I’m in the position of needing to do pre-marital counselling. A young couple in one of my churches has asked me to marry them, and I think it’s important for them to get at least a few hours of sober reflection about what they are undertaking. I know it was a good thing for my wife and I to experience.
The problem is that I’ve never done it (pre-marital counselling or a wedding) before. I have basic counselling skills and have experienced pre-marital counseling first hand, but at the same time I’m unsure of where to begin finding or preparing materials. So again I turn to the collective wisdom of the blogosphere.
Do you or have you done pre-marital counselling? How do you structure your sessions and what tools do you use? If you’ve been through it, what did you find valuable?
(I can’t wait to read the comments!)
My husband uses the Prepare/Enrich test. The training is excellent, and the test lays the groundwork for talking with the couple about major issues they will face throughout their marriage.
ReplyDeleteMore info is here: http://www.prepare-enrich.com/
Prepare/Enrich is what I did, and I liked it quite well. The training is quite expensive though...
ReplyDeleteI also use Prepare/Enrich and I have really been helped by it. The unfortunate thing for you is it may be too late for you to get trained and administer the survey in time for the couple to get married. Depends on their time frame. You might find a pastor who is trained and using Prepare and ask him/her to assist you with the counseling. I don't remember the training being that expensive. Maybe US$100-150. It's well worth it if counseling is not your specialty
ReplyDeleteIn Canadian funds it's nearly twice that. I have about a year to get ready so I'm looking into training
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