According to the American Psychological Association, between 40 and 50 percent of American marriages end in divorce. Suppose it’s your second or third marriage, the odds of divorce increase. Many problems in a relationship could be solved with couples counseling, making a breakup preventable.
The key to counseling is to avoid waiting until there are problems to seek guidance from a licensed marriage and family therapist. Below are ten reasons that confirm counseling is an excellent idea for couples.
Deeper Understanding
You may be thinking you know all there is to know about your partner. However, counselors know how to help you take it to the next level. A deeper understanding can bring you closer as a couple.
A counselor can help you approach subjects like religion, having kids, triggers, fears, and greatest desires. You and your partner will learn to become better at recognizing and meeting each other’s needs, both physically and mentally.
Goal Setting
As a couple, you have goals for your life together. While your goals may not be the same, you can learn to merge your goals so that both of you are satisfied.
Goal setting involves short-term wants and needs. As a couple, you will create a list of goals that can be realized next year. Long-term goals will focus on things you want to happen in five or ten years. With each set, your counselor will help you develop specific steps to help you reach the goals.
Extended Family
In-laws, siblings, cousins, and other extended family are great when you are first married. You spend time together and go your separate ways until the next visit. This can all change after the wedding, especially when grandchildren arrive.
A good counselor can teach you how to set proper boundaries between you and your in-laws. Having boundaries enhances your relationship within the family. Each person knows their limits and sticks to them to avoid negative consequences.
Religion and Politics
Religion and politics are two of many complex subjects that can lead to heated discussions, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings. Couples who have a counselor get help figuring out their spiritual, religious, or political paths together, even if they are at various levels in the journey.
A counselor can teach you and your partner how to have different beliefs but still love and respect one another. A fight over a political candidate you have never met should not be something that separates you from the one you love.
Finding Your Role in the Relationship
Imagine this, five years after marriage, you have two infants, no sleep and you feel like the team you were once on is now unbalanced. You think you are doing more than your partner to keep the family together. Your partner feels they are doing more.
One way to avoid this division is to have counseling. Here you can establish roles and expectations, and the counselor can teach you to manage your time and share responsibilities.
Counselors are Experts
Just as physicians have skills to treat medical conditions, or handymen have unique skills to repair a home project, your family therapist also has skills. These skills have been obtained through years of education and experience.
Therapists carry these tools with them and use them to help you and your significant other improve your relationship. They create a treatment plan using counseling methods that are personalized for your relationship. They know there is not a one-size-fits-all couples counseling technique. You can know that your treatment is unique.
Improve Communication Skills
Communication is one of the most critical skills a couple can learn to enhance the relationship. Knowing how to correctly use tone, body language, and appropriate words will teach you both to show respect every time you communicate.
This can be especially helpful during arguments. Having a counselor, you will learn how to communicate appropriately in person, but also through phone calls, emails, text messages, video calls, and more.
Disagreement Training
Arguing is normal between couples. It is nearly impossible to avoid an argument here and there because you have two different moods, perspectives, backgrounds, beliefs, values, and more.
There are specific steps to fighting the right way. Your counselor will work with both of you to ensure you understand these steps. They will also teach you how to compromise and negotiate with respect, love, and kindness so that you both win.
Overcome Obstacles
Every couple will face some obstacle that challenges the relationship. Obstacles can be minor, like defining roles, assigning chores, or in-law issues. Obstacles can also be significant, like affairs, financial infidelity, and addictions.
Counselors have activities and advice to help you hurdle all the ups and downs of being a couple. They can act as a mediator and help you weigh the advantages and disadvantages when deciding how to handle obstacles.
Have Fun
Relationships are always fun and exciting in the beginning. Too often, life becomes stressful as you add children, careers, and social responsibilities to your life. You may feel so overwhelmed you can’t remember the last time you and your partner truly had fun.
When you have a counselor, you can learn how to keep fun in your relationship. Laughter is a skill. Your counselor can teach you many ways to laugh and make positive memories as a couple and family. Having fun should be a priority. When you reflect on your relationship, you want to have more positive experiences than negative ones.
Finally, when you and your partner have counseling, you are great role models for your children, friends, and other family members. You are teaching them it is okay to seek help when you have a problem. It is wise to seek expert advice for any issue, whether a broken leg, creating a will, selling a home, or resolving relationship issues. Marriage and family therapists are the experts in relationships. Reach out online or by phone today for expert advice. We are here for you.