How To Win Him Back

Posts Tagged ‘licensed professional counselors’

When we think of going to the doctor, we often imagine steely tools, long waiting rooms and rubber gloves. However, Dr. James Cordova, Ph.D. (from Clark University in Worcester Massachusetts) envisions an annual marriage checkup to keep relationships healthy and strong. “Marital satisfaction improves for couples who have been through the Marriage Checkup and for “control couples” who aren’t improving,” he reported after running a six-month study of 136 couples visiting a couples counselor trained in mid-level interventions.

Most of the people in Cordova’s couples counselor study were around 47 years old for husbands and 44 years old for wives, married for an average of fifteen years, although there are some newlyweds and some seniors also involved. Typically, they’ll videotape a couple discussing a problem and the counselors will review it later. “We watch them talk about a problem in their relationship together,” Cordova explains. Two weeks later, he can point out strengths and weaknesses in the tape, then presenting a “menu of options” for dealing with the situations. Sometimes couples may need to see licensed professional counselors, read books or simply spend more time together. Six months later, the couple will respond via a questionnaire to report their progress.

The initial results of these annual counseling sessions for couples have been promising, Cordova reports. In the first 68 couples, most reported increased marital satisfaction, improvements in intimacy and a higher level of cooperation and acceptance in their households. “People that have been through the marriage checkup are improving in all kinds of ways in comparison to couples who haven’t.” He admits that some couples will undoubtedly relapse, as anyone would in medical or emotional therapy, yet those with access to treatment always fare better.

In the future, Cordova and his team hope that an annual couples counselor package will be widely available across the country. Even though couples can find a family marriage counselor as it is, he hopes that his method and the affordability can be marketed nationwide. After all, this brief intervention yields significant improvements that can help families stay together to raise their children, without sacrificing personal happiness.

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You can benefit from Catholic marriage counseling, whether you’re Catholic or not. Christian counselors are not aiming to convert the non-believers, but rather, they’re trying to defend the sanctity of marriage and strengthen the family environment. After all, strong, loving family units are mankind’s best defense against evil. Rather than pay $100-$200 per session with a licensed marriage therapy professional, why not see what God can do first?

One form of Catholic counseling happens before you even get married. Pre-marriage counseling is generally part of any Christian ceremony. Counseling for couples may be done in sessions, as a weekend retreat or as a group seminar. As with any other marital counseling, you’ll learn about conflict management, identifying wants or needs and strengthening communication skills. Often this opportunity is partially covered by insurance, with a small fee based on an income-sensitive sliding scale. The idea is that pitfalls can be prevented with a little bit of skill building and knowledge prior to tying the knot.

Another type of Catholic marriage counseling is for crisis intervention. Sometimes God’s sheep lose their way and succumb to anger or violence. The Catholic Church can help couples learn to forgive, reform and reconcile. In some cases, the damage or the destructiveness may require another intervention from licensed professional counselors, but the local pastors and priests have community resources at their disposal to deal with whatever discord comes their way.

Catholic marriage counseling is ideal for couples with strong faith who feel as though they’re falling off the path. Perhaps they’re feeling bored, having adulterous thoughts or are stressing about communication in the household. The basic premise is that one’s faith in God will provide all the strength one needs to sort through the tribulations of married life. Even though matches are said to be “made in Heaven,” we can often use a helping hand to remind us of our earthly purpose. Whether you choose a personal couples session, a group seminar or a romantic weekend retreat, Christian marriage counseling is a great start.

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