CaringHarts.com
The Ministry Counseling Solutions ......
Pre-Marital, Conflicting Partner, Marital, Pre- and Post-Divorce & Spiritual Awakening
PRE-MARITAL COUNSELING
At Caring HARTS, we want to mention a few important points to couples who are planning or thinking about getting married right away before we even discuss anything further. First and foremost, even if you are not having us officiate your wedding because you will be traveling out of the area (i.e. out of state) or prefer a wedding conducted at some other place of worship, YOU STILL CAN COME TO US FOR PRE-MARITAL COUNSELING. Yes, That's true. We realize that you may have circumstances out of your control, have other preferrences or maybe just want to share your thoughts and be counseled by someone other than the person who will marry you or see you in church regularly. Sometimes, we need to go somewhere other than where everyone knows us and get more privacy! Let us help you to accomplish that.
Pre-marital counseling falls into one of three distinct groupings. First are those couples who neither has ever been married before to another person. These people are termed (according to Caring HARTS) "New Marriages" for our purposes. Second comes those whereby one or both have been married before and this is the next time around. In this group, neither has children and perhaps (but not necessarily) the prior marriage did not last very long. The third group is called "Re-Marry with children" for those who will be brining one or more children from either side into the marriage. Each of the above three groupings represent specific and different dynamics to relationships. The maturity levels and experience levels in each are different. The expectations, thoughts, fears and hopes are unique to each level as well as to each couple. We do not treat everyone the same nor do we simply parrot counseling talk that makes one wonder if we are asleep during the sessions. We have a structure that is designed to be both informative yet fun, non-threatening yet progressive and tailored to you both as a special couple. Often, those with children are invited to (at one or more of the later sessions) bring in family members and / or others with special interests in the couple. In keeping with our customers' needs for different levels of service as well as different budgets to work with, we have comprised some really exciting pre-marital counseling sessions that you'll enjoy.
Each program is set up to meet with the couple one time per week (this is standard but we can change to two times per week, bi-weekly or for some other compatible schedule) for roughly one hour per visit. The choices are: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 16 sessions. The typical program lasts for "8" sessions. This is what most would consider your typical or standard type program. The lesser and higher number of sessions programs are tailored to discuss the basics and more complexities of marriage, respectively. When you talk to us, we can help guide you into which session style is best for you both. What I am about to say may sound like a canned speech AND I am sorry about that HOWEVER, the simple truth is that you both are about to embark on a life together. Great marriages are not accidental - they are created by two people who take an active role in building a great marriage. Pre-marital Counseling is a part, and a vital part indeed, of that building process. Pre-marital counseling participated in by couples who feel forced to be there is a waste of everyone's time AND say that a couple is not willing to take a really good, honest look at themselves as an individual, as a couple and as future mates. Without a good foundation, what hope does one have for a solid and lasting marriage? The shorter session count programs can lead couples in the right direction and be informative at the same time. They are not (obviously) meant to cover everything which are discussed in more advanced programs. The longer session programs progressively cover more material, discuss more elements of marriage and the couple as two unique people as well as allows ample time to think and toss around ideas for all those wonderful days, weeks, months and years down the road long after the wedding reception lights have been turned off. Don't shortchange yourselves! Take this time to laugh, to cry AND to get to know each other even better than you now think is even possible.
NOTE: ATTENTION GAY & LESBIAN READERS - Perhaps you are not getting married. Maybe you will seek us out for an Affirmation of Love Ceremony or will begin a Life Partnering arrangement with your special someone. Pre-marital Counseling sessions are available and tailored to meet your specific needs also. Sessions for your union come in the same format in terms of session count variations, they do encompass most of the same discussions (as they should) and yet do reflect your special thoughts, needs and concerns. Call us for more details.