Premarital Counseling
Do you and your fiance want to build a strong foundation for a healthy marriage?
Have you and your partner been wondering if marriage is the right choice?
Are you and your fiance unsure about what marriage will look like or how it works?
Do you worry about how to deal with conflict, past relationships, or future in-laws?
Have things about your future spouse's family (or your family) caused stress in your relationship?
Are you worried about being able to meet each other's expectations in the future?
Premarital counseling is a proven strategy for helping couples like yours feel confident about creating a strong marriage with the person they love. At Redfish Counseling, the system we use to help you and your partner prepare for marriage is one of the most extensively researched and scientifically validated approaches to premarital therapy on the planet (read more about it below).​
Through premarital counseling with our Winston-Salem therapy team, you and your partner can:
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Create a way to resolve conflicts more effectively
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Explore how your past & family experiences can affect the future family you might create
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Have clarity about whether marriage is the right decision for you right now
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Feel more comfortable talking about difficult relationship topics
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Know the strengths and areas of growth in your relationship
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Improve your communication skills
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Identify ways to deal with major stressors
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Maximize your ability to work together as a team and appreciate each other's individual differences
If you are ready to build a relationship foundation for the future that gives you a sense of confidence,
What is Premarital Counseling with Prepare/Enrich like?
At Redfish Counseling, we use a program called Prepare/Enrich -- one of the most effective premarital counseling approaches available. Prepare/Enrich (P/E) was developed as a premarital counseling model in 1977. Since then, P/E has been consistently updated, adapted, and validated by ongoing research across a wide range of demographics and cultural settings. Over 4 million couples across more than 100 countries have used the P/E system.
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The result: one heck of a tool for couples who are dating, considering getting married, or are married already.
While premarital counseling in general can help couples reduce the risk of divorce by up to 30%, P/E goes farther: P/E has been shown to help couples who are planning marriage predict with 80-85% accuracy whether they will experience marital success three years after saying "I do."(1)
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While we primarily base our premarital counseling work around the P/E system, we will tailor our work together based on your relationship's individual needs and goals. This allows us to process areas of concern that come up outside of the P/E format.
Premarital counseling sessions using Prepare/Enrich involve the completion of individual and couples exercises, followed by processing and feedback with your counselor. Key topics covered in the P/E system include:
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Relationship strengths and areas for growth
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Personal stress profiles & Conflict resolution
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Couple & Family Maps
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Individual personality assessments
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Managing finances & Relationship roles
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Affection, intimacy, & sex
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Children & parenting dynamics
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Influence of spiritual beliefs
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Premarital counseling is one of the best investments you can make into your relationship. It can help you and your partner gain clarity about what decisions are right for you regarding marriage, learn how to avoid and recover from relationship pitfalls, and feel more confident about your future together.
Premarital Counseling often equips couples to succeed in areas like the following: