Pastoral Counseling Services - Premarital and more:
As a certified Pastoral Counselor, I offer both Premarital and Spiritual Counseling. I have been counseling couples for over 20 years. The feedback I continually receive is that we discuss things they never really thought about! I don't like to do "canned" questionnaires and inventories - we have a discussion and share. I may suggest you both read one of several books that I have discovered to be of great value over the years, and purchase separate journals to begin to make notes and record insights as we explore the depth of your relationship with one another, your families and friends. Each session is unique to you as a couple and as individuals - and I am here for you every step of the way! All sessions run approximately 55 min. I have many different options to choose from:
Single Session $150
Three Session Series $400 (if paid in advance)
Five Session Series $650 (if paid in advance)
*Please note that these prices are based on my officiating your ceremony. There is a $50 upcharge per session if I am not doing so.
Is Premarital Counseling or Education for You? *
The short answer is a resounding YES. Getting married without pre-marriage prep is like starting a business or any important venture without preparing. Half of all marriages end in divorce, and only half of those that endure are truly happy in the long run. Many happy engaged couples assume that they won’t be contributing to these statistics. But, if you just wing it and count on your luck to make your marriage a success, your odds are only one in four. There is another way. Most couples just don’t realize that good, skill-based pre-marriage counseling or classes can reduce the risk of divorce by up to thirty percent and lead to a significantly happier marriage, according to marriage research. It can also reduce the stress of the pre-wedding period. Just a little effort now can make your odds a whole lot better over the long run. You want to do everything you can to ensure that your dreams of a great marriage and a great life are realized.
Pre-marriage preparation is based on the reality that it’s important to strengthen your relationship and prepare constructively for future challenges and conflicts that everyone will inevitably face at some point in their marriage, now while you have so much fresh positive energy in your relationship.
Don’t stick your head in the sand. The research shows that there is a window of opportunity during the year before the wedding and the six months or so after when couples get the optimum benefit from marriage preparation. Later, under stress, negative habits and relationship patterns may become established and be much harder to resolve. Couples now face more demands and have fewer supports than ever before. The typical complex marriage – managing two careers while rearing children – really requires that couples have very strong, well-established abilities to communicate, resolve issues, maintain mutuality and set goals. Without this foundation, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by stress and time pressures. Problems can intrude much more easily than most couples realize.
As much as it’s important to come to terms with unrealistically positive expectations, those who grew up with divorced or unhappily married parents may find that they have unacknowledged and unexplored expectations that their marriage, too, may become unhappy. Marriage preparation functions as an immunization that boosts your capacity to handle potential difficulties.
Couples need every advantage to succeed in today’s marriages.
What Is Pre-Marriage Preparation and Counseling? Most commonly, those couples who do receive some premarital counseling get it from their religious adviser. This can range from one or two meetings to an extended series of sessions. Sometimes an assessment inventory and skills training are included, often they are not. Non-religious professional counselors also provide premarital counseling services. Again, the content and amount of service depends on the orientation of the counselor and what you ask for. Often it doesn’t cover all the preparation that couples need.
Marriage preparation classes or workshops are an alternative or supplementary approach to educating engaged couples and newlyweds in the skills, habits, attitudes, and enrichment techniques that research shows lead to happy, enduring marriages. Such marriage preparation programs, are education, not therapy. Like premarital counseling, some of these classes have religious sponsors while others are secular. You might consider them in many ways analogous to career counseling. They address the normal issues and challenges that all couples face in the course of their marriage. Some people think that marriage preparation is well on the way to becoming as commonplace as driver’s training or test preparation.
Susan Piver’s, The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say I Do is on the bestseller list. ( I use this book/workbook as a recommended reading source)
A marriage prep program can give couples the benefit of a supportive environment and framework in which to ask these questions and some skills to deal with the answers.
Whatever marriage prep couples choose – religion-based or religion-neutral, counseling or class — should include activities to give them real skills, real expectations and real knowledge of self and partner to face the inevitable challenges of a committed relationship. What to Look For in Pre-Marriage Programs and Counselors Here’s a concise list of seven relationship skill and knowledge areas that research has shown to contribute to the success and endurance of marriage: