*Currently not accepting new clients*

Welcome to Austin Premarital Counseling. Here, it's known that planning for marriage is not just about floral arrangements and seating charts: it’s about creating a strong foundation on which to build the rest of your life. It’s about reaching greater understanding of your relationship and gaining knowledge to sustain a fulfilling life-long marriage. My mission is to help couples accomplish these goals in a supportive, respectful, and relaxed manner.

Mira K. Patel, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Hello!  I am Mira K. Patel, founder and premarital therapist at Austin Premarital Counseling. My interest in familial relationships began in childhood as a bi-racial child living in small town Texas.  My mother from New Zealand and my father from India, I witnessed a culmination of cultures and was fascinated by the nuances of relationships. In 2009, I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies and a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology. In 2013, I earned a Masters in Counseling at Saint Edward’s University. Before opening a private practice in 2014, I worked at Lifeworks providing counseling to underserved populations. During 2017, I attended my own premarital counseling and thought so highly of it I decided to shift my own work’s focus to premarital counseling.

Outside of therapy, I enjoy spending time in nature, swimming, yoga, picnics in the park, surprises, adventures, art, dance, storytelling, and national parks.

Why I do this work:

While working with married couples, I saw how difficult it was to work through years of unresolved hurt, disappointment, and resentment. Gottman (a noted marriage researcher) states that most couples wait six years before seeking therapy. That is years of feeling misunderstood, invalidated, and disconnected from your partner. For me that was way too long. Too long to feel crappy in your relationship, and too long to feel embarrassed or resistant to seek therapy. I decided what was best, as is with most things, would be to work preventatively.

I believe the earlier you spend time learning about yourself, your partner, and your relationship, the earlier you are clear about what you need, your partner needs, and your relationship needs.

Couples that choose to do premarital work gain skills to communicate and navigate conflict effectively. They become comfortable talking about their relationship and its struggles, while also recognizing and highlighting its strengths.

This provides the couple with a solid and stable foundation and sets them off with the needed knowledge and skills to be able to achieve and maintain a healthy, fulfilling, and lasting marriage.

Testimonials

"My fiancé and I would highly recommend any couple who is seeking premarital counseling to definitely go with Mira. I have to admit that I was more apprehensive than my fiancé prior to confirming our sessions with Mira. However, I was encouraged by Mira’s interracial upbringing as my fiancé and I are each interracial and will have an interracial marriage. We booked 11 sessions and we found the process to be constructive, reflective, and transformational that changed our relationship for the better. Mira is non-judgmental and provides a global perspective in session conversations with thoughts or information to consider and practice. Mira is also flexible to a structured session format or just going with the flow to the matters that the couple is going through on the particular session day. My fiancé and I chose to use the SYMBIS assessment which reveals what is most effective to explore the complexities of personality dynamics and longevity of the relationship. Mira also welcomes couples to return for follow-up sessions. After going through this process, it’s one of the best decisions my fiancé and I have made together. If you’re looking for a professional and kind human being to guide a meaningful premarital counseling experience, Mira is the right counselor choice."

“Premarital counseling with Mira has been such a great experience! She has helped guide my partner and I toward healthier and more open communication and helped us both define our goals and expectations for our relationship. Mira is kind, insightful and nonjudgemental. She has created a safe and supportive space for us to explore all aspects of our relationship. She has helped us lay down a strong foundation for a healthy and loving relationship!”

“Highly recommended for young couples seeking premarital counseling. I was skeptical about therapy and counseling prior to seeking Mira. My husband and I initially planned to do the traditional 6 sessions leading up to our wedding day last year. We found the entire process really constructive and changed how my husband and I communicate for the better. We continued to see Mira once a month for an additional year to keep us on track. She is not judgmental and really looks at things from all perspectives. She is open to keeping sessions structured or more open to whatever you feel like working on that day. If anyone is hesitant about doing counseling I really recommend you working with Mira and she will change your life!”

“My wife and I were apprehensive about the idea of marriage counseling, but we were quickly won over by Mira. She is a great counselor and made the process simple and rewarding. Regardless of the current state of your marriage, I would wholeheartedly recommend Mira to anyone who is looking to grow and improve as a couple. She is caring, diligent, and excellent and what she does. This is an investment that is more than worth the time and money.”

“My husband and I weren’t sure what to expect from premarital counseling. However, Mira helped us to feel comfortable throughout the process and her insight/suggestions as we worked through the SYMBIS helped us to improve communication and work through some of the things that we were apprehensive about or needed to focus on in our relationship prior to the wedding. We are so happy that we picked Mira for our premarital counseling!

“We really enjoyed the sessions we had with you, and they prompted some meaningful conversations and we feel you’ve given us some invaluable tools. Thank you for the support as we’ve started this new chapter.”

“Both of us found the experiencing enriching and beneficial. Thank you for all of your work!”

“Thank you for helping us through the transition into marriage. We really felt that without the sessions we would not have been emotionally prepared. I’m very grateful things turned out the way they did. Thank you so so much!”

"I really appreciate everything you have done for me, my marriage and my family. Words really cannot express how thankful and appreciative I am. My life is truly changed forever and I have you to thank for all of it. "

"Thank you Mira. Everything you have done means more than you'll ever know."

"Thank you so much for all your help. The situation really has improved from when we started!"