When your marriage is a bit rocky, you’ll want to seek out a good marriage counselor. But, you may not know where to turn. You don’t want to make your marriage worse by following the advice of a bad counselor. So, other than picking a marriage counselor randomly out of a phone book, what do you do? Here is some advice.
Know Where to Look
While the phone book is certainly an option, there are better ways. The first is through word of mouth from someone whose opinion you trust. However, you may be reluctant to share the fact that you are seeking a marriage counselor, in which case, this option is not available to you.
Your next best bet is to do your research and examine the advice of reliable sources. Some expert sources include family-marriage-counseling.com and therapistlocator.net, aasect.org (for sex-related issues). The magazine Psychology Today, has a therapist locator tool that offers information on local counselors with detail about specialities and philosophy.
Once you have that name, google it and learn as much as you can about the potential marriage counselor.
Explore Your Options
Once you find your marriage counselor, you are done, right? Not necessarily. Ever marriage counselor is not right for every marriage, so keep this in mind. You may want to “try out” a few different marriage counselors before you determine which one is the right one for you. One way to explore different people is to schedule phone conversations before you meet in person. The call may be free or at least at a reduced cost, and it will help you decide who you want as a marriage counselor. This is a process that both you and your spouse should share together.
Other options include pastoral counseling (counseling from a pastor, minister or priest) and group counseling or marriage retreats.
Determining that you are ready for counseling is the first step in saving and improving your marriage.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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