Married couples who have agreed to seek help through marriage counseling may find it challenging to know where to get help, which marriage classes to choose or who will be your best relationship coach when the call is for marriage restoration. Follow these tips for finding and choosing a marriage counselor.
Find a marriage counselor or relationship coach
There are many ways to find a marriage counselor or relationship coach. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy has an online search tool to find clinical members and marriage classes. Primary care physicians and health-insurance companies are other ways to get referrals to quality counseling for marriage restoration. Friends can provide references for counseling if they are willing to discuss where they have found help. The phone book can be another source to find a counselor who specializes in such couples therapy.
Choose a licensed therapist
Once a local therapist or relationship coach has been found, it is time to make sure the marriage classes will be a good fit. If the counselor has been located through the phone book or friends, it is especially important to check his or her credentials. In order to get the most effective help with marital problems, the Mayo Clinic recommends selecting a licensed mental health professional. Although guidelines vary by state, many marriage counselors are licensed marriage and family therapists (MFTs). MFTs have a master’s or doctorate degree and at least two years clinical experience, according to the AAMFT. Refer to the counselor’s website or call the office to ask about licensing while putting all the efforts in your marriage restoration.
Payment options for marriage counseling
Even couples who received a referral from a primary care physician or health-insurance company should call the office to inquire whether the relationship coach takes health insurance. If the couple does not have health insurance or if couples therapy is not covered, it is important to inquire if the therapist offers a sliding scale based on income for payments.
Marriage classes usually costs from $75 to $200 per hour, or roughly $100 per session, according to the National Directory of Marriage and Family Counseling’s frequently asked questions. Be sure to ask how much the therapist charges per session and how long each session lasts. Marriage therapy lasts an average of 12 sessions, according to the AAMFT. Although it can be hard to fit the cost of marriage counseling into the household budget, it can be worth the sacrifice.
Schedule a phone consultation with the relationship coach
Once the credentials have been established and the payment options are known, it is important to take care of a few other business items before making an appointment. If the therapist offers phone consultations, take advantage of this option to ask about the therapist’s experience with the individual type of problem. Same-sex couples, couples seeking Christian marriage counseling or domestic violence victims may have to inquire at a few different offices to find exactly what they are seeking in a therapist. Be sure to ask about the policy for canceling sessions and contacting the therapist in an emergency.
Investing some time into finding a relationship coach for marriage classes can result in a better therapy experience. Be sure to select a qualified and licensed MFT who has experience in the problem area. Ask questions up front in order to know what to expect and minimize the cost of counseling.
Below are some suggestions how to improve your married relationship
Physical Attraction Between Couples Vital
Every marriage classes will teach that physical attraction is a necessary ingredient as touching, kissing, and caressing each other, throughout the marriage will keep both partners in love. Humans by nature are tactile and therefore touch plays an integral part of any marriage. If the physical attraction is not there, ultimately the couple will lose touch of each other’s bodily needs and pleasures, thus creating an emptiness that will always need to be fulfilled, likely elsewhere. Marriage restoration techniques then become a necessary.
Comparative Goals and Objectives Breed Unity
People who get married generally grow closer with time if both are trying to reach the same goals and objectives in life. Traveling in different directions will cause rifts and chasms in the relationship to occur. Relationship coach expert says from early childhood each person dreams of what they wants to achieve in their life and when each partner helps achieve the other’s goals, love grows. A lack of support is often cited as one of the main reasons relationships fail.
Differences in Culture Cause Difficult Problems to Solve
Since childhood, each culture ingrains into its population the morals, ideals, and principles that have been assembled since its inception. Parents, peers, and society will determine each child’s values even before they are capable of thinking otherwise. Marrying into a different culture will generally bring disagreements that cannot be resolved easily as the values and principles can be different. Such a situation often brings problems into the marriage that cannot be resolved without re-learning everything taught from early childhood.
Same Levels of Intelligence and Education Prevent Boredom
It is evident that when the initial thrill of falling in love wears off (usually around 6 months) there needs to be other reasons for staying together. A meeting of the minds will keep the partners interested and on their toes, making the relationship valuable instead of boring. Vast differences in intellect and intelligence are not conducive to interest remaining vibrant and alive.
Like Principles Engender Respect
Each person has their own set of right and wrong guidelines and principles that rule their life by. Those principles are what determines how a person treats people in general, as well as how they treat their mate. If the principles are alike, respect for each another tends to flourish. If the principles are different, a lack of respect will ultimately emerge. Lack of respect is also cited as one of the main reasons marriages fail.
The 5 Guidelines to Improve Chances of Marital Success
It is difficult to find all 5 guidelines to match in a relationship, but at least 4 of the 5 should exist in order to increase the odds of the marriage being successful. If only 3 or fewer exist in a relationship it is probable that problems in the marriage will start at some point. The initial euphoria of being in love tends to fade with time and is generally replaced with all the other ties that bind the marriage. Not that all relationships with 3 or less guidelines fail, but rest assured that those relationships will face difficult problems that will have to be addressed and resolved at some point.
