ShowMe Healthy Relationships (SMHR)

Impact

Funded Since: 2016 | Total Funding: $16.1 million

Funding Sources: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families

Outcomes

Since 2015, SMHR has provided relationship education to more than 6,000 adults across Missouri, with funding continuing through 2030. Evaluation data collected through 2025 demonstrate meaningful improvements in individual well-being, relationship quality, and family functioning.

Participants report greater relationship confidence, healthier expectations about relationships, stronger communication and decision-making skills, and lower stress and psychological distress. Couples report greater relationship satisfaction, connection, and positive communication, while families experience stronger co-parenting, greater harmony, and less family-related stress.

Together, these outcomes demonstrate SMHR’s impact in helping individuals and families build healthier relationships, strengthen connections, and support long-term well-being.

Program Purpose

ShowMe Healthy Relationships (SMHR) provides evidence-informed relationship education workshops to adults across Missouri. The classes focus on increasing knowledge and skills to recognize, form, and maintain healthy relationships. When adults have healthy relationships, children and families experience greater stability. Evaluation data demonstrates significant gains in multiple areas of personal, relational, and family well-being.

Program Information

ShowMe Healthy Relationships (SMHR) has had ongoing funding from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. It is a partnership between the University of Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri Extension, and several family service agencies around Missouri. SMHR has provided relationship education, free of charge, to over 6000 Missourians and counting. Our goal is to build strong relationships, stable families, and a better Missouri.

From 2015-2020, SMHR provided relationship education programming, to single adults and to adult couples. SMHR’s evidence-informed classes focus on helping participants understand their relationship patterns and gain new skills for healthy and satisfying relationships. During this funding cycle, additional courses in parenting, stepfamily relationships, stress management, and personal finance were also provided.

Since 2020, SMHR’s relationship education courses focus on single adults only. We take a preventative approach to help singles develop healthier relationship expectations and make more intentional choices so that individuals can choose their partners wisely and have healthier relationships from the start, before challenges arise. We actively recruit members of the general public into our project, with an emphasis on reaching those who may have fewer resources and less access to services that support relationships. With our current funding, Missourians 18 years or older who are unmarried are eligible to enroll in our classes.

SMHR is committed to understanding how effectively our programs help participants improve outcomes in personal, family, and relationship well-being. Data gathered since 2015 demonstrate that both singles and couples experience positive benefits after participating in our programs, including improved communication skills, healthier relationship expectations, and reduced stress.

[SMHR] was just what we needed,
when we needed it. Our communication is so much better than before the course.”
SMHR Participant

SMHR Classes

Click the button below to learn more about SMHR’s classes or to register. If you have questions or would like assistance, call 573-882-4325 or 1-888-680-7647 (SMHR) to speak with a program representative.

Learn About SMHR