Tools for Marriage. Preparing for marriage isn't the same thing as preparing for the wedding. Marriage preparation provides the possibility of exploring both the inner and outer parts of a relationship and finding resources to keep it alive. Marriage preparation is for any couple--young or old, never married or married before, with children and without children.

"Prepare" and "Prepare MC” (Marrying with Children) are preparation tools that cover several areas of importance in marriage: couple communication, conflict management, family and friends, finances, sexuality, personal habits, finances and financial goals, etc. The Prepare format provides a means for discussing strength and growth area

Personality Types. I also use an abbreviated personality indicator based on Jungian personality types. Terms that relate to this theory are: extraversion and introversion, intuition and sensation, thinking and feeling.) The type indicator can offer valuable information to a couple’s shared understanding of how each one perceives core marriage issues.

Training and professional experience.
I have found that my psychoanalytic training and experience as a parish minister (Episcopal Church) are often a valuable resource for insights into individual personal issues and the challenges that face couples over time. Some couples have chosen to continue counseling after their wedding to follow up on issues that they have recognized as crucial to their relationship--or pre-schedule a ‘check up’ at a date in the future to provide perspective and insight into ongoing areas where growth is needed.

Couple Counseling:
Couples and Crisis. Marriage generates a psychological field of its own, as does a
committed partnership. Such a special relationship is rich in the potential for joy and sorrow.

Every couple has a unique story, made more complex today by a shift in almost every basic category of sharing life together. For example: role relationships, vocational priorities, childrearing, financial arrangements, and sexual expectations have a much greater range of meaning and variability. Every couple experiences crises--seasons for decision making--when pressure is brought to bear from within and/or without.

Why a Counselor? Often we are launched into a life together with only pieces of a roadmap. Of course, we cannot see the future, but we can equip ourselves for the expected and unexpected challenges ahead. At it ‘s very best, couple counseling equips the couple to communicate in a style that works for them, to find inner and outer resources for problem solving, and to identify ways to support and soothe one another. The counselor facilitates this process with the resources of insight and training.

Orientation. My training and expertise come from three sources: 1) my study of John Gottman, PhD, whose on-going clinical research and theories I find to be the most effective and satisfying, 2) my training as a Jungian analyst, where insights into individual psychology are often a helpful resource for supporting a couple’s understanding of what may be unconsciously at work, and 3) my training and 20 years experience as an Episcopal priest, which has given me insights into the spiritual life as an essential aspect of the whole of life, from birth to death.