Dr. Rick Marks is the founder the RelateWell Institute and creator of RelateWell, a research based curriculum that teaches anyone (youth, singles, dating, and marrieds) the essential skills and principles for healthy loving and mature relationships. 

Since 2004 he has led a monthly faith-based relational intensive, as well as individual marriage intensives, using the RelateWell process, with highly distressed couples with 85% still being together and reporting marital satisfaction after a year of completing the intensive program. Dr. Marks is also an ordained minister has conducted relationship seminars for singles, youth, and marriages for over 25 years for varying denominational churches including Catholic, mainstream protestant as well as evangelical. Dr, Marks has served as a chaplains assistant for 12 years in the US Navy, senior manager in psychiatric hospitals, private practice, Assistant Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy teaching graduate students, Director of counseling and family ministry at a 25,000 member church, and served as the Special Assistant for Marriage and Fatherhood for Governor Brownback in Kansas, in addition to serving four years as a Commissioner for the Florida Commission on Marriage and Family Support Initiatives.

Dr. Marks has been married to Louella since 1984 and they have three healthy and mature adult children. Dr. Marks was raised in a brokenhome where emotional, verbal, and physical abuse existed. He developed an addictive personality and was deeply insecure. After coming to the Christian faith when he was 17, right out of high school, he enlisted in the US Navy as a chaplain’s assistant. This is where his interest and love for counseling began to take root and blossom. This is when he met Louella, who also came from a broken home where abuse and alcoholism dominated. Two wounded people found each other, fell in love, and married. Yet, neither knew about healthy mature love.  They were forced to learn this out of their own marital journey.  Fortunately, they did and passed these skills and principles on to their children and to others in the profession.

Dr. Rick teaches emotionally healthy leadership seminars and workshops for businesses and has had the opportunity to serve Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Metal Treating Association, American Bakers Association, Blastcraft, a John Deere company in Wisconsin, and others.  He teaches work teams the principles and skills to function at optimal levels, reduce stress, increase teamwork and reduce conflict and increase focused.

Dr. Rick has been on numerous local and national media outlets such as a regular on The Chat (NBC12 in Jacksonville); a relationship and marriage expert for Channel 4 The Morning Show, 700 Club, as well as a weekly radio show titled Real Talk with Dr. Rick on a local station in Jacksonville.

Additionally, Dr. Rick trains therapists and counselors using the RelateWell process to aid them and empower the couple with the emotional andrelational skills needed for a loving and thriving marriage. This can be found at www.relatewellinstitute.com 

 He looks forward to serving you as well and passing on what he has learned so you might benefit from his thinking, innovation and experiences.