Marital and family counseling is a very important service offered by the Counseling & Assessment Service. Understanding the nature of marital and family relationships, improving communication, and helping couples/families learn effective problem solving skills are emphasized by Drs. Harper and Jennings. Marital and family issues often generate the strongest of feelings. Thus, helping family members to mutually appreciate each other’s feelings is an essential part of the therapeutic process.

Early intervention in family and/or marital problems is quite important. Thus, couples and/or families are encouraged to begin the process of solving these problems as soon as possible. Along this line, premarital counseling is a service that has previously been offered here at Counseling & Assessment Service.

Experience has taught that “marital counseling” is sometimes best conceived of as “divorce counseling” if one or both parties in the marriage have firmly decided to end the relationship. If after careful thought one or both parties decide to end the relationship, counseling about how best to communicate, manage one’s emotions, and solve problems remains a valuable service for those couples who have chosen to end their marriage. Various issues (children, property, friends, etc.) are likely to continue to serve as points of contention even after a divorce. Thus, assisting couples with this very difficult process can prevent much future grief and strife. In some cases we refer couples who have decided to divorce to Sylvia S. Mork, MSW, LISW, for mediation counseling.

Most health insurance companies do not provide coverage specifically for marital counseling per se. However, whenever one member of the couple or family is identified as functioning with a mental health diagnosis and marital or family issues are a contributing factor to this individual’s problems, both marital and family counseling are often covered.