“Lesson 190—Building Healthy Relationships: Creating Strong Connections with Family and Friends,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)
“Building Healthy Relationships,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Lesson 190—Physical and Emotional Health
Building Healthy Relationships
Creating Strong Connections with Family and Friends
Heavenly Father wants us to love Him and those around us. As we develop close connections with family and friends, we can be blessed with needed comfort, strength, and support during both calm and challenging times. This lesson can help students seek the Lord’s help to establish relationships that contribute to their overall health and well-being.
Possible Learning Activities
What matters most?
Consider inviting students to list on the board the things they feel matter most in life.
Display the following statement and invite a student to read it.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, then of the First Presidency, taught about things that matter most:
Of Things That Matter Most
As we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek His wisdom regarding the things that matter most, we learn over and over again the importance of four key relationships: with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Of Things That Matter Most,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 21)
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What do you learn from President Uchtdorf’s statement?
Invite students to circle phrases they wrote on the board that show our relationships with God and others are among the things that matter most in life. If necessary, add “our relationships with God and others” to the list on the board.
Explain that this lesson will focus on our relationships with others. Invite students to think about some of their current relationships and whether these relationships bring them closer to God and provide them with the strength and support they need in their lives. They can also ponder how the Lord may want them to strengthen existing relationships or develop new ones.
Our relationships
Distribute the handout titled “Examples of Meaningful Relationships in Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants,” and invite students to look for evidence of the following truth: One way God can bless our lives and strengthen our faith is through meaningful relationships with others. (You may want to write this truth on the board.)
Consider ways to help students use the handout. One way is to organize them into groups of three and assign each group member to study one of the examples on the handout. When students are finished studying their example, encourage them to take turns sharing with their group what they learned about how God can bless us through our relationships with others.
Examples of Meaningful Relationships in Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants
Example 1
After his visit to the Hill Cumorah in September 1823, Joseph Smith shared details about his experience and the angel Moroni’s visits with his family. Joseph continued to share his experiences and visions with those closest to him. Recalling these sacred encounters, the Prophet’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, recorded the following:
Every evening we gathered our children together. I think that we presented the most peculiar aspect of any family that ever lived upon the earth, all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons, and daughters listening in breathless anxiety to the religious teachings of a boy. …
… The sweetest union and happiness pervaded our house. No jar nor discord disturbed our peace, and tranquility reigned in our midst. (Lucy Mack Smith, in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 486)
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What stands out to you about the Smith family from this account?
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How might the love Joseph felt at home have helped him fulfill his important calling?
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What do you learn from this example about how God can bless you, or how you can help others be blessed, through meaningful relationships?
Example 2
While living in Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith reflected on the benefits of meaningful relationships:
I would esteem it one of the greatest blessings, if I am to be afflicted in this world, to have my lot cast where I can find brothers and friends all around me. (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 466)
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How can family and friends help us when we are experiencing difficult challenges?
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What are some other ways family and friends can bless our lives?
Example 3
Read Doctrine and Covenants 108:7, looking for counsel the Lord gave to Lyman Sherman of the Seventy.
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Why might it sometimes be difficult to follow this counsel?
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When have you felt strengthened or uplifted by an interaction with another person?
Invite students to share with the class what they learned and how God can bless us through our relationships.
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What have you learned about the value of developing meaningful relationships with others in your life?
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How can building and strengthening relationships with others affect our relationship with God as well as our overall health and well-being?
Relationship building
You may want to spend time discussing relationship-building skills. Consider providing a blank strip of paper for every student. Encourage them to write at least one thing that could help someone develop or strengthen a relationship with another person. Collect the strips of paper and read several aloud to the class. If needed, share some or all of the following ideas with students.
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Look for common interests.
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Learn and use people’s names.
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Smile.
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Carefully listen while others talk.
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Sincerely praise and compliment people.
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Avoid judging or fault finding.
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Show genuine interest.
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Pray for people by name.
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Seek charity.
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Be patient.
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Look for service opportunities.
Consider giving students time in class to practice some of these relationship-building skills. The following example could be helpful if students do not know each other’s names very well. If your students already know each other’s names, consider choosing a different skill to practice.
Define: Explain that using people’s names is a helpful skill for building healthy relationships. Explain that the Lord calls us by our names (see Genesis 35:10; Luke 19:5; Enos 1:5; Joseph Smith—History 1:17). Consider asking students how it makes them feel when others know and call them by name.
Model: Inform students that they will be challenged to learn each other’s names and call each other by name. Explain that one way to remember people’s names is to write them down and review them. As you name each member of the class, invite students to write down any names they did not know.
It can also be helpful to ask students what gets in the way of remembering people’s names and how they might overcome these obstacles.
Practice: Give students a few minutes to review the names they have written. Then allow them to practice. You might put them in pairs and see if they can work together to name everyone in the class. Ask who can name everyone in the class by themselves, and if someone can, invite them to do it. If an additional challenge is appropriate, invite students to change where they sit, and then see if students can still name everyone.
If time permits, select an additional skill. For example, invite students to find things they have in common with others. They can work with someone in the room they do not normally work with and ask each other questions to discover common interests. They can then move to another student to repeat the practice. (To combine both skills, encourage students to call each other by name in the process.)
Personal application
Consider testifying of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for each student. Bear witness that God can bless and strengthen their lives through the meaningful relationships they seek to develop and nurture. You might also share an example of being blessed and strengthened by a relationship in your own life.
Invite students to seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to do the following:
Think about how the Lord may want to help you strengthen an existing relationship or develop a new one. Using what you learned today, make a plan to deepen your connection with this person. Include how you will turn to the Lord for help in this process.