Premarital Counseling in Carmel, Indiana

Who can benefit from Premarital Counseling?

Journey to Joy Counseling provides Premarital Counseling in the heart of the Arts and Design District in Carmel, IN.  We enjoy being in the downtown Carmel and being apart of the community. It is important to us that we provide the best, compassionate, and personalized care to couples that we work with.  We strive to provide professional and superb premarital counseling in Carmel, IN and to the surrounding suburbs of Indianapolis.

You may be wondering who can benefit from premarital counseling.  It’s true that ANYONE planning to get married can benefit! Premarital counseling can help couples who are struggling to communicate, couples who are blending a family, or couples who come from very different backgrounds.  All of this to say, premarital counseling can help address a myriad of issues prior to the wedding day.

We get asked frequently how premarital counseling can help.  Our answer is that getting married is a big step, and it’s important to address as many issues as possible before you make a lifelong commitment.  Premarital counseling can be helpful to address many topics, no matter if this is your first marriage or not. It’s important to invest as much effort into the marriage as you do into planning the wedding.  With the divorce rate as high as it is, we believe that premarital counseling is the first step in divorce prevention. Aren’t you both worth it?

One the most important aspects of premarital therapy is the relationship with your therapist.  We strive to be kind, empathetic, and unbiased people in our work with our premarital counseling clients.  We want you both to feel equally heard and validated. You can trust that we will always aim to help you both be the healthiest you can be.  It’s imperative that you both feel comfortable at Journey to Joy from beginning to end.

What is Premarital Counseling?

Premarital counseling is offered at Journey to Joy Counseling to address the following topics: Family of origin issues, blended family issues, parenthood challenges, perfectionism, shame, boundaries, codependency, life adjustment, transitions, anxiety, depression, ADHD, grief and loss, abandonment, healthy communication, fair fighting, spirituality, body image and self esteem issues, sex and intimacy, addiction and compulsion issues, work-life balance, divorce recovery (for second marriages), trauma, emotional needs, stress management, and Emotional Intelligence development.

Sometimes individuals involved in premarital counseling can benefit from participating in some individual counseling sessions.  It’s important to work through some individual issues in order to be healthier in your relationship with your partner.

Why should you start Premarital Counseling?

Premarital counseling allows partners to explore their individual feelings, beliefs, and behaviors, and how they contribute to the relationship.  It can help couples work through challenging upbringings, identify aspects of their lives together that they would like to change, better understand themselves and each other, set personal and relationship goals, and work toward desired change together.

Premarital counseling creates an opportunity for couples to receive guidance and to process the topics that are impacting both of you.  Premarital counseling allows you to explore your beliefs, emotions, and behaviors in a supportive, private environment. It also can help you both see your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors through a different lens.  This is so that you can challenge yourselves and grow closer as a couple.

When should you pursue Premarital Counseling?

Often couples come to couples therapy when they are in trouble or in a crisis.  While these situations are completely understandable reasons to seek therapy, it’s important to point out that you can be proactive with your marriage instead of reactive.  This is why premarital counseling is so important. Premarital counseling helps you identify problems before they become bigger issues, and work through disagreements in a healthy way.  It can help you both process, gain insight about each other, and help you connect intimately. It’s a solid foundation to put underneath your marriage before it ever even starts.

How does Premarital Counseling help?

You may wonder how premarital counseling works at Journey to Joy?  The first session is a get to know you both session. During the first session, we will ask questions about what brought you both in and gather background information.  Some of the questions we may ask are: “What are your fights like?”, “How well do you communicate?”, “What are your biggest problem areas?” and many, many more questions like this.  Together we will set goals for what therapy will look like to address the biggest problem areas you both identify. Often we may assign homework to help you reflect on what you want to work on as a couple and what ways your relationship can be better.  For more information on what to expect during the first session, click here.

After the first initial session, we will work to help you understand both of your needs, desires, and feelings within the relationship.  We will discuss the best steps for moving forward with positive change for your future marriage. Together we will identify coping skills to implement and positive problem-solving strategies, especially with communication.  We will address any negative patterns of behavior that are contributing to problems within your relationship. It’s important to develop action plans to help you accomplish your goals as a couple. Your therapist will provide support, guidance, and accountability along the way.  We will provide consistent support to you both as you continue on your journey to a healthier relationship and marriage.

We believe that premarital counseling takes an investment from each person.  Premarital counseling requires active participation from you both as the couple.  This means that you both may be asked to do homework outside of the session. Your therapist may request that you work on things outside of the session time; such as working on fair fighting techniques, setting boundaries with one another, and increasing communication between you.  While this homework is not required, it will help you exponentially on your journey to being a healthier, happier couple. You both will get out of counseling what you put in.

What you both identify as your problem areas may only be a small part of what is actually going on.  Or maybe neither one of you know what is wrong and you are looking for help and guidance. Your therapist is trained to look for other problem areas and help to address them with you both in session.  It’s important that we address and identify the origins of any further issues so that you can both be aware moving forward. Your therapist will be able to work with you both on any problems they may see.

It’s so rewarding to see clients in premarital counseling make progress.  This is why we are passionate about what we do! When our couples can communicate more effectively, learn to work towards conflict resolution, and increase intimacy, it brings us joy.  We truly want you to have the happiest and healthiest marriage possible!

Premarital therapy is most beneficial when you both come consistently.  To stop premarital therapy before you are done addressing all problem areas can allow issues to sneak up later.  Remember that premarital counseling is meant to be proactive, and to address issues before you make the commitment of marriage.  Sometimes premarital therapy takes a while before it starts to make a difference, or you both feel better in the relationship. Make it a priority, your future marriage is worth it!

SYMBIS

Journey to Joy is also certified in SYMBIS (Saying Your Marriage Before it Starts).  SYMBIS is an online assessment tool developed by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott to help couples identify strengths, weaknesses, personality differences, and caution flags within their relationship.  This intensive assessment allows for couples to integrate this evidenced-based tool within their premarital counseling sessions.

SYMBIS