507 Serious illness and disability are among the greatest challenges couples face, yet often shame, anger, guilt, burnout, and isolation can undermine their partnership just when they need each other the most. This workshop will present a resilience-based, family-systems illness model to address the core issues couples face in overcoming our culture's deficit-oriented view of illness. The presenter will offer guidelines to help partners mobilize themselves, view the illness experience as "our challenge," and seize opportunities for relational healing and growth. Participants will learn concrete skills to help couples maintain intimacy in the face of caregiving demands, overcome gender-role expectations, grieve together the loss of life dreams and goals when necessary, and counteract relationship imbalances that can emerge during the course of an illness.