What To Expect From Marriage Counselling
What is marriage counselling?
Marriage counselling may sound like something to be worried about, but we can assure you that it’s not. Marriage counselling is used for various reasons and its aim is to support you through making decisions regarding the relationship that you share with your partner.
Marriage counselling is a form of psychotherapy that is used in an attempt to develop a positive relationship between two people or support them through a tough time. It can also help you to maintain a positive relationship with yourself, as you can attend marriage counselling alone if you would like to work on your own attitudes and behaviours towards your marriage. Marriage counselling can help many different types of couples, regardless of whether the relationship is long or short term, so you shouldn’t worry that it’s not the right step for your relationship.
Sometimes couples can find it tough to accept that having counselling is an effective choice, couples often avoid it and use it as a last resort. Counselling doesn’t have to be a last resort, you can attend for many different reasons and it can be more effective to attend soon after the problems begin to arise.
What to expect from marriage counselling
Generally, your first session includes ensuring that both you and your partner feel comfortable and can voice your opinion confidently. It is important to note that these sessions are to understand any issues that you have in your relationship and that your counsellor is not there to judge you, only to assist you on a path to happiness, whether that means remaining as a couple or deciding to separate.
While it’s inevitable that you will have issues regarding your relationship to discuss with your counsellor, you will also be encouraged to consider the positives about your partner. Positives in a relationship can easily be forgotten when you’re experiencing problems, sometimes a reminder of them can really help couples. Its aim is to provide a different viewpoint on your relationship.
You are likely to be asked about your childhood or previous relationships in an attempt to understand the reasons why you may be feeling a certain way. Don’t feel as if you are being judged, your counsellor is just attempting to understand the emotions that you are experiencing.
Marriage counselling is not a long process, it usually involves around 4-6 sessions. In addition to your counselling sessions, you may be given some work to do at home in the form of communication exercises. It’s important to be able to put the strategies into practice when the counsellor is not present. Following the sessions, you should aim to be able to deal with problem solving in a more appropriate way, communicate more efficiently and see your relationship in a different light.
Your counsellor’s job is not to save your marriage. Their job is to help you to decide on the best option for your future, they will not encourage you to separate or stay together. It’s your choice to discuss whatever you wish to, your counsellor is there to assist you with understanding your own emotions.
Marriage counselling is nothing to be ashamed of or worry about, it is in fact an attempt to put you on the right path in life. Your counsellor will support you throughout the process regardless of where the therapy takes your relationship.
If you need any support with marriage counselling or you’d like to find out more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly experts today.