Discernment Counseling: A New Way to Help Those with Divorce Ambivalence
HWP’s Discernment Counseling service in Alpharetta, GA offers a safe space to acknowledge and process difficult emotions surrounding the state of your marriage and the possibility of separation or divorce. Your discernment counselor will support you while you identify your marital concerns and will provide you with insight and understanding into the patterns within your marriage. The end goal of this short-term treatment is for couples to be able to confidently decide the next steps of their relationship.
What is Discernment Counseling?
It is often said that the first step to overcoming any obstacle is knowing what it is.
Discernment counseling is a type of therapy that allows people to explore the options for addressing marital problems, including trying to stay married, choosing to separate, or divorce. This is a type of brief marriage counseling designed for couples who are uncertain whether they want to continue their relationship.
It can help reduce potential conflict between partners as they decide whether to separate, and it can make the separation process easier if they do decide to take this course of action.
At HWP we offer this type of counseling for couples seeking help with ambivalence toward divorce. Our therapists are trained professionals who will work closely with you during every step of the journey towards reconciliation or peace with separation. We help couples decide what their next steps will be and how their future relationship will look.
Benefits of Discernment Counseling
- Provides an opportunity to align you and your partner’s understanding of where the relationship is at and gain clarity about the relationship
- Opportunity to develop insight and understanding into patterns in your relationship
- Assistance from a couples therapist with assessing your current relationship status
- Provides peace of mind and clarity to move forward with confidence
Who is Discernment Counseling for?
Discernment Counseling is for couples who are uncertain whether they want to continue their relationship, couples on the brink of divorce, or those who are divorce ambivalent. Our highly experienced marriage therapists in the Atlanta and Alpharetta areas help couples that participate in discernment counseling decide if they wish to work on the marriage and save the relationship or pursue other life paths.
DISCERNMENT COUNSELING IS NOT APPROPRIATE WHEN:
- One of you has already made a final decision to end the relationship and only wants counseling to encourage the other spouse to accept that decision.
- One of you is coercing the other to participate via threats of any kind.
- There is a danger of domestic violence or physical harm.
- When there is an Order of Protection from a court.
How Discernment Counseling Works
Discernment Counseling is a process that allows the couple to explore all the pros and cons of staying together or moving on. Your counselor will ask questions about what happened in the relationship that caused one or both partners to consider ending it, what has been done to try to fix the relationship, and how children factor into the decision to end the relationship.
The goal of discerning counseling is not to persuade or convince one person that they should stay in the marriage. It’s important for both partners to feel like they can speak freely without any judgment or fear of reprisal from their spouse.
A successful outcome in discernment counseling would be a greater understanding of the relationship along with some clarity and confidence about the future.
