Specialties
– One of the wisest investments a new couple can make
– Also an excellent wedding or engagement gift idea*
Many clients over the years tell me they wish they’d had good pre-marital counseling before their marriage. One pre-marital client told me every single person she’d talked to who had had pre-marital counseling, said it was invaluable.
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed helping many couples prepare for marriage by a thorough evaluation of the personalities, patterns and the “baggage” that each bring to their marriage. So much of marital attraction, that which brings couples together, is unconscious – some say at least 90%!
There’s an old psychological maxim that says when there is both a conscious and an unconscious program involved, the outcome is always determined at the unconscious level. This is rarely more true than in what each person brings to their marriage.
Frequently a couple will engage me for regular couple counseling for a specific problem in their relationship before marriage. It’s much easier to deal with these problems before the wedding, rather than wait until later, when they’ve become larger and more destructive.
Note 1: The timing of pre-marital counseling should be such that it is completed at least a month before the wedding date.
*Note 2: Consider pre-marital counseling as a great wedding gift (or better an engagement gift) for a new couple – actually to be ‘given’ some months ahead of the wedding itself. Phone me for more information.
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Two specific Pre-Marital Counseling Packages
Package A – the full package – Ten sessions, $800
Package B – a smaller package – Six sessions, $510
Package A – the full package (Ten sessions)
This is my best (most comprehensive) package. It includes the following:
1) A thorough evaluation of the patterns, strengths and problems of each background family (what we call “family of origin”). This understanding is central to much of my analysis both individual and couple, and represents a “mapping of information” that has become my expertise.
2) The use of one of the valuable Prepare-Enrich inventories by Life Innovations, Inc. of Minneapolis. I have been trained and licensed to administer their couple counseling products (which have been used and continually developed since 1980). Their total program has five specific inventory modules.
PREPARE – for premarital couples
PREPARE-CC – for cohabiting premarital couples
PREPARE-MC – for premarital couples with children
MATE – for couples, premarital married, over the age of 50
Go to http://www.prepare-enrich.com/about_us.cfm?id=33 for more information.
3) Monitoring and teaching couple skills in areas of problem solving, conflict resolution, and effective communication skills and techniques.
4) Evaluation and counseling in areas of sexuality, especially the nature of sexual problems, development and maturity within marriage. Pre-marital or even extra-marital sexuality, can’t hold a candle to the true passion that can develop within marriage.
5) (When requested) the spiritual aspects of marriage, as well as the ritual functions of the marriage ceremony. (I generally leave the specific “religious” aspects and Church teaching regarding marriage to any clergy involved.)
Cost and Time
If you wish a briefer intro session at no cost for the sake of meeting me and looking more deeply at the program, let me know.
These goals can be accomplished for most couples in ten sessions. The package cost is $800.00. The “Prepare” inventory administration fees are an additional cost of $35.00. If specific problems emerge that would involve the benefits of an extended counseling contract, the cost will be adjusted accordingly. All these matters will be considered and discussed at the initial no-cost session.
Other matters
The rights and standards of confidentiality for this counseling is the same as for all other counseling offered by William K McDonald PLC. For purposes of confidentiality and therapeutic clarity, the “relationship” is the defined client in this work rather than each individual.
Generally third party coverage (i.e. insurance) will not cover pre-marital counseling, because it is not diagnosis driven. This means it’s not considered to involve the healing of a psychological illness, which is the standard assumption of medical insurance coverage.
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Package B – the smaller package (Six sessions)
This is a smaller package, but covers many important matters. It includes the the same as in Package A, 1 though 4, though less comprehensively. It’s a “Pre-marital Counseling Lite” package.
Cost and Time
Again, I invite a couple to come in for an initial exploratory session at no cost.
The goals of this package can be accomplished for most couples in six sessions. The package cost is $510.00. The “Prepare” inventory administration fees are an additional cost of $35.00. If specific problems emerge that would involve the benefits of an extended counseling contract, the cost will be adjusted accordingly. All these matters will be considered and discussed at the initial no-cost session.
Confidentiality and third-party coverage matters are the same as in Package A (above)
For more questions, and/or to set up an initial no-cost session, phone me.
Bill McDonald
810 629-0760