Whether you and your spouse have made the joint decision to divorce or one of you has told the other that the marriage is no longer workable, you can benefit from joint counseling. This isn’t marriage counseling – it’s divorce counseling.
Divorce counseling can be particularly helpful when a couple has children and want to divorce as amicably as possible to protect those children. It can also help them develop a stronger co-parenting relationship.
Even couples without children can benefit from divorce counseling
Couples without children can also benefit because counseling can give them a safe space to work out the emotions and negativity they feel towards each other that can get in the way of arriving at property division and support agreements.
Divorce counseling (sometimes known as pre-divorce or discernment counseling) can give couples one last chance to participate in joint therapy to determine why the marriage didn’t work. This can help both of them as they move forward and eventually on to another relationship.
What divorce counseling is not
The purpose of divorce counseling isn’t to try to save the marriage. Preferably, a couple has already done everything they can – including marriage counseling – to do that. However, in some cases, divorce therapy can lead a couple to decide to give things another try.
Divorce therapy also isn’t mediation, where couples work together under the guidance of a trained mediator to negotiate their various divorce agreements. Mediation deals with the legal aspects of divorce. However, it can help mediation become a more viable option than a litigated divorce.
Divorce therapy can help couples reach a détente of sorts that can put them both in a better, more positive place that can increase their willingness to make the necessary mutual compromises to complete their divorce – regardless of what divorce process they use – as quickly and painlessly as possible.
