4 Reasons For Premarital Counseling (or Pre-Commitment Counseling)
At The Bay Area Relationship Center, we provide premarital counseling to a lot of couples. If you’re deepening your commitment to your partner, premarital counseling might be the best investment you can make in your relationship. Maybe you've got some preconceived ideas of what happens in premarital counseling. The premarital counseling we provide is different from what you may have heard of before. It’s based on research about what makes relationships last, and uses the most effective methods of couples therapy.
Why is premarital counseling a good idea?
Here are our top four reasons:
You'll create a strong foundation of communication skills.
Every couple falls into its own unique negative communication pattern at some point. Those patterns can hurt your bond and cause you to grow apart over time. You don’t have to let that happen. Working with one of our therapists, you’ll learn what you can do to prevent negative communication patterns from taking over. In a sense, you find the hack for your particular communication problems.
Working with one of our therapists is different from taking a course or reading a book because we guide you through this process. You get to practice what you’re learning, and you experience new and better communication patterns right there during therapy.
You'll learn how to make choices and create a shared culture
Every couple faces hundreds of compromises and decisions as they build a life together. Some of those choices are easy and joyful and others can be hard to work through. Premarital counseling gives you a chance to sort through those choices with an experienced therapist as your guide. Some issues we help couples work through are work/life balance, whether to have children, relationships with friends and in-laws, the role of sexuality in your relationship, and how to set up your financial life.
You’ll set up practices to keep strengthening your bond after counseling is over
Premarital counseling is an opportunity to create practices that encourage each of you to express appreciation and continue learning about each other over the years. Your therapist can help you identify the practices that can keep you connected even when life gets busy or difficult.
Premarital counseling might prevent more therapy later
Most couples who come into therapy say they wish they had started sooner so that they could have prevented some of the suffering they’ve experienced. On average, couples wait 6 to 7 years from the time they experience relationship distress to start therapy. Why not learn from those couples’ mistakes and start now?
Want to know how premarital counseling can help? Call us at 510-826-3359 or schedule a consultation now.
