According to research done by Williams (2007) the majority of premarital counseling today is offered through churches. Some churches require couples to participate in some type of counseling that uses skill-base programs that incorporate scriptural guidelines before getting married. Couples also encounter other forms of premarital counseling such as: premarital counseling with clergy, engaged encounter, mentor couples, and day-long workshops.
The most common premarital counseling within a church is for the couple to meet privately with a clergy person this is known as premarital counseling with clergy. The clergy decides the number of meetings the couple has to go through. For instance a clergy can have one session with couple and discuss wedding plans, but some may have several sessions to marriage preparation to explore several areas in the relationship such as communication, conflict resolution, egalitarian roles, sexuality, commitment, finances, and personality issues.
The Catholic Church uses two types of approaches: the engaged encounter and day-long workshops. Engage encounter gives different presentations on marriage by a team of married couples or a clergy person. After the presentation, individuals have time to reflect and write about their feelings, and share privately with their partner. In a day-long workshop engaged couples attend an entire day were they have multiple speakers such as married couples, clergy, or experts within an area that present on a number of different topics, including building effective communication, developing and nurturing spiritually within the marriage, dealing with financial matters.
In mentor couples approach; couple meets with a married couple that provide mentoring. The ...
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...e and relationship. Second section couples focus on self exploration: love, myths, family origin rules, relationship, and love. Third section couples teaches couples to build empathy for partner, shows couple how to differ the need for bonding and the need for sex. Couples identify caring behaviors they would like from their partners, and identify “turn-ons/turn-offs.” Fourth section couples explore the pleasure of physical bounding and touch. It also addresses early sexual decisions, sexual myths, and jealousy are also addressed. Fifth section is use to clarify expectations and goals. After completing the five sessions couples use the skills and insights learned to help negotiate a contract or set of expectations for their relationship.
Works Cited
Williams, L. (2007). Premarital counseling. Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, 6(1/2), 207-217.
Most weddings are done in church. The newly wedded couple is supposed to hold on to their faithfulness in God. Praying and fasting are major activities that are recommended for the couples. Church, best maids and the altar are a symbol of holiness in marriage and that still applies in today’s life. Church weddings are upheld in the society and people take pride being associated with weddings.
Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling written by Mark McMinn and published by Tyndale House in 2011 notions towards the idealization that Christian counselors need to be privy in the most recent psychological methods as well as theological theories. “This is a book about counseling processes techniques” (McMinn, 2011, p. 150). McMinn also alluded that Christian counselors benefit from having a spiritual maturity. With having these attributes counselors are better prepared to take note of prayer, Scripture, sin, confession, forgiveness, and redemption. McMinn (2011) model flows in the direction of healing while equating to a more advantageous relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ as well as with other relationships (McMinn, 2011).
Overall, each theory is effective with the approaches and similar focuses. A marriage, couple, and family counselor is expected to understand families, show them empathy, provide positive guidance, and use effective listening skills. These strategies will not only benefit families, but it will also benefit the counselor’s practice.
If you are about to get married, then you are in a great place and have a wonderful opportunity to discuss the most important thing you could. Think about discussing these things with the person you are about to enter into a covenant. Married or not, this could be one of the most important conversations you will ever have. Every marriage should have an agreed foundation. So many marriages are failing because of lack of this exe...
Miller, Rowland S. Intimate Relationships. 6th Ed. New York; The McGraw- Hill Companies, 2012. Print.
This process starts out with everyone having the best intentions, but it might break down as the couples struggle. A neutral counselor can be brought in to ensure that the meetings can be kept as calm as possible. In the marriage, one spouse might have been left with no decision-making power. The counselor can couch this spouse to speak without reservation during the
Marriage is something most people do but few do it well. If a couple is not looking at divorce papers that are probably seeking marriage counseling. If they are not screaming to the top of their lungs at each other they are probably sneaking out to lie in someone else’s arms. If they are not physically abusing one or the other they are probably being mentally abusive. If a couple is not saying hurtful things to each other they are probably not saying anything at all because why would they when the other is not going to listen anyways. We have all been in or seen relationships struggle with these kinds of things. This big question is where did they go wrong? I think the answer to that question lies in Matt Chandler’s book The Mingling of Souls. Chandler’s answer to the question above is that if a couple wants to have a truly successful marriage they must follow God’s design for marriage. Now Chandler is in no way implying that a couple will not struggle if they do it God’s way but they will be able to get through those struggles together. This review is not a summary of the book but it will discuss the strength and weaknesses of
" Family Relations 52.4 (2003): 363-72. Print. Hanson, Richard R. "Optimizing Marital Success: The Conscious Couple Uniting Process. "
Ritual and Vows of Christian Marrage and Their Influence on the Differing Ways that Couples Approach Marraige and Marital Breakdown
They may also provide screening for STIs, adoption referrals, religious counseling, financial assistance, prenatal services, child-rearing resources and other services. Others may offer Bible study sessions and counseling for women who have recently had abortions. There are multiple ways to spread the word about Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Announcements can be made at one’s parish to help volunteer or work at a CPC. Speakers can come to schools to discuss crisis pregnancy, to try and avoid it, and to say that if it does happen, that the Christian community is there for you.
Marriage and family counselors are counselors distinctively trained to work with family systems and provide therapy for people who wish to solve emotional conflicts. Their goal, with therapy, is to revise people's perceptions and behavior, expand communication, and prevent individual and family crises. Although marriage and family counseling has a broad history, formal recognition of the professional counseling specialization can be traced to the establishment in 1989 of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counseling (IAMFC), which is a division of the American Counseling Association. Requirements for marriage and family counselors typically include a master’s degree in counseling, two years or three thousand hours of supervised clinical experience, and state-recognized exams.
Gottman’s Seven Principles are: Enhance Your Love Maps, Nurture Your Fondness and Admiration, Turn Toward each Other Instead of Away, Let Your Partner Influence You, Solve your Solvable Problems, Overcome Gridlock and Create Shared Meaning. These seven principles are crucial since they emphasize and reinforce positive techniques that can be integrated into the relationship to overcome the difficult stages. According to Gottman, emotional intelligence is the key that can bond couples together eradicating the possibility of a
The more you get to know someone, the more you are able to make better decisions and judgments for not just yourself, but for your partner as well. How a couple handles issues while
My first interview was with, Jennifer she is a married 29 year old, with one child. They have been married for five years. The relationship she is in seems to fall right into place with the five stages of interpersonal relationships that are in the book: Contact, involvement, intimacy, deterioration, and repair. The relationship seems to be built on a solid foundation of trust.