When Your Spouse is Unwilling to Attend Couples Counseling
Hopeful Spouse Counseling is a specialized type of counseling for an individual whose spouse has said they want to divorce or are seriously leaning towards divorce, and resist participation in any kind of couples counseling.
The goal of Hopeful Spouse Counseling is to support your desire to save your marriage by helping you learn from this crisis and enable you to engage in healthy constructive ways to prevent a divorce if possible. The objective of Hopeful Spouse Counseling is not to “fix” your marriage right now. It’s to help you take immediate action to create an atmosphere where it might be possible to repair your marriage (along with your spouse) in the very near future.
So the desire is that your spouse might be willing to get help with you; but that would only come after you have made some changes within yourself that we work on in Hopeful Spouse Counseling.
In Hopeful Spouse Counseling I function as a coach for individuals who want to develop practical strategies to save their marriage when their spouse is considering divorce. I’m going to be compassionate with you, but at times, I will challenge you on behaviors that are leading your spouse toward thinking that is the most attractive option on the table right now. I help you keep your attitude as positive as possible during this very stressful time, and I teach specific and practical strategies for you to be constructive in your actions and reactions.
The hope and goal of our sessions together is that your spouse would be willing to reconsider working on the marriage and attend couples therapy with you. Or at least he/she will consider participating in Discernment Counseling. I also help you to make sure that your children are protected and feel secure as much as possible during this difficult time.