Marriage and Family

Building Healthy Marriages

We are proud to partner with Building Healthy Marriages to provide pre-marital, relationship and marriage counseling. Our counselors are Prepare/Enrich Certified. Prepare/Enrich is a nationally acclaimed program for assisting all couples to have an enlivened, passionate relationship.

Over the last five years, couples participating in the Building Healthy Marriages project reported improvements in time spent together, problem solving, intimacy and closeness. They also had fewer financial disagreements, more sexual satisfaction and fewer hurtful or explosive arguments. For more information on these research results, go towww.BuildingHealthyMarriages.Pro.

Building Healthy Families

All families have problems and challenges. How a family works together to address these concerns is what makes the difference. Following are the characteristics of a healthy family:

Six characteristics of a Healthy Family

  1. Commitment to the family: making the family a priority
  2. Emotional/spiritual wellness, allowing trust and the giving and receiving of love.
  3. Open communication, with consistent verbal and non-verbal responses.
  4. Appreciation and recognition of the positive aspects of otherness.
  5. Meaningful time spent together as a family.
  6. Ability to deal with conflict and crisis.
Stinette, N., and Defrain, J. Secrets of Strong Families, 1985

If you’re facing a tough situation, family coaching may be a useful pathway for finding solutions.

Pre-Divorce Counseling

Some situations are complicated, and require individualized attention or counseling as a couple. Are you considering separation or divorce? Counseling can help you sort through the questions and complexities that can accompany this difficult phase of a relationship. Individual counseling and/or marriage counseling offers an opportunity to see options more clearly, and make certain that decisions made are ones that lead ultimately to resolution, peace of mind and a new beginning, within or apart from your relationship.

Parenting After Divorce

Psychological research has consistently shown that the more parents are able to cooperate for the best interests of the children after divorce, the better adjustment the children make. Parenting after divorce is never easy. Integrus counseling can help you understand the particular needs of your child or children given your circumstances, and help you ensure that your child has the best possible chance of thriving through divorce.

Step-Parenting and Remarriage

Did you know that the divorce rate for second marriages is even higher than for first marriages—60%? The most often cited reason for a second marriage to end is problems related to step-parenting and family strain. Family counseling can help everyone in the household learn how to foster relationships together. It can also give strategies for negotiating the complex mixture of needs of the various family members, bringing those new rough waters to a smooth resting place.