Sermons, Sung Communion Liturgies, and reflections on ministry
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Question: Premarital Counseling
What's your process for premarital counseling? Or what process did someone lead you through? What resources did you use? What would or wouldn't you recommend?
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Over the years I've developed a "strategy" of saying the first session will determine the number of following sessions. I don't think it's meeting folks at the point of need when we have a predetermined number of sessions. And I try to make that first session as comfortable as possible for the couple to get to know each other and to discover where they are.
I agree with QP, my first session is usually a get to know you session which reveals their level of committment to Premartial Counseling and if I think they really need it.
I usually run into two types of couples. #1 - those couples who know everything about marriage and no matter what you say, they have it all figured out anyway. #2 - people who want to discuss certian relationship issues that they want worked on. Group #2 are the couples I enjoy talking to and I find couple #1 to be a waste of everyone's time to meet several times.
I've been using Prepare/Enrich since '96. It keeps the conversation on track and able to address the issues brought up by each couple.
The surveys each person in the couple takes, shows what they need to work on. It is less dependent on you trying to figure that out. Considering the difficulty of getting couples into counseling at all, this can make a huge difference in keeping sessions to a manageable number.
4 comments:
Over the years I've developed a "strategy" of saying the first session will determine the number of following sessions. I don't think it's meeting folks at the point of need when we have a predetermined number of sessions. And I try to make that first session as comfortable as possible for the couple to get to know each other and to discover where they are.
I agree with QP, my first session is usually a get to know you session which reveals their level of committment to Premartial Counseling and if I think they really need it.
I usually run into two types of couples.
#1 - those couples who know everything about marriage and no matter what you say, they have it all figured out anyway.
#2 - people who want to discuss certian relationship issues that they want worked on.
Group #2 are the couples I enjoy talking to and I find couple #1 to be a waste of everyone's time to meet several times.
Hi Beth,
I saved two articles from the NYTimes that might be of interest two you. I can email them to you.
I've been using Prepare/Enrich since '96. It keeps the conversation on track and able to address the issues brought up by each couple.
The surveys each person in the couple takes, shows what they need to work on. It is less dependent on you trying to figure that out. Considering the difficulty of getting couples into counseling at all, this can make a huge difference in keeping sessions to a manageable number.
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