What is premarital counseling?
Premarital counseling provides couples who are engaged or who are preparing to get married with education on building and maintaining a healthy relationship. Getting counseling before marriage is the start to a future legacy that has other couples looking up to you. The long focus is to get to that 40th, 50th, or 60th anniversary goal. Couples that attend pre-marriage therapy, whether through counseling, workshops, or intensives, increase the strength of their relationship, improve their chances of longevity in marriage, and decrease their chances of divorce.
Premarital counselors usually offer assessments, classes, or counseling in their programs. Assessments can be diverse, but with the help of programs like SYMBIS: Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, and others, you are able to develop the skills needed to live a long, healthy life together.
Benefits to counseling before marriage
A premarital counselor provides education on communication, conflict resolution and parenting decisions that might come up in the first few years of marriage and beyond. They also help an engaged couple understand what to expect during their first intimate moments together, financial concerns, and possible extended family conflict. Most importantly, premarital therapy helps a couple quickly become comfortable talking about deeper issues. Counseling helps them discover their differences and gather information about their partner they may never have discussed.
How premarital counseling can help you.
Many couples that get divorced tend to have conflict around situations that go undiscussed or were not understood between them before they got married. Research shows that couples who participate in some sort of premarital counseling while they are engaged have a 30% increase in their marriage success and enjoyment over those who do not.
Pre-marital therapy can supply knowledge and understanding of your future spouse that will help you manage any conflict and resolve problems quicker. Conflict is inevitable and will always be part of life. No couple gets married desiring to get a divorced. However, the divorce rate in the United States is 50% and possibly higher. Knowing these facts, encourages couples to get counseling when engaged as a smart decision that every couple can make to start the marriage off right.
Topics Covered in Premarital Counseling:
- Communication Skills
- Personality Differences
- Financial Management and Budgeting
- Conflict Resolution
- Intimacy and Sexuality
- Relationship Roles
- Extended Family Influence
- Parenting Topics and Differences
- Spiritual Beliefs
- Healthy and Unhealthy Boundaries
- Commitment vs Contract Relationships
- And More…
What you will gain through Premarital Counseling:
- Increased confidence in discussing hard topics
- Deeper understanding of your partners personality
- Increased understanding of each others expectations and abilities
- Understanding of the stressors and how to manage them
- A head start on your financial planning and budgeting
- An in-depth exploration of how your extended family will affect the relationship
- Knowledge of your strengths and areas of needed growth
- A list of goals that you can both mutually work towards.
- Greater appreciation, respect, and love for one another
- Stronger ability to communicate and find resolutions to conflict
Premarital Workshop
- 7-8 hours of education and interactive discussion
- SYMBIS ASSESSMENT INCLUDED IN FEE
- VIRTUAL AND IN PERSON
- WHEN: As Scheduled)
- Accepting reservations for the class now by calling 706-955-0230, emailing or clicking the LEARN MORE button below.
- FEE: $200 per couple. *Regular price usually $800 per couple
- This will usually be a full day workshop 7-8 hours on a Friday. Depending on how many people register I may add another day or provide it on-demand.
- Please understand that if not enough couples register these classes may be cancelled. Three couples per class are needed, but more can register for each class. INVITE YOUR FRIENDS! IT CAN BE FOR MARRIED COUPLES TOO!
- To register: EMAIL, CALL, or CLICK BELOW
- Refunds are provided up to 1 week before the workshop. More details can be found when you click below.
- This class will provide a certificate of completion for a discount on your marriage certificate.
SYMBIS Assessment: Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts
I am a certified SYMBIS facilitator. Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott created an assessment for couples based on their extensive research about the success of married couples and the differences in personalities, genders, communication styles and more. After taking the assessment, we can meet together and review a detailed, in depth report of your individual differences and similarities and discuss how this information may help you understand each other and prepare you to have a healthy long and successful marriage.
How to get started?
I have several options for premarital counseling and education that includes SYMBIS assessment:
- Premarital intensive: A couple can come in for a full day of intensive premarital counseling that would include taking the SYMBIS assessment prior to the intensive and then reviewing the assessment as well as providing education and skill building. The day would be about 3-4 hours in the morning with either a working lunch (if the couple desires this), or a lunch break along with a 3-4 hour session in the afternoon. The price of the intensive would be $600 for 6 hours and $800 for 8 hours. Please understand that the more time we have, the better prepared you will be because we can cover more skills and work more in depth on each part of the assessment. Half of the fee is required at sign up. The other half will be required at the beginning of the intensive. A refund will be provided if proof of a crisis or serious illness is provided.
- Premarital couple sessions: A couple will take the assessment prior to starting 8 sessions of premarital counseling. The fee of each session is $125. The assessment report will be kept by me throughout the length of the sessions until all 8 sessions have been completed at the recommendation of SYMBIS trainers and training material. Each session, several sections of the assessment report will be reviewed and discussed, along with providing further education, skills building and practice.
- Group premarital intensives: Group intensives are not as intimate and the review of each couples assessment is much less extensive. However, education and skill building becomes more important in these intensives. Also, it is helpful to hear from other couples and share with other couples in helping to prepare for marriage. Depending on the size of the group, fee schedules may shift. A lunch break would be provided. These sessions my cover 1 or 2 days.
