems in your marriage, create plans to change habits that overcome those problems, and then practice those changes until your problems are solved.

The 24 lessons of these two courses cover every conceivable problem that can exist in marriage. And based on your identification of the problems you face when you view the online seminar, you are able to create your own sequence of lessons that focuses attention on your most pressing problems first. In other words, you can customize the order of the lessons to make the courses especially relevant to your marriage.

When a couple completes the assignments of these two courses, their love for each other is restored, and their marriage becomes mutually fulfilling. In fact, I guarantee that outcome when the assignments are completed.

A Word of Caution: Don't spring this on your spouse!

When my wife, Joyce, and I were first married, I bought a product from Honeywell that was intended for newlyweds, but I didn't tell her about it until it arrived in the mail. It was a surprise.

Well, Joyce was not at all pleased when I opened the box. She felt ambushed. We weren't having any problems, but I thought it certainly couldn't hurt. I was wrong.

If that's how Joyce reacted when we were having a terrific relationship, can you imagine how your spouse might react if you are having serious problems. Instead of being encouraged by your interest in your marriage, your spouse might think you are trying to control him or her, and totally reject the idea of taking the courses.

So before you order, be sure that you have your spouse's enthusiastic agreement. If you discuss it with each other, and decide to take these courses together, you will already be practicing one of my very important basic concepts, the Policy of Joint Agreement.

There's even MORE information regarding the home study courses!

If I haven't put you to sleep yet, you may be interested in reading Getting the Most from the Courses and How to Get Started. I wrote these to be read just before couples begin the courses. But you may also find them useful in helping you understand what you will be doing if you decide to enroll.

Even though the courses may be purchased separately, I highly recommend that you use both of them. That's because making each other happy and avoiding what you do to make each other unhappy go hand-in-hand. The solutions to the problems raised in His Needs, Her Needs, provide support for solutions to problems raised in Love Busters, and vice-versa.

It will take you about a year to complete the assignments of both courses. But when you are finished, you will agree with me that it was one of the most valuable educational experiences of your life.

How to Order the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar and Home Study Courses

You may order the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar and the two Home Study Courses separately. But to give you added incentive to order them together, which will help you the most, I am offering you an amazing discount.

Love Busters (12 Lesson Course)
$229.00

In Stock - Available Now!

Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar
$595.00

In Stock - Available Now!

Both Courses
and the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar

Retail $1053.00 - Your Price $397.00

In Stock - Available Now!

As motivating as the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar and Home Study Courses are to some couples, there are others who never view the online seminar or open the boxes that contain the courses after they arrive. Or they only complete a few lessons before they become distracted and stop trying to solve their marital problems. And in most of these cases, it's only one spouse that is unmotivated -- he or she does not see the importance or urgency. I call that poorly motivated spouse the "reluctant" spouse, and I have spent most of my career as a marriage counselor working with that person to get on board.

When both spouses are motivated to solve the problems in their marriage, they are usually able to view the online complete the courses with ease and don't need additional help. But for the rest of those who can't seem to find time to do the lessons, we have yet another level of motivation: The Marriage Builders^® Online Program.

The Marriage Builders^® Online Program is designed to keep you motivated to complete the online seminar and home study courses in the following ways:

1. You are assigned an accountability coach who will guide you through the online seminar and lessons in the home study courses that address your marital goals.

2. Each week we will send by e-mail a survey to document your progress in solving your marital problems.

3. If your survey indicates that you are having problems with any of the lessons, your accountability coach will contact you by telephone to help you overcome those problems.

4. If you have questions or if you need encouragement, you may e-mail or talk to your accountability coach by telephone.

5. Each month, we will evaluate the progress you are making in depositing love units and avoiding their withdrawal by having you complete our Love Bank Inventory. The results will be kept in your permanent file to be revealed to you when the course is completed.

6. If you have a question for me (Dr. Harley) regarding a particular lesson, you may post it on a private section of the Marriage Builders^® Forum. I am usually able to respond in about a day. But before you do, read some of the questions that others have posted for that lesson. I may have already answered it.

How to Register for Marriage Builders^® Online Program

The cost of the Marriage Builders^® Online Program which includes the online seminar, home study courses, and a personal coach to guide you is only $945. If you want to extend the coaching assistance beyond one year, the cost is $595 for an additional year.

You may add the accountability that a coach provides to the Marriage Builders^® Online Seminar and Home Study Courses for $595 after you have purchased them and then discovered that you needed a coach to help you get through the courses.

If you feel that you should have a complete overview of my program delivered by me, and then you should be held accountable to complete the Marriage Builders^® Home Study Courses that will help you solve all of your marital problems, register for the Marriage Builders^® Online Program, by ordering online as shown below or by calling toll-free 1-888-639-1639 (8:00 am to 2:00 pm CT M-F).