Pre-Marital Counselling
Eliminate limitations to a healthy marriage in Pre-Marital Counselling
Are you in a love relationship and considering taking the journey of life commitment, marriage, or choosing to spend your life together? A wise option may be to engage in psychological preparation and planning for a better outcome, given the rate of issues around relationships and marriage,
Pre-marital counselling at Another Hope Counselling offers a passionate approach to a collaborative process that encourages both partners to be intentionally committed to learning about working together for an improved outlook on marriage. I offer pre-marriage counselling sessions in Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Yorkshire, and the Humber.
Why pre-marriage counselling?
When couples decide to move beyond being long-term friends or partners, their fundamental relational outlook feeds their romance stages. Unintentionally, partners can unconsciously lack the necessary elements for a successful partnership, which can cause issues. Pre-marital counselling is not always because a relationship is in trouble. It is about self-discovery and relational skill-building.
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At Another Hope Counselling and Psychotherapy service, the pre-marital therapy structure deepens each partner's awareness. It offers insights into their underlying relational dynamic, including psychological pressures and unmet needs. The aim is to empower couples with tools to help them respect, tolerate, and meet each other's emotional needs, improving their connection and fostering a more harmonious and fulfilling relationship.
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Couples are supported with experiences and essential knowledge to help them start and sustain a healthy relational environment, ensuring a relationship experience of safety and stability in their planned marital commitment.
The cost of a bad marriage could be managed from start
Present statistics highlight various reasons why marriages are crashing. A subtle social challenge is the effect on health and family life later in life due to not addressing partner compatibility issues from the start. Love and affection can be the surface element of a couple's relationship and attraction; what draws people together and what each partner seeks in relationships matters.
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​​Marriage still benefits and offers reliability, but most partners step into it unconsciously, unprepared, and, at times, naïve. Despite efforts to patch things up, it can lead to staleness, separation, and broken marriages in later life. It unnecessarily impacts children, creating Adverse Childhood experiences (ACE). An example is the rising rate of Grey divorce in today's news.
As a therapist, I work closely with partners to develop personal awareness of self-limitations and beliefs hindering connection. My years of experience and practice inform that despite some couples having and embodying great potential for superb connection and teamwork, their reactions and uninformed responses limit their gains and success in marriage. Relational dysfunctional issues can cause hopelessness.
Everyone is worth the effort; this is a collaborative process. I encourage partners to engage with an open mind to maximize gains.
A brief checklist for
Pre-marital counselling -
Love engagement and taking your relationship further doesn't have to be a naive journey. It is not worth the pain to subject oneself to be led into a life commitment that has not been thought through well. Here are some checklists for reflection.
Arguments: It can be an outward reflection of an internal conflict expressed through your thoughts and feelings. Partners sometimes normalise it as part of identity, requiring self-awareness.
Anger and Rage: These are generally signs of future relationship problems. Couples and partners may tell themselves this will subside once married and the genesis of relational issues.
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Incessant demands: These may be significant issues where needs like validation or sex may become objects of connection outside each other's growth, value, respect, and boundaries.
Control: This trait may be subtle in love relationships. It can relate to unresolved early attachment issues. Unconsciously, partners may seek a controlling, contentious relationship to sustain beliefs.
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Difference and Culture: Making space, processing the partner's meaning, and building tolerance for their unique abilities.
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Infidelity: This may signify fundamental commitment issues and question what each partner seeks their relationship for.
Respect: Though assumed and easily overlooked, respect is a vital element alongside trust for prolonging the life of relationships. ​
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​Traumatic experiences: Unresolved difficult experiences usually play out in the relationship and may be unnoticeable to partners.
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Intimacy and Sexual Issues: Mutuality in physical and emotional intimacy is an integral part of a relationship's needs and issues.
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Mental Health: Limitations, strengths, or different abilities in partners and their well-being are not always a problem if understood, worked through intentionally, and embraced.
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Financial Money issues: It can cause lots of relationship difficulties, including stress and anxiety, hindering cohesion.
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Behaviour and attitude to life and society: This increasing issue may start as a simple and harmless outlook but can remain a distance-causing factor in marital and long-term commitments.
The pains of a bad marriage are not unavoidable. The awareness gained in pre-marital counselling can help couples make informed decisions
when entering a life-long commitment. ​
Pre-marriage therapy at Another Hope Counselling offers reliable insight and resources to help you focus on positive areas with tools to improve your relationship and marital life.