Pre-Marriage or Pre-Marital Counselling in Sydney

Deciding to ‘get married’ is one of life’s greatest decisions. And the implications are far reaching – emotional, financial, legal and familial. Marriage provides the opportunity for a unique and wonderful form of intimacy, but can also be fraught with challenges, both small and large. When a couple chooses to share their lives, differences need to be accounted for, and compromises made. Over time, differences in culture, religion, spending habits, domesticity, sociability, behaviour and emotional responses have the capacity to cause disharmony. These differences require acceptance and resolution to enable a happy marriage to continue through the years.

HOW CAN PRE-MARRIAGE COUNSELLING HELP?

Pre-Marriage Counselling (Pre-Marital Counselling) can help identify your differences and value conflicts, before marriage, and can provide couples with tools and processes to help overcome the inevitable issues and challenges of marriage when they do arise.

Psychologists often find that couples are in their strongest emotional position to address these challenges prior to getting married (and in the first six months of marriage), when the relationship is still in its ‘honeymoon phase’ (1). Later in marriage, any negative habits of interaction are more entrenched and harder to change, the stresses of daily life are more felt, and relationships are often impacted by the appearance of one or more children of the marriage.

Communication skills and dispute resolution are among the top five factors that predict marital satisfaction (2), so it makes sense to strengthen these areas before embarking on married life. Sharpening these skills and understanding your similarities and differences will help build a strong foundation for your marriage, and set you on the path for a happy future together.

Pre-marriage counselling has been shown to reduce the possibility of divorce , and psychologists and counsellors believe it can play an extremely positive role in building healthy, happy marriages.

Pre-marriage counselling can also assist couples to decide if they are really ready for marriage.

COUNSELLING FREE OF RELIGIOUS BIAS

Most commonly, couples turn to their religious advisers when seeking pre-marital counselling. Please note that our counselling service is not aligned to any religious body or belief, and all our psychologists and counsellors will provide an open and unbiased approach to their pre-marital counselling service. Our pre-marriage counselling sessions may consider issues such as:

  • how like minded and well suited you are
  • your hopes, concerns and expectations, for your marriage and your future generally
  • intimacy
  • your personalities and family (and cultural) backgrounds
  • your communication skills and processes
  • how you address issues and solve problems
  • your sexual needs and sexual compatibility.

HOW LONG DOES PRE-MARRIAGE COUNSELLING TAKE?

Many couples will attend pre-marriage counselling for only one or two sessions to consider these issues prior to marriage. Others might decide that they want to delve into these issues more deeply, or better hone their skills, and will attend for longer periods. There is no commitment to attend for any length of time, and most appointments are made on a session by session basis.

Few people consider the rates of divorce when they make the decision to get married, and nor should they. But marriages need care and attention, even more so than other relationships, and Pre-Marriage Counselling can help give your marriage a head start on the road to satisfaction and long-lasting intimacy.

We welcome your enquiry.

ASSOCIATED RELATIONSHIP & MARRIAGE COUNSELLORS SYDNEY
TEL: (02) 8002 1020

Marriage Counselling across Sydney at:
Sydney CBD, Surry Hills, Bondi Junction, Glebe, Cremorne & at Gosford on the Central Coast.

References

  • 1
    Cole, C. L., & Cole, A. L. (1999). Marriage enrichment and prevention really works: Interpersonal competence training to maintain and enhance relationships. Family Relations, 48(3), 273-275.
  • 2
    Rosen‐Grandon, J. R., Myers, J. E., & Hattie, J. A. (2004). The relationship between marital characteristics, marital interaction processes, and marital satisfaction. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82(1), 58-68.
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