Premarital Counseling

“Make it your goal to create a marriage that is the safest place on earth.” – Gary Smalley

Research has found that couples who receive premarital counseling have better relationship adjustment after the wedding compared with similar couples who do not.  Statistics tell us that people marrying today have a 50% chance of divorcing, but premarital preparation can reduce the divorce rate by 30%.  Premarital counseling has also been shown to help couples achieve higher levels of satisfaction and lower levels of conflict in marriage. WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT COUPLES ENTERING MARRIAGE

  • Many couples have relationship “blind-spots” during the courtship period due to the influence of what I call the “Best Foot Forward Factor.”
  • Many couples have never even experienced a conflict while other ignore problems in the hopes that they will disappear over time.
  • Some partners have not yet disclosed hidden secrets such as childhood abuse or addictive patterns which have the tendency to emerge and come as a surprise once the couple is married.
  • Most couples have not fully considered the impact of their own personalities, the differences between genders and the manner in which each as learned to love others (through the influence of their childhood years, parent relationships, and formed attachment patterns.

Renew Counseling Center offers a comprehensive premarital counseling package that includes 8 total sessions (SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS) with Annette Stanley, a certified PREPARE/ENRICH facilitator and experienced couple therapist.

“I have found the one

my soul loves”

Song of Solomon 3:4

Step 1: Renew Counseling Center’s premarital package begins with an initial 1-hour consultation where we will learn more about you and your relationship and provide access to complete the customized couple assessment through PREPARE/ENRICH.

The PREPARE/ENRICH is a customized couple assessment completed online that identifies strength and growth areas. It is one of the most widely used programs for premarital counseling and education. Over the last 30 years, the PREPARE/ENRICH relationship assessment has empowered and energized more than 3 million couples and is the #1 relationship inventory and couples assessment tool.  As a specialist in couple and marriage therapy, with advanced training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and Gottman Method Couples Therapy, I combine the trusted foundation of the PREPARE/ENRICH program with these empirically proven therapeutic models of therapy.

Step 2: Based upon your personalized assessment results, I will provide 6 additional therapy sessions to help you achieve the goals of the PREPARE/ENRICH model:

  • Explore strength and growth areas
  • Strengthen communication skills
  • Identify and manage major stressors
  • Resolve and manage conflict
  • Develop a more balanced relationship
  • Explore family of origin issues
  • Discuss financial planning and budgeting
  • Establish personal, couple and family goals
  • Understand and appreciate personality differences

Your counseling sessions will include discussions of key predictors of marital satisfaction: communication, flexibility, connectedness, personality compatibility, expectations, fair fight issues and conflict management.  We will also explore family of origin issues, dealing with finances, building sexual intimacy, and defining the role of spirituality in the marriage.  You will learn skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, and effective communication skills and techniques.

Step 3: Finally, Renew Counseling Center’s premarital counseling package includes a most important 1-hour counseling session to be utilized within the first 6 months of marriage where we will assess how your marriage is growing and address any problem areas that may have surfaced.