Premarital Counselling A Valuable Investment for A Life-Long Commitment
Marriage marks the start of a new journey, and the couple must prepare for it very well. With premarital counselling, couples can understand each other better by exploring their interests, strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears. In this blog post, let's discuss more details of premarital counselling, including what it is, its needs, and what to expect during the sessions etc.
What is Premarital Counselling
Couples can prepare for marriage with the help of premarital counselling, a form of psychological therapy. It will be conducted by a trained and certified therapist or counsellor and involves meetings with the couple. The expert will assist the duo in analysing various elements of their relationship, like communication, conflict resolution, sexual intimacy, financial management, and expectations for married life. Premarital counselling aims to assist couples in acquiring a profound comprehension of their selves and each other. The goal is to equip them with the necessary skills and techniques to establish a resilient and thriving marriage.
From Opening-Up to A Happily Ever After - Benefits of Premarital Counselling
Those planning or preparing for a wedding can gain many benefits that run long-term through premarital counselling. Let's see some of the significant advantages of premarital counselling.
- Communication made better : Effective communication is vital to any successful and healthy relationship. Couples can develop better communication skills through premarital counselling.
- Understand better : Open discussions in counselling sessions help to identify each other's needs and ways to meet them. In addition, the duo's expectations and values can be discussed and clarified with premarital counselling and thus help them build a stronger bond.
- Resolve conflicts and make decisions better : Conflicts may arise in every marriage, and making the best decision is essential to safeguard the relationship. Couples can improve these skills with the help of premarital counselling. Moreover, any pre-existing issues can be addressed before they become more significant.
- Improved emotional intimacy : Premarital counselling sessions provide a safe and supportive space for couples to share their thoughts and feelings. This makes it easy for them to feel more connected and closer.
- Improved sexual intimacy : A healthy and satisfying sex life plays an important role in strengthening the relationship. The counselling sessions can provide opportunities to explore topics like sexual expectations, desires, boundaries, and communication. This will help couples to establish a strong foundation for their sexual relationship and intimacy.
- Get prepared for important life changes and transitions : Planning earlier for obvious as well as unexpected life events, such as starting a family, career changes, relocation, or illness or financial complications. This will make the couple more secure and confident in their relationship. Conflicts and stress that may arise during transition phases can be handled smoothly by couples who have undergone premarital counselling.
- Reduced risk of divorce or separation : All the benefits of premarital counselling discussed above ultimately result in forming a long-lasting relationship. With better communication, understanding and commitment chances of divorce or separation will be reduced significantly.
What To Expect - Procedure And Topics Covered
Premarital counselling sessions may last anytime between 45 minutes to an hour; this may vary according to the specific needs and circumstances of the couple or depending upon the therapist or centre. Anyway, let's look at what you can expect in typical premarital counselling.
- Initial consultation : Usually, in the first session, the counsellor will analyse the status and history of the couple's relationship and the distinctive goals they expect to get from counselling.
- Evaluation : In this part, the counsellor may make use of various assessment tools like personality tests, relationship inventories, and questionnaires. This will help the counsellor to understand the couple better and make a decision on the procedure to carry out. Additionally, the couple can explore their strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears for their marriage.
- Discussion of specific topics : There are several topics in general that every couple must discuss as a part of premarital counselling. The therapist will also guide the duo through various topics that are crucial to a flourishing marriage for the specific couple.
- Homework assignments : Homework assignments are common in psychological counselling. It may be given to the couple to complete between sessions. In premarital counselling, these assignments may include tasks to practise communication skills, conflict resolution skills, digging into typical topics related to their relationship etc.
- Implementing the skills learned : Couples should not stop following the methods of the counselling sessions once it is completed. Towards the last sessions, couples will gradually learn to implement the skills and techniques they have formulated in previous sessions into their daily lives with the help of a counsellor. All the procedures the couple had gone through will be revised in the last session.
An authorised therapist will make use of each session to discuss various topics that are crucial in maintaining a long-lasting and healthy relationship. The discussions may include topics like communication, financial management, dispute resolution, sexual intimacy, and expectations for married life.
Choose Your Counsellor
The quality of counselling experience may vary according to the selection of the counsellor or therapist. A licenced and experienced therapist specialising in premarital counselling will give significantly higher satisfaction to the needs of the couple. Checking for reviews and recommendations from friends and family will make it much easier to decide on the counsellor. Also, make sure the schedules of the provider match yours. Finally, planning an initial session will be helpful to understand the counsellor's approach and ideology towards premarital counselling and ensure it is compatible with yours.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, a couple preparing for marriage can consider premarital counselling as a valuable investment for their future. A strong, long-lasting relationship can be built with the help of a skilled therapist. Enhanced communication skills, better understanding, useful methods for conflict resolution etc, are some of the benefits couples can gain from premarital counselling. If you are preparing to tie the knot soon, consider undergoing premarital counselling to secure your relationship for the longest.
