Premarital Counseling – Start Strong!
Premarital Counseling can help couples:
- Identify relationship strengths that help to weather times of stress
- Identify areas of potential difficulty so they can be addressed early on
- Enhance communication and conflict resolution skills
- Resolve past issues that may interfere in the current relationship
- Prepare for joining two families into a Step-family
- Learn essential tools for parenting step-children
- Identify issues that are particular to those marrying later in life
I offer three options that can be tailored to the needs of each couple. These services can be provided separately or in concert with the others.
- Option 1 includes the use of the PREPARE/ENRICH couples inventory and program. It is a program based on a set of five inventories that examines the major relationship issues a couple may experience in their life together. This program is tailored to specific situations such as first-time marriages, those who are currently living together, or those who are creating a step-family. The inventory highlights relationship strengths and areas for growth, helps couples strengthen communication skills, and aids the development of goals for the future.
- Option 2 is issue-specific and relates to couples who have one or two particular issues they would like to resolve before engagement or marriage. The number of sessions are determined as part of the treatment planning process in the first session.
- Option 3 focuses on the most common obstacles couples face in the first years of marriage and the recipe successful couples identify for a lasting satisfying marriage. After completing a Genogram that looks at important family patterns, time is spent on identifying future expectations and developing relationship goals. Other topics include the most common habits of successful couples, and common relationship pitfalls and ways to avoid them. There is also time to cover topics such as: dealing with finances, communication, conflict resolution, intimacy, religion and spirituality, and division of labor. Short readings and homework assignments aid in the learning process.
Why invest in Premarital Counseling?
Thousands of dollars and immeasurable time and energy are spent preparing for the details of the wedding ceremony and celebration while few resources are spent on learning the essentials for getting a marriage started on the right track. Even those getting married for the second or third time assume the love they feel during the engagement will be sufficient to weather the storms life brings to us all. While nearly 50% of first time marriages end in divorce, 20% of these marriages end in the first three years of marriage. This suggests that few engaged couples anticipate the conflicts they will encounter in their marriage. Couples happily married for many years will tell you that love is never enough. While those who research marital success say that starting a marriage off right is essential for a healthy and lasting relationship.