Start Your Marriage Right With Premarital Counseling

By Sarah Trance, MS, LMFT

You know that old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? I am convinced that nowhere is it truer than as it applies to marriage.
 
A typical couple entering marital therapy has already spent years attempting to change bad habits, improve connection, and resolve conflict. Most marital troubles source from an incomplete understanding of each other and relationship expectations based on that.

I can often trace the source of a couple’s discord to the very beginning where they each chose a relationship path based on what they thought and hoped about the relationship and their partner, rather than what they knew. The metaphorical house of their relationship was therefore built on expectations rather than mutual agreements. Disappointments, anger, emotional distance, financial disagreements, and more trouble followed.

I often hear, "I wish I could go back in time and do it over" or "I wish we knew then what we know now".
 
Engaged couples spend months planning the perfect wedding, hoping that the energy and the memories of this special day will propel them into a great marriage. Making the time to prepare for the marriage, however, will be far more effective in the long run than picking just the right shade of card stock for the invitations.
 
The goal of premarital counseling or therapy is to help you gain a well-rounded understanding of your mate, their hopes, dreams, needs, expectations and flaws. It can flush out trouble zones, eliminate roadblocks to happiness, and manage pre-wedding conflict.
 
Premarital counseling can also help you formulate a joint life strategy—something get often gets lost in the bustle of pre-wedding preparations. The comfort of a supportive therapeutic environment allows couples to address sensitive subjects that are an inevitable part of life: finances, assignment of roles and responsibilities, spirituality or religious life, where to live, children, lifestyle, sex, etc.
 
The PREPARE/ENRICH program is a 6-session premarital therapy program that was specially designed to help set couples on the right path and get their marriage off to a great start. The program includes:

1. An initial assessment with a trained Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist trained in this technique.
2. Couple’s Inventory Questionnaire
3. Feedback based on the Inventory and exploration of strengths and growth areas.
4. Guided activities from our Couples Workbook to assist with growth areas.
5. Tailored learning tools for direct and assertive communication.
6. Mediated dialog about wedding planning, activities and events.

 
The PREPARE/ENRICH program has proven to be highly effective for couples of all religious denominations, cultures and sexual orientation. In addition, the sessions are perfect for those who are unsure about therapy but would like tools and skills prior to the big day. With six strength-based sessions, the workshop is shorter than therapy and often simpler for busy New Yorkers to manage. 

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To inquire about PREPARE/ENRICH premarital training at Manhattan Marriage and Family Therapy with Sarah Trance, Amanda Craig and Cliff Schuman, please call 917-510-6422, e-mail us at [email protected] or fill out a form on Contact page.
 
The PREPARE/ENRICH program is administered in our Midtown Manhattan office and is available offsite anywhere in New York City for groups, non-profits and religious institutions.