Most couples wait until their marriages are in trouble before they call an LDS marriage counselor; but there is an option that couples heading into marriage either aren’t aware of or don’t think they need and that is pre-marital counseling. Counseling by a licensed, experienced therapist before marriage can help people in relationships head off problems before they do serious or irreversible damage. Here’s how effective pre-marital counseling can help:
✦ Counseling Can Help You Determine Compatibility
Pre-marital counseling can assist both partners in determining areas in which they are compatible. It can also help you to identify areas where you are not compatible. Some of those areas may need a little extra counseling to work through while others may help you to see the possible consequences of marrying someone you are not compatible with. Areas of concern that may be addressed in pre-marital counseling can include some important issues that people often overlook when they’re in love like the decision to have or not have children.
✦ Counseling Can Help You Identify Goals
A good LDS marriage counselor can help you to identify your life goals and to determine what will happen to those goals once you are married. Do you want to continue your education? Do you want to live in a foreign country? It is important to set goals together as a couple and pre-marital counseling can assist you in figuring out how you can help each other to meet individual and joint goals.
✦ Counseling Can Improve Communication
Pre-marital counseling can teach you effective communication skills and give you strategies to share your feelings effectively and express your concerns reasonably. It can also teach you how to listen to your partner. Many marriages fall apart because couples don’t know how to communicate with each other so learning those skills before marriage can prevent problems during the marriage.
✦ Counseling Can Help You Find Out How To Get Your Needs Met
Counseling can help you learn how to approach your partner when you are not getting your needs met in the marriage. It will also help you to learn how to help your partner get his or her needs met. Often, when people are dating, they make promises about what they will be willing to do to help their spouse get what they need once they’re married; but these promises don’t always come to fruition.
✦ Counseling Can Address Other Common Marital Issues
Pre-marital counseling can address some other common, marital issues like money, parenting and household duties. It can also address sexual issues and intimacy problems that can quickly derail a marriage. It can help you learn more about what your partner expects from your marriage and what you expect and it can help you to clarify your roles in the relationship.
Pre-marital counseling can help you to strengthen your relationship before you get married so that when problematic situations do eventually arise, you’ll be better able to weather them and keep your marriage intact. To get the help of a great LDS marriage counselor, call Insight Child & Family Counseling at (972) 426-9500 or visit www.j9n.83e.myftpupload.com.