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Marriage Counseling Services
Most people are not aware about the range of services marriage counselors can do for them. This is not surprising; generally, couples don't think of marriage counseling until their marriage is in a crisis or is on the brink of divorce. And because marriage counseling is typically seen as a last resort, the services associated with it are limited to either marital conflict management or divorce mediation. But marriage counseling services go beyond these two.
Marriage counseling is a professional relationship with the goal of creating healthy marriages. With this in mind, marriage counseling assists during all stages of marital life: pre-marriage, marriage and if staying together is impossible, after separation. While the primary client is the couple as a unit, marriage counseling is also offered to individuals who need help handling marital issues.
The following are some of the marriage counseling services that are typically offered:
Preparing for Marriage. Marriage counselors can help couples in discerning if marriage is the next step to take in their relationship. If you have significant reservations about committing to your partner, it's always a good idea to consult with a marriage counselor. Counseling can help identify areas of compatibility and areas of potential conflict in a marriage. The counselor can also empower a couple with knowledge and skills that can help them navigate married life better.
Enriching Marriage. When people hear the term marriage enrichment, the first thing they think about is the ME movement, where couples go on facilitated retreats to engage with other couples and learn more about each other. But marriage enrichment can also be accomplished in the clinical setting. Counselors can help couples get to know their partners better, understand marital life, and develop greater closeness and intimacy. A couple not experiencing significant marital problems, but would like growth in their relationship, can benefit from marriage counseling.
Resolving Marital Issues. This is the most common service marriage counselors provide. Clients go to a counselor with concern or dissatisfaction in the relationship and counselors helps the couple to address it. Presenting problems could be anything, and can vary in seriousness and intensity. Issues commonly taken to marriage counselors include falling out of love, an intolerable personality trait of a spouse, disagreement on issues, infidelity, parenting, in-laws, substance abuse, and even violent behavior.
The exact service a marriage counselor provides depends on the couple's particular situation, the goals they want to achieve in counseling, and each party's readiness to change. The length and number of the sessions also depend on these factors.
Some marriage counselors facilitate the ventilation of feelings, as well as the communication of feelings between spouses. This means helping each one express their view of the situation and making sure the other person understood their partner's side exactly. Some counselors help couples in identifying the issues the couple needs to work on, and draft options and solutions for their situation. Other counselors teach couples how to negotiate and fight well, so that they can start resolving their issues on their own. Other counselors are focused on enhancing the intimacy between the couple.
Depending on the couple's situation, marital counseling can be conducted alongside individual counseling. This happens when the couple's marriage can be best assisted if the partners deal with personal issues first.
Sex Counseling. A specialized service in marriage counseling is sex counseling. This is assistance focused on helping couples communicate their sexual needs to their partner and enrich the sexual aspect of their married life. It can also address the emotional and mental blocks to sexual intimacy. Note though that not all marriage counselors have specialized training in sex counseling.
Christian Marriage Counseling. If you're a Christian couple who prefers faith-based rather than secular marriage counseling, there are marriage counselors who integrate spirituality and pastoral care in their assistance. Christian marriage counselors use a church-based and/or Biblical framework in counseling.
Divorce Mediation. Some marriage counselors offer a specialized service called divorce mediation. This is psychological assistance for couples where one or both have made the decision to part ways. Most divorce mediators also offer legal advice.
The goals of divorce mediation vary depending on the orientation of the professional. Some mediators provide interventions that are geared to save the marriage if saving the marriage is possible. Other mediators act as facilitators to ensure that the divorce is amicable instead of adversarial. Some counselors offer a debriefing function: a way for the couple to process what happened in their marriage so that they can prevent it from happening again. Others help the couple deal with the break-up and if the couple has children, re-define their new family structure.