Benefits of Pre-Marriage Counseling

Many people seek counseling and therapy when they are walking through a tough situation, suffering a mental illness, or simply feel stuck. However, something doesn’t always have to be wrong in order to get help. Pre-marriage counseling can be so beneficial to help newly engaged couples enter into a whole new season of their lives. Some of the benefits are listed below.

1. Building communication. One of the essentials to a healthy marriage is consistent, clear communication. Vulnerable communication with your partner is where intimacy grows. If communication is a struggle, counseling can help you and your partner learn some basic communication skills to start with. This will be helpful in the future when difficulties inevitably come up, so you can discuss them honestly and without confrontation or animosity.

2. Setting expectations. We enter into all of our relationships with expectations of others. Marriage, in particular, can come with some strongly held values and worldviews that your partner may not share with you. That doesn’t mean you aren’t right for each other, but talking about it is crucial. Counseling offers an open space to bring up your hopes for each other and work through them with guidance.

3. Learning more about your partner. No matter how long you’ve been in a relationship, there is always something new to discover about your partner. Counseling can unlock so much you may have never known about them, which can build empathy, love, and understanding for each other.

4. Talking about difficult issues. You will face challenges, individually and as a couple, throughout your marriage. Discussing potential issues before they arise can prepare you both for what is to come so you can face it with grace, patience, and support for one another. There may also be past or current problems you two are facing. Counseling offers support to work through difficulties together in a calm way towards resolution.

If you and your partner are interested in pre-marriage counseling and you are in the Chicagoland area, please feel free to contact Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc. at 708-633-8000.

Written by Kathryn

2021 Graduate Intern