We offer a range of comprehensive marriage preparation options in convenient NYC locations
Congratulations on your decision to seek professional consultation in preparing for your marriage. But we want you to realize that not all premarital counseling is the same!
We are mental health professionals with over thirty years of counseling, coaching and therapy experience. We have specialized in providing premartial counseling and education services for well over a decade based on our comprehensive review of current relationship and marriage research findings as well as the many different approaches to marriage preparation.
Patricia Schell Kuhlman, LCSW
& Gregory Kuhlman, PhD
We have carefully constructed and refined our approach to premarital counseling and education based on our experience with hundreds of couples of all backgrounds, ages, etc. We understand that each couple has different circumstances and needs. We can help you understand the preparation that makes most sense for you. We're experienced in engaging partners who may be less interested in preparing for marriage and/or exploring challenges in addition to strengths.
For most professionals and even marriage officiants, premarital counseling is a sideline for which they usually have not received adequate specific training. Even those with some training are often not familiar with the important findings of relevant research. They have a general practice where they may occasionally see a premarital couple and rely on their general counseling background to conduct a few exploratory sessions with them. While we're sure many of these services are valuable, we also believe that most are not inclusive enough to cover all of the optimal preparation.
Whether you are seeking private premarital counseling, an educational seminar, a preventive focus or help with specific problems, we offer a range of highly professional services to meet your needs. We can offer you evening or daytime meetings at our convenient Upper East Side Manhattan or in Park Slope Brooklyn locations.
Whatever marriage prep
couples choose should include activities to give them real skills,
real expectations and real knowledge of self and partner to face
the inevitable challenges of a committed relationship.
What
to Look For in Pre-Marriage Preparation
Make sure that the pre-marriage
prep you choose covers all of the relationship skill and knowledge areas that research has
shown to contribute to the success and endurance of marriage:
· Compatibility and differences (including those that can be gender-linked)
· Expectations
· Personalities and families-of-origin
· Communication
· Conflict management
· Intimacy and sexuality
· Long-term goals
Here are some questions to
help you select the pre-marriage prep that's right for you:
· Is the content based
on marriage research?
· Is the prep provided by qualified and trained professionals who will have credibility in their experience and outlook
with both men and women?
· Does it include a relationship assessment
inventory to help you understand your areas of compatibility and
strength, as well as areas you may need to address?
· Is the counseling
approach flexible enough to allow for your relationship and learning
style or is it a one-size-fits-all program? It's best to practice
specific communication, conflict resolution and goal-setting skills
and strategies, and then select those skills and strategies that
are most congruent with your relationship style and best meet your
needs.
· Will the counseling help you and your partner agree on goals and strategies for
managing and continuing to work on your most important unresolved
issues?
The answers to these
questions will help you approach selecting your premarital preparation
as an educated consumer.
If a couple's premarital
counseling with a religious advisor or lay professional does not
address some important areas, the couple should think about supplementing
with a program that does. Many couples use marriage prep and counseling
in combination, covering the foundation issues and skills in a class
or workshop, then focusing on religious or other special issues
in their counseling.
Click here for more info on private premarital counseling packages and consultations.
Click here for info on premarital educaton seminars.
Deciding whether to get or stay engaged? Click here
for more info.
Click
here for related reading and references list.
Copyright
2003-2005, Patricia S. & Gregory A. Kuhlman. You may copy this
article for non-commercial use provided that no changes are made
and this copyright notice, author credit and stayhitched.com source
citation are included.
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