Premarital Counseling
Tools and Skills to Make Happily Ever After Your Reality
You have found the person you love. Now you want to make sure it lasts.
You have found “the one” and now you are looking at taking the next steps in commitment. For some couples, this means they are looking at getting engaged in the near future or already are engaged. For other couples, this might be looking at moving in together or wanting to be sure they are using the season of dating to create a solid foundation for a long-term, happy, healthy relationship.
Whatever the next step is for your relationship, premarital counseling can help you feel confident that you have the insight, tools, and skills to make a relationship last.
Don’t let the name confuse you. While many people come to premarital counseling when they are engaged (hence the name), premarital counseling can help people of any marital status invest in the health and success of your relationship. If your relationship is at a place where both partners are wanting to invest in deepening and strengthening your bond, then premarital counseling is for you.
A strong foundation for the path ahead.
Premarital counseling is designed to help you explore the questions that you might not know to ask, to navigate relationship concerns that might get pushed aside, and to provide you with the tools and skills to navigate the challenges that many relationships will face. We don’t get a class or a manual on how to make relationships work and sometimes it can feel confusing or overwhelming to know how to have a healthy relationship.
Premarital counseling provides you with the resources you need to have a relationship that not only survives the test of time but also thrives along the way.
We often go to a doctor for primary care visits even when we are healthy. Premarital counseling is very similar in that by investing in the health of our relationship, even before big problems occur, we can help avoid a lot of these problems from ever showing up.
Based on research about what makes relationships happy and successful as well as principles from evidence-based approaches to couples therapy (the Gottman Method and Emotion Focused Couples Therapy), you will leave this program with new insights, resources, and confidence that you can take the next step towards commitment with confidence.
This program is both structured and customizable. That means that you will benefit from guidance related to the topics that are likely to be the most impactful for your relationship as well as the customization to explore the topics most important to you.
How it Works
Step 1 - The Assessment: Premarital counseling starts with you completing the Prepare/Enrich Relationship Assessment. This relationship assessment is a strengths-based assessment that provides us with an overview of your relationship, the strengths that make your relationship unique and wonderful, as well as the areas that might benefit from a little extra care.
Step 2 - Getting to Know You and Your Relationship: In our first session, I will review these results with you. We can use this data, along with your goals for your relationship, to create a plan for our future sessions.
I also meet with each member of the couple 1:1 during our second session. This allows me to get to know each of you as individuals as well as a partnership, to understand the strengths that you bring to your relationship, and to understand how I can best support you in the process of investing in your relationship.
Step 3 - A Plan Customized to You: This structure helps you to make sure you know the areas that will most benefit your relationship to explore so that you can move forward towards deep commitment with confidence.
Customized to Your Unique Relationship
While structure helps create confidence, I recognize that no two relationships are the same. That is why we will create a plan for our sessions that is tailored to meet your needs.
Common topics that are often discussed in premarital counseling include:
Trust and Commitment
Relationship Values and Roles
Maintaining Friendship and Emotional Connection
Healthy Communication
Effective Conflict Resolution
Navigating Stressors and Support
Healthy Boundaries
Finding Balance in Relationships and Life
Sex and Intimacy
Religion, Beliefs, and Spirituality
Parenting
Finances
We can cover all these topics, select the ones that feel the most important to you at this stage of your relationship, or even add on additional topics. This is your space to be able to invest in your relationship.
Customization also means that there is no one right way to have a healthy relationship. A key part of our sessions is helping you to discover your needs, how to meet your partner’s needs, and what a healthy relationship looks like for you. I will bring the expertise in the form of tools, skills, and information on what helps relationships succeed and you bring the expertise of what it means to be happy, connected, and thriving in your relationship.
Deepen the understanding, connection and bond you share with your partner
Heal emerging areas of tension before they become big problems
Feel confident taking the next steps toward commitment
Premarital Counseling can help you to:
“To make a relationship last couples must become better friends, learn to manage conflict, and create ways to support each other’s hopes and dreams”. - Dr. John Gottman
Frequently Asked Questions about Premarital Counseling
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While many couples choose to participate in premarital counseling while they are engaged, you do not have to be engaged. Couples often benefit most from premarital counseling early in their relationships or around the time of making big commitments.
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Because of the customizable nature of these sessions, I charge on a session by session basis. Session fees are $180 per 60 minute session.
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Any couple can benefit from premarital counseling. These sessions are designed to help you and your partner know one another better, deepen your connection, and have the tools and skills needed to navigate potential challenges throughout your relationship.
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While I do not require a specific number of sessions, couples typically attend between 6-12 sessions. This depends on the number of topics you want to discuss and how many sessions you want to dedicate to each topic.
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In addition to my experience helping couples find connection and meaning in their relationships, I have training specific to premarital counseling. I am trained in facilitating and interpreting the Prepare/Enrich Assessment (as well as training other professionals to administer the assessment) as well as facilitating the PREP Relationship Education courses. This means that I have a strong background in providing couples with information to support the success of their relationship before problems start.
I also integrate information and techniques from evidence-based couples therapy techniques including The Gottman Method and Emotion Focused Couples Therapy so you can be assured that the information provided in these sessions are based in the science of what makes relationships successful.
