Why should we do Premarital Counselling?
The reality is that we live in a world where the divorce statistics are soaring. Recently an Australian study interviewed couples who had been divorced for 5 years. Of those interviewed, 80% said that they wish they had not gotten divorced because while the issues seemed big in the moment, they were actually everyday issues that many couples need to deal with. Wouldn't it be great to have some tools in your toolbelt to set you up as a couple for success? From decades of experience, we can help prepare you to see your marriage not just survive, but thrive. Furthermore, it's always better to address issues before they arise rather than help after you're in crisis.
Who should sign up for Premarital Counselling?
We work with couples who want to improve their relationship. If you're engaged and looking to get married, we'd highly recommend Premarital Counselling. Other couples are perhaps considering whether or not to get engaged and we often work with those couples as well. Wherever you are at, our goal is to help you come together as a team and find some solutions that will work well for both of you. We also run many Premarital Counselling sessions with dating couples who may have hit some sticking points in their relationship and are having trouble moving past those issues. Some couples are doing well but want to make sure that they are setting themselves up for success over the long haul. Regardless of the situation, we want to help you make progress and help equip you to work well together in a way that honours and respects both partners involved.
How long should we have been together before doing Premarital Counselling?
If you're getting engaged, then we recommend you do it. Generally, we do encourage you to have been together as a couple for at least 6 months before taking the Relationship Check-Up as this will help you receive more accurate results. Premarital Counselling works really well though for dating couples who are thinking about whether or not to take the next step.
Where will the Premarital Counselling take place?
The intial relationship assessment is completed online and so you can do that anywhere where you have an internet connection. For the Counselling times with our trained facilitator, most couples prefer to work over skype and so it's a click of the mouse away. Having said that, our facilitators are also happy to meet in person depending on travel distances.
When can we schedule the individual sessions?
The individual sessions can be scheduled as soon as you have finished the online assessment. We will work with you to find a time that fits but generally offer times in normal business hours. For our Premarital Plus package, we can provide these sessions during the evening or on weekends.
What if we have to cancel an appointment?
We understand that an appointment sometimes needs to be changed. If this is the case, we would ask you to let your facilitator know as soon as possible and we can reschedule for a more suitable time.
Is Premarital Counselling like regular counselling?
The answer to this is yes and no. We see ourselves as more of relationship first-aid. We don't provide long-term counselling but are happy to refer someone if that is needed or desired. In many cases, longer-term counselling can be extremely beneficial and really help a couple work through serious issues. Having said that, we've found that often counselling can focus on problems from an individual's perspective rather than from a couple's perspective. This individualistic approach can be very helpful in certain situations but also has some real drawbacks. Our focus is a bit less on learning to compromise to meet each other's needs and more targeted on, as a team, how can we together solve some of these issues that we face. We've found that this method gives a new outlook to a relationship and encourages more engagement from both men and women as needs and desires are met much more freely. So, from our perspective it might be a first step to see if longer term counselling is needed.
What is covered in Premarital Counselling?
The Check-Up covers:
- 9 strength and growth areas: communication, conflict resolution, partner style & habits, financial management, leisure activities, sexual relationship, family & friends, roles & responsibilities, and spiritual beliefs
- 4 relationship dynamics: assertiveness, self confidence, avoidance, and partner dominance
- A personal stress profile
- Couple and family of origin maps
- Personality assessment
Do you offer any discounts?
Power to Change is a non-profit organisation that is focused on helping relationships thrive. We want to help however we can but do operate on a tight budget and try to keep our costs as low as possible to help as many couples as possible. If finances are an issue, however, we have had some generous donors give to help sponsor couples who need some help. If that's you, let us know and we can talk about a plan that works for you.
What's the deal with the online assessment?
At Power to Change, we have found that it often takes a lot of time and work to help identify some of the core issues in a relationship. Using our online assessment tool helps to quickly clarify a couple's needs so that little time is wasted "figuring out what seems to be problem." Many couples have used this online assessment to help them clarify their challenges and make specific positive changes in their relationships. A great deal of research has helped make it extremely effective in assessing and portraying the relationship strengths and challenges.
Do you still have questions?
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