$10,000 Ring. $2,000 in Flowers. $2,500 Photographer.
$10,000 Caterer. $5,500 Venue=$30,000 Day.
Having a lasting marriage…Priceless.
Successful marriages don’t magically happen. They need to be intentionally cultivated, tended to, and supported. Proactive couples planning to marry can make an investment in their marriage before it even begins. By investing now, we can stave off so many rough patches in the future by equipping you with the skills to handle the difficulties life may send your way. Couples also find premarital counseling helpful in aligning their priorities and goals for their marriage (sometimes it helps to have a discerning third-party to ask the hard questions.)
I have developed a 6-week premarital counseling course that covers the most common struggles couples face. Each session focuses on themes developed from my experience as a marriage and relationship counselor trying to help repair broken marriages. By proactively addressing these issues, we can develop tools and strategies that will last a lifetime.
If you’re interested in the 6-week premarital course, please indicate this when sending an email, calling, or leaving a voicemail.
The cost of this course is $900 ($150/session).
Note: We do not accept insurance at this time.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A PREMARITAL COUNSELOR?
The therapist is a guide and mediator in this journey. Someone who asks the questions that may not have been asked. Someone who gently guides the conversation in the direction that will best serve the couple.
IS SEX THERAPY A PART OF PREMARITAL COUNSELING?
Talking about sex is an important part of premarital counseling. In addition, I have specialized experience working in the field of sex therapy. Couples need to talk about their expectations, wants, and needs before committing to another individual longterm. Couples especially appreciate my ability to address a myriad of sex-related topics (because it can sometimes feel awkward having these discussions with one another or with a religious leader.)
IS YOUR PREMARITAL COUNSELING PROGRAM RELIGIOUS?
I am a client-centered therapist. I believe it is important to tailor therapy to the needs of the clients. If you or your partner are religious or spiritual, we can absolutely incorporate that into our discussions.
WHAT TOPICS ARE COVERED IN PREMARITAL COUNSELING?
Communication & Conflict Resolution. Expectations & Dealbreakers. Sex & Intimacy. Family Dynamics. Finances. Parenting (if applicable). Religion/Spirituality (if applicable).
WHEN SHOULD WE DO PREMARITAL COUNSELING?
Ideally 4-6 months before the wedding. But, we’ll make it work any time! Because of shortened timelines, I’ve even continued sessions following the wedding. What’s most important is that you talk through these topics as part of your initial marriage journey.
IS DOING PREMARITAL COUNSELING A SIGN OF ANTICIPATED FAILURE?
Absolutely not. Completing premarital counseling is a great proactive way to strengthen even the best relationships. You’d be surprised how many “happy couples” do premarital counseling! We often still find areas you’ve never explored in your relationship to discuss.
“I would encourage every couple to add premarital counseling to that list. It was an effective tool that better prepared us for married life. Dreya provided us with the techniques and skills we needed to have more fruitful conversations and better deal with potential conflict in our marriage. We were able to openly discuss our core values to understand where we were on the same page, and where we were not. This allowed us to acknowledge where compromise would be necessary…”
Dreya has been our pre-marital counselor for about a year now and she has helped us to completely overhaul our communication methods and conflict resolution. She has also helped us work through hard conversations that we hadn’t had before. With Dreya, at the end of each session, she would prepare us for what we would talk about at the next session, as each session was based around a new topic. We would come to the session prepared and ready to be open and honest because she created an environment for us to feel safe and not judged by anything we say. In this environment, we both have opened up much more than ever before. Dreya helps to create a dialogue that we wouldn’t have on our own. Over the last year, we have grown so much and changed for the better, and I honestly believe that wouldn’t have happened without Dreya!
I won’t contend that I thought I knew everything already, but I would have never guessed how informative and beneficial pre-marriage counseling was with Dreya. Anybody can Google ‘top reasons for divorce’ and have conversations with their partner before marriage in an effort to avoid common pitfalls. Each session focused on a specific aspect of marriage (cohabitating, kids, sex, dealbreakers) that led to open and productive conversations we might not have originally had. Dreya served as a tremendous sounding board for both of us and asked questions in each session that gave us more to dig into than we thought. I had no doubts about us as a couple before counseling, but after, I absolutely feel closer to my fiancé and it’s an awesome comfort to know we’ve already had great conversations about things that could cause a rocky road in the future. I’m very appreciative of Dreya for her work and would recommend her pre-marriage counseling course to anyone.
