Discernment Counseling
What’s the next step to take in your relationship?
Perhaps you are uncertain about whether ending the relationship is the next step.
Discernment counseling provides short-term therapy that helps couples who are unsure about their future and may be considering divorce. The goal is to help couples gain clarity and confidence in their decision-making process.
Counseling typically involves one to five sessions, with the first session lasting two hours and subsequent sessions lasting one and a half hours. During counseling, couples meet with a therapist to explore options, such as reconciliation, divorce, or taking a break.
As your therapist, I help couples assess their needs, desires, and concerns, and I may use different approaches with each partner based on their agendas.
What do counseling sessions involve?
The first session often involves the couple sharing their marital story, followed by separate conversations with each partner. These conversations may include questions like: “What has happened so far? What have you tried to fix the problems? What role do children play in your decision? What’s a positive memory from your relationship?
After counseling, some couples may start therapy to reconcile, while others may divorce. Discernment counseling can also help couples who want to stay together but are unsure whether to seek couples therapy to improve their relationship.
In this service, I provide many resources, such as scripts on communicating better, knowledge of gaslighting and manipulation, and personal treatment plans for couples to use at home to address their current situations or manage conflict better.
This service is also helpful for premarital counseling or for the clients to learn how they move forward in a relationship and adjust to being engaged and living together.
“How do I decide what path to take?”
Discernment counseling is designed to help couples considering divorce arrive at a greater sense of clarity and confidence in their decision-making about the future of their marriage.
Making the right decision for both of you will involve finding answers to several questions. “Is this a phase in marriage that will pass? Do I even want to work on it? Even if I decide to work on it, how can I be confident that it is right for me or us? What have I missed? Is my partner capable of change?”
These sessions can help you decide whether to make no change to the marriage, divorce, have a cooling-off period, or attempt reconciliation and work to improve the relationship. Through discernment counseling, couples can gain greater clarity and confidence in their decision-making and the future of their marriage.
By the end of the completed sessions, I expect you to be able to have Awareness, Understanding, and Action.
Don’t hesitate to contact me today for more information on how discernment counseling can help you make a suitable decision for all concerned.