Couples Counseling – What Are The Types and Who’s It For?
Posted: February 19, 2024
By: Natasha Cooke, MS, LPC Associate
Supervised by Melissa Barton, MA, LPC-S
Premarital Counseling
You may have heard that many couples are required by their religion to complete premarital counseling before they can marry. This is often done by a priest who does not necessarily have a license to practice counseling. At times, it may be done by a religious licensed counselor, such as with Christian-based counseling. However, licensed professional counselors (LPC) and LPC Associates or licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT) who do not practice from a religious standpoint can also offer quality premarital counseling.
Clients who seek premarital counseling from a licensed therapist can receive a wide array of support and tools to help jumpstart a healthy foundation for their marriage. Common areas discussed in premarital counseling are parenting styles, financial aspects, intimacy, and communication. However, couples also learn skills that enable them to endure hard times, keep the “spark alive” in their marriage, and learn how to be lifelong partners and friends. Psychoeducation in premarital counseling includes learning “fair fighting” skills, understanding one another’s love languages, communication techniques such as “I statements,” healthy coping habits, and other valuable relationship skills.
Marriage Counseling
Although termed marriage counseling, couples in any stage of their relationship can seek this type of counseling. For instance, this includes boyfriend and girlfriend, fiancés, couples planning on divorcing (divorce counseling), couples who live together, and couples who have been married for any length of time. Topics of marriage counseling range from communication, intimacy, parenting or co-parenting, emotional connection, building patience and understanding, setting boundaries, dealing with in-laws or outside influences in the marriage, and just about any other couple-related topic you can think of.
Many counselors also include individual sessions as part of the couples therapy treatment plan. This occurs when one partner comes in for a full session and discusses their perspective on the relationship, childhood traumas that may relate to difficulties in the relationship or individual issues that may be affecting the relationship. Moreover, if you are looking for a professional to help you and your partner through a rough patch or simply want to improve your relationship, finding a quality LPC or LPC Associate may be the answer.
Couples Counseling – What Are The Types and Who’s It For?
Does a couple have to wait until they are on the brink of divorce to go to couples counseling? The short answer is absolutely not! There are many reasons couples may seek counseling. From premarital counseling to parenting, life transitions such as becoming empty nesters, infidelity, trust issues, lack of emotional connection, intimacy problems, ineffective communication, and so much more, couples counseling is suitable for nearly everyone. Here are some of the types of couples counseling and generally what they entail.Premarital Counseling
You may have heard that many couples are required by their religion to complete premarital counseling before they can marry. This is often done by a priest who does not necessarily have a license to practice counseling. At times, it may be done by a religious licensed counselor, such as with Christian-based counseling. However, licensed professional counselors (LPC) and LPC Associates or licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT) who do not practice from a religious standpoint can also offer quality premarital counseling.
Clients who seek premarital counseling from a licensed therapist can receive a wide array of support and tools to help jumpstart a healthy foundation for their marriage. Common areas discussed in premarital counseling are parenting styles, financial aspects, intimacy, and communication. However, couples also learn skills that enable them to endure hard times, keep the “spark alive” in their marriage, and learn how to be lifelong partners and friends. Psychoeducation in premarital counseling includes learning “fair fighting” skills, understanding one another’s love languages, communication techniques such as “I statements,” healthy coping habits, and other valuable relationship skills.
Marriage Counseling
Although termed marriage counseling, couples in any stage of their relationship can seek this type of counseling. For instance, this includes boyfriend and girlfriend, fiancés, couples planning on divorcing (divorce counseling), couples who live together, and couples who have been married for any length of time. Topics of marriage counseling range from communication, intimacy, parenting or co-parenting, emotional connection, building patience and understanding, setting boundaries, dealing with in-laws or outside influences in the marriage, and just about any other couple-related topic you can think of.
Many counselors also include individual sessions as part of the couples therapy treatment plan. This occurs when one partner comes in for a full session and discusses their perspective on the relationship, childhood traumas that may relate to difficulties in the relationship or individual issues that may be affecting the relationship. Moreover, if you are looking for a professional to help you and your partner through a rough patch or simply want to improve your relationship, finding a quality LPC or LPC Associate may be the answer.
Sex Therapy
While discussing sex in therapy may seem a bit taboo, it can be a great way to improve sexual intimacy satisfaction and/or frequency in the relationship. A sex therapist is a certified professional who assists their clients with sexual difficulties that are not typically related to an underlying medical condition. A sex therapist addresses sexual problems that are the result of mental or emotional issues. Some common problems that sex therapists work with include anxiety about sex, inability to orgasm during sex or difficulty becoming aroused, mismatched sex drives, sexual trauma, sex education, improving communication about intimacy and sex, infidelity, and more. If you have a question about sex therapy, consider seeking a free consultation with a sex therapist to see if sex therapy is right for you and your partner.Begin Couples Therapy in Katy, TX!
If you are ready to start improving your relationship, one of the therapists at The Counseling Center at Cinco Ranch can help! We provide mental health counseling, as well as other mental health services. To begin counseling in Katy, TX follow these three steps:- Contact our office to set up an appointment or to learn more information
- Meet with one of our knowledgeable therapists
- Find ways to thrive through therapy today!