What is the purpose of premarital counseling?
The purpose of premarital counseling is to prepare you, your partner, and your relationship for the commitment you are about to embark. It’s about reaching greater understanding of your relationship and gaining knowledge to sustain a fulfilling life-long marriage.
What do you learn in premarital counseling?
What you learn in premarital counseling is specific to your relationship. You learn more about yourself and your partner, and your needs as individuals and as partners in the relationship. You learn what is important to you and what is important to your partner. You learn communication skills to allow you both to be more honest, clear, and direct with one another. You gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your partner in regards to feelings and needs.
Do you suggest it for every couple? Or just those with concrete issues?
Every couple can benefit from premarital counseling. Research shows attending premarital counseling or education lowers couples rate of divorce by 31% and increases marital satisfaction and fulfillment by 30%.
Premarital counseling is preventative work. I fully support going to marriage counseling. However, I hold the opinion that the earlier you work on your relationship, the earlier you learn healthy ways of dealing with your existing and potential issues and the earlier you avoid unhealthy and damaging patterns in your relationship.
What if we are already married? Or are getting remarried? Or never want to get married?
I work with couples that are in the planning stages of commitment and early stages of commitment in their relationship. This can be couples who are considering marriage, engagement or commitment, couples that are newly engaged, couples who are in their first three years of marriage, couples who are recently committed, and couples that are previously married and blending a family.
Do you suggest couples come to you with specific concerns?
Yes, please. You know your relationship best. You will get the most out of premarital counseling if you reflect on your relationship and come to session with identified areas that you would like to discuss.
On average, how many sessions do you suggest? What if I can’t commit to that many? What if we want more?
It takes about six to eight sessions to get through the SYMBIS assessment results and another two to five to discuss the existing and potential issues in the relationship. Every situation is different, if you are in a time crunch, you can schedule multiple sessions a week or longer sessions. If you have more time, but money is tight, you can spread the sessions out over time. All in all, I am flexible. I care about this work and genuinely want you to get the counseling and knowledge needed to prepare you for this new chapter of your life.
Is the counseling religious based?
No, not at all. The SYMBIS does assess spirituality. We will discuss spirituality as it relates to your relationship whether you are religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheist. All beliefs will be respected.
Are there downsides to premarital counseling?
Premarital counseling may bring up issues that are causing conflict or being avoided by a couple. Though this may be difficult in the moment, learning to resolve conflict is an essential skill needed for marriage.
Do you work with individuals?
Yes, I often work with one partner of a couple that is currently in premarital or couples counseling. Sometimes when a couple goes to premarital or couples counseling, an individual issue is identified and one partner is referred to a therapist to do this individual work. I also work with individuals who want to be in a relationship, but aren’t quite sure what they want in a relationship or have a history of relationships that didn’t work out. Typically these clients are looking to work on themselves in relation to being in a relationship and get clear about what type of relationship they want to be in and look and what is blocking this from existing.
What is the pricing? Do you accept insurance? Do you offer sliding scale sessions?
50 minute couples session $175
50 minute individual session $155
I do not accept insurance at this time. All payments are done online by credit or debit card.
Although I do not accept insurance, I can provide a monthly superbill that may be submitted to insurance for reimbursement.
I do keep a few sliding scale/reduced rate sessions on my schedule. Please email me if sliding scale is needed.