Discernment Counseling
Discernment Counseling is a way of helping couples where one person is “leaning out” of the relationship - and not sure that regular couples counseling would help - and the other is "leaning in” - that is, interested in rebuilding the marriage.
As your Discernment counselor, I will help you decide whether to try to restore your marriage to health, move toward divorce, or take a time-out and decide later.
The goal is for you to gain clarity and confidence about a direction, based on a deeper understanding of your relationship and what might be possible in your future.
The goal is not to solve your marital problems, but to see if they are solvable. You will each be treated with compassion and respect no matter how you are feeling about your marriage at the moment.
I will respect your reasons for divorce while trying to open up the possibility of restoring the marriage to health.
I will also emphasize the importance of each of you seeing your own contributions to the problems and the possible solutions. This will be useful in future relationships even if this one ends.
What to expect from Discernment Counseling:
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Discernment Counseling typically takes 5 sessions or less
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Each session is a combination of couple and one-on-one time
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The first session is usually 2 hours, follow-up sessions are 1.5 hours
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Discernment Counseling is considered "successful" when a joint decision is made to: work on the marriage, separate/divorce, or make no changes at this time
Discernment Counseling is not suited for these situations:
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When one spouse has already made a final decision to divorce
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When one spouse is coercing the other to participate
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When there is danger of domestic violence
