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Featured in: Dating, Courtship, Marriage
In the Baha’i teachings marriage is referred to as “a fortress for wellbeing” and family is considered a fundamental and indispensable unit of society and the mainstay of community life.
Relationship and marriage educator Susanne Alexander is the heart behind the Transformation Learning Center, an online school which offers courses to empower individuals, couples, parents and families. Susanne is a veteran contributor to Baha’i Blog and she has written several articles about marriage, relationships and aspects of striving to live a Baha’i life. In this interview, I’m thrilled to hear about her efforts to establish and run the Transformation Learning Centre, and all that it offers!
Can you please tell us about the Transformation Learning Center (TLC)?
We offer a growing selection of Zoom-based and self-directed online learning courses that are spiritual or virtues-based, Baha’i-inspired, or Baha’i-quotation-based. The courses offer opportunities to be involved in learning about relationships, marriage, parenting, and family topics from wherever people are located. The online course content and the facilitators accompany people in building knowledge and skills to apply in person, so they build friendships, relationships, marriages, and communities in healthy ways.
TLC (which also could stand for “tender, loving care”) is an outreach service of my company Marriage Transformation (www.marriagetransformation.com), which has been developing relationship and marriage education materials for over 21 years. I see a major gap in the world in people learning how to have excellent marriages and families that contribute to strengthening the social fabric of society. The courses are welcoming to Baha’is, their friends and family members, and to people seeking spiritual ways to address personal growth and relationship-building.
What types of courses do you offer and who facilitates them?
We have been growing a team of facilitators from several countries so that whenever possible, we can offer learning groups that serve most time zones. Several of the facilitators are professional coaches and counsellors, and we are also gaining people who are passionate about this topic and are willing to learn how to facilitate it.
Most of the course units include components such as quotations, informative subject-related content, videos, articles, arts (music; activities), practical application activities, and reflection/consultation questions. Most courses also include a resources section with materials for additional learning and reference.
Our most popular “live” courses are the “Foundations for Healthy Relationships” ones for individuals and early-stage couples interested in preparing themselves for relationships and marriages. The courses are a way to make new friends, equip those working with junior youth and youth with the Baha’i teachings on these topics, and prepare people to form marriages. We have completed two runs of this course in 2025 for 18-39 year olds and one for ages 35 and up. Starting October 19th, we will offer the 18-39-year-old course again (registration is open).
We have a course to accompany members of Baha’i institutions and those they appoint as they serve couples called “Assemblies and Challenged Marriages”. It assists with supporting marriages in difficulty, and it also includes how to prevent marriages from becoming challenged. Professionals in the marriage and family field facilitate skill-building and ways to approach difficult situations. The next course begins on October 19 (registration is open).
Our popular self-directed learning options available for registration all the time that are Baha’i-based include “Becoming Parents: A Baby on the Way” for pregnant mothers and fathers, and “Choosing Time Together” that assists couples with living a coherent life and setting time priorities that protect their marriage. We also offer “Becoming Whole” for women to heal from difficult relationship experiences, and “Self-Respect and Confidence” for men. The latter two are virtues-based and for a general audience. The “Foundations for Healthy Relationships” and the “Assemblies and Challenged Marriages” courses both have a self-directed learning version.
Upcoming live courses are one for married and engaged couples on “Friendship, Love, and Service”; an individual growth one on “Unlock the Power of Truthfulness”; and a series for men facilitated by men based on the book Be Brave and Arise: My Life Quest As a Baha’i Man.
How do the teachings of the Baha’i Faith inform the materials of the courses?
As a long-time Baha’i, I’m always looking for ways people can do practical application of the Faith’s teachings. Whenever new guidance becomes available, courses are edited to align with it, for example, the 19 March 2025, letter from the Universal House of Justice on family life and marriage. Applicable quotations are included in the courses that are appropriate, and courses with discussion groups explore how to apply the spiritual principles to the topic. Many of the courses also include research-based source material to promote the harmony of science and religion.
What is a challenge and a victory that you’ve experienced with your work?
A team of us successfully pioneered online education on these topics for 8 years through the Wilmette Institute, an agency of the US National Spiritual Assembly. When the Institute changed its program focus, those offerings stopped. It’s been a challenging shift to offer these courses as an independent business without its mailing list and administrative structure. People are beginning to find us, though! I think we are also still in the period of joy and relief of being able to be in person with people post-COVID, so online learning has been less in demand. Our focus, though, is on accompanying people so they are more effective with in-person activities.
Where can people find out more?
The home page for TLC has a form to sign up for our newsletter to be notified of upcoming courses and events. It’s our plan to reach a broader audience than just Baha’is, although most of our current learners are Baha’is and their friends. I welcome hearing about what courses people would like us to offer. People can reach me at [email protected]. Here’s the website: www.transformationlearningcenter.com
Thank you very much, Susanne, for telling us all about the Transformation Learning Center and its important offerings!
You can find out more about the Transformation Learning Center by visiting its website.
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