{"id":16710,"date":"2025-07-26T20:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T20:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=16710"},"modified":"2025-07-26T20:20:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T20:20:37","slug":"healthy-relationships-were-discussed-at-the-ghdt-worship-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/26\/healthy-relationships-were-discussed-at-the-ghdt-worship-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Relationships Were Discussed at the GHDT Worship Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Jim Snodgrass and Valerie Simmons-Walston, EdD, lead the panel discussion on mental health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Jefferson D\u00edaz<\/em>
\nThe Truth Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n

As part of the 20th Annual African American Festival and sponsored by the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union, a panel on healthy relationships was held on Friday, July 19, at the GHDT Worship Center in Toledo.<\/p>\n

The women on the panel were: Sheula Eason, CEO and founder of Elevate People Solutions; Debora Banks, LSW, COO of Joan Marie; Sabrina Harris, CFO, Lancaster County; La\u2019Shardae Scott, PhD, CEO of the SCOTT Center for Observation Treatment and Transition; Ashley Benson, PhD, VP Student Affairs Lourdes University; Roslyn Clemons, director Housing and Community Development, City of Toledo.<\/p>\n

The male panelists were: Mike Armour, community advocate, Willie, McKether, PhD, UT; Cecil Holston, One Person at a Time; Craig Burny, Vintage Lifestyle; Michael Day, Jr, House of Day; Terry Crosby, Taylor Automotive; Anthony Amison, Redeemed Fitness.<\/p>\n

The panelists were led by Valerie Simmons-Walston, EdD, and Jim Snodgrass, who began the discussion by asking what were the essential elements of a healthy relationship and how one should choose a partner to share their life with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing we must have is communication. Without communication, everything falls apart,\u201d said Holston, who added that all relationships should have a space where \u201ceach person can retreat and have time alone to reflect on their decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The debate grew increasingly intense when the obligations within a marriage and how both men and women should fulfill them came up.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach person in a relationship should seek the other’s growth. Our partners should be an essential part of our success,\u201d commented Benson.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupport should be mutual. Both men and women need a relationship where each partner can establish a safe space,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n

The discussion led to a lot of common ground among those present regarding what a healthy relationship should look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s also a generational gap that needs to be taken into account. Couples in the past were more focused on traditional roles within a marriage than couples today,\u201d commented McKether.<\/p>\n

The conversation lasted two hours, ending with Simmons and Walston urging those present to reflect the lessons learned from the evening in each of their relationships, saying it was important to “find moments like this, moments of connection, where we can talk and move forward with our partners.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jefferson D\u00edaz The Truth Reporter As part of the 20th Annual African American Festival and sponsored by the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union, a panel on healthy relationships was held on Friday, July 19, at the GHDT Worship Center in Toledo. The women on the panel were: Sheula Eason, CEO and founder of Elevate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[303],"class_list":["post-16710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16714,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16710\/revisions\/16714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16710"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=16710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}