Pre-Marital Counselling
What can you do to prepare for life together? How do you envision growing as individuals and as a couple? Do you know your own and each other’s strengths and weaknesses? Have you discussed the challenges that you will face as you make the transition towards a long-term emotionally committed relationship?
Premarital counselling allows a couple to celebrate their relationship strengths, explore areas of their relationship that would benefit from discussion, and to discover areas that have been previously unexplored. Knowing and understanding how each of you feel about specific issues can make a significant difference in how connected you feel now and in the future.
Our pre-marital counselling provides you and your partner with a valuable opportunity to discuss important issues (i.e. to have children, and if so, how to raise a child, double-income work pressures, in-laws, sexual intimacy) in a safe, supportive, and neutral setting.
Working with an experienced couple’s counsellor will help you and your partner:
- Gain valuable insights about love and relationships
- Create a shared vision of the life you would like to have together
- Learn and develop skills that will help you stay together while growing as individuals
- Discover new ways to overcome communication gridlock
- Learn to let go of expectations that inhibit closeness
- Learn the difference between shared values and shared interests
Although premarital counselling can occur at any time before the wedding, recent studies suggest that it should be completed 6 months prior to the wedding, if possible, allowing the relationship a chance to shift and adjust as a response to the discussion in the counselling.
Elderly Couples
Elderly couples are at a unique time in their lives that present unique issues for the relationship. Our experienced therapists work with couples transitioning through this stage in their life while maintaining the connection and support of their relationship.
Some topics unique to elderly couple’s are:
- Individual and couple goals for retirement
- Involvement of children and grandchildren
- Relationship within the context of a partner’s deteriorating health
- Adjustment to one or both partner’s change in availability after retirement
- New directions for individual and/or couple
- Stresses related to change in financial circumstances
- Issues relating to mortality
- Change due to illness or injury
Same-Sex Couples
It is the belief of our therapists that same-sex couples suffer from/encounter similar challenges of heterosexual couples. However, there are a few issues unique to same-sex couples that our experienced therapists can help with:
- Coping with homophobic in-laws, coworkers, general public, etc.
- Dealing with "small town" issues or living in isolation from other gay couples if living outside a gay/lesbian community
- Dealing with divorce - children from the marriage – society’s response to the divorce
- Coping with a bisexual love triangle