Are you or your partner considering divorce, but not sure if its the right path? Do you want to gain clarity and confidence about what steps to take next with your marriage? Are you interested in taking one more look at your relationship before making a permanent decision?

If you or your spouse are considering divorce but are not completely sure that’s the best path, you are in a tough spot. Chances are either you or your spouse feels too little hope or energy to start traditional couples counseling. You may have tried that road before.

Discernment Counseling is specially designed for couples like you. It’s a chance to slow down, take a breath and look at your options for your marriage. This is a new way of helping couples where one partner is leaning towards divorce and the other wants to preserve the marriage. Couples like this don’t do well in traditional couples counseling that aims at solving relationship issues. They need a different approach.

The focus of Discernment Counseling is not on solving marital issues, but on evaluating the possibility if those issues could potentially be solved. 

As a Certified Discernment Counselor, I will help you decide whether to try to restore your marriage to health, move towards divorce, or take a time out and decide later. Sessions involve separate conversations with each partner, as well as time as a couple.

You will each be treated with compassion and respect no matter how you are feeling about your marriage at the moment. No good guys and bad guys. You will come in as a couple but the most important work occurs in the one-to-one conversations with me. Why? Because you are starting out in different places.

I respect your reasons for divorce while trying to open up the possibility of restoring the marriage to health. I 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.

The goal is for you to gain clarity and confidence about a direction, based on a deeper understanding of your relationship and its possibilities for the future. 

Discernment Counseling is short term, just 1-5 sessions, and leads to a decision to either divorce or give the marriage a last major effort, with a clear agenda for change.