PREMARITAL COUNSELING
How can I make sure my marriage will be a great one?
You've been dating a while and have decided that you're ready to spend your lives together. Congratulations!
Committing yourself to another person is a fantastic, bold, and life-changing move.
But you've seen plenty of relationships start out with promise and run into trouble. It may have even happened before in your own life. But you want a marriage that lasts a lifetime. You want to be intentional and prepared, to do whatever it takes to make your marriage strong.
Counseling can set you up for success, facilitating difficult conversations and helping you work through spots of tension so that your marriage will be smoother sailing. Counseling will give you important insights into you as individuals and into your relationship. You’ll be able to identify potential problem areas ahead of time and learn strategies to address them in healthy ways.
Premarital counseling will help you understand each other better, give you helpful tools to overcome tension in the future, and enable you to feel fully confident in your commitment to your new spouse.
Through counseling, you will learn how to:
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feel more connected to your partner
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have a deeper understanding of yourself and your loved one
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have a plan to work through sensitive areas of your relationship
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know what to do when you and your loved one are misunderstanding each other
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understand and appreciate the differences and similarities you have with your partner
You will benefit most from premarital counseling if:
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you’re open to strengthening your relationship
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you're aware that you “don’t know what you don’t know” about your partner
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you’re willing to be open and honest about your experiences and are willing to hear your partner’s perspective in session too
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you’re willing to learn new strategies to help your relationship
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you are willing to practice the tools your therapist gives you on a daily basis
The counseling process:
Therapy will help you identify the areas of your relationship that need focus. The therapist will help you build tools to improve these areas of your relationship and have you practice them. You will be asked to put the strategies you learn into practice between sessions in order to help your relationship feel stable and flourish.
Each therapy session is 50 minutes long. Your therapist may suggest longer sessions; this will be discussed prior to your session. For best results in improving your relationship, we recommend at least eight consecutive weeks of therapy. We have found that clients who do not commit to weekly sessions for eight weeks struggle to find satisfaction in meeting their goals and developing the relationship they want.
What to Expect
Week 1:
The first week is the intake session. The intake session is focused on helping demystify the counseling process. Your therapist will go through your completed paperwork and make sure that you and your partner understand what you are consenting to in therapy. Your therapist will also gather more information about you (and your partner), your social, biological, and psychological history; and anything else that may be impacting your relationship. Your therapist will make sure that we clearly understand your relationship goals for therapy and have a plan moving forward.
Week 2 and THE FOLLOWING weeks:
Your therapist will choose treatment strategies that best fit you and help you regain stability in your life. Each session will be focused on the therapist working with you to make sure you feel you are improving. This may require you to practice strategies during your week, between sessions.
Intermountain Counseling is committed to creating a safe, warm, and welcoming environment for you so you feel empowered and equipped to overcome the obstacles in your life.
Termination:
Termination is the agreed-upon ending of the therapeutic relationship once goals are achieved and takes 1 to 3 sessions, depending on your needs. Therapy should be a springboard into life; your therapist will work with you to determine that you feel your goals have been met and that you are satisfied with what you have worked on.