| Your marriage counselor is a skilled facilitator who | | | | expectations and needs. |
| helps engaged, newly married or established couples | | | | Remember also that marriage counseling is for both |
| reduce or eliminate the stress in their relationships that | | | | partners. Make sure your spouse is actively |
| often brings great pain and unhappiness. These | | | | participates in the search for a therapist, and that they |
| stresses originate from complex emotional problems | | | | are included in the actual counseling sessions. |
| which routinely arise as a result of problems outside | | | | Some basic questions to ask a prospective counselor |
| the home. Issues relating to career, family, money, and | | | | include: |
| children combine with poor communications and coping | | | | How many years has he or she been in practice? |
| skills, to erode over time, the emotional foundation of | | | | What are the counselor’s education and |
| the marriage. By identifying and resolving the issues | | | | professional qualifications? Be sure to research the |
| that generate this stress, the marriage counselor help | | | | validity of any given. |
| couples move beyond their present difficulties while | | | | What methods does the marriage counselor use |
| arming them with strategies that aid in the avoidance | | | | to help motivate clients to complete their counseling? |
| of similar problems in the future. | | | | Does the prospective counselor suggest |
| One of the most important roles played by a marriage | | | | strategies to solve your marital problems or are you |
| counselor is to help couples overcome feelings that | | | | expected to discover this on your own? |
| lead them to believe that any effort to improve their | | | | Interview more than one potential counselor then |
| relationship is a waste of time. This encouragement is | | | | zero-in on the one or two that leave you feeling most |
| particularly important when one spouse is more | | | | comfortable and confident of success. As part of this |
| discouraged than the other. Qualified marriage | | | | research, always ask about what the fees are; ask |
| counselors also bring a fresh perspective to marital | | | | what the terms of payment are and never agree to |
| problems and offer unique insights into specific issues | | | | paying for service before it’s delivered. Be |
| that can preoccupy couples who try to work things | | | | cautious, too, about signing up for any program before |
| through alone. | | | | you’ve had time to think or to compare what |
| A marriage counselor also helps couples to avoid | | | | other professionals offer. |
| painful emotional situations and provides a plan of | | | | Relationships are dynamic, changing and adapting |
| action that helps to restore the romantic attraction and | | | | many times over their lifetime. Conflict, like change, is |
| love a marriage originally contained with. | | | | inevitable in all relationships. How well each partner |
| Finding a marriage counselor begins in many ways. | | | | reacts to conflict spells the difference between a |
| You may start with a recommendation from a friend | | | | relationship that brings joy and happiness, and one that |
| or from a listing you find in your local yellow pages. | | | | brings misery and grief. The marriage counselor is a |
| Your doctor or clergyman may also furnish a list of | | | | skilled professional who brings couples together to |
| names, too. It is important to interview prospective | | | | resolve their differences before time and bad habits |
| counselors to determine whose approach meets your | | | | can pull them apart. |