When faced with a failing marriage, many couples are unsure about what to do. “Can marriage counseling help?” they often wonder. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is nowhere near as cut and dry as many are hoping. In fact, the issue bears a resemblance to the trouble that confronts little Alice on her journey through Wonderland. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go?” asks the protagonist. “That,” answers the Cheshire Cat, “depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

It is much the same with marriage counseling help. Whether or not it works depends on the couple’s definition of “works”. Can marriage counseling help save your marriage? Maybe. Can marriage counseling help you make a decision? Probably. It is a common misconception that marriage relationship counseling is meant to repair marriages. In some cases, that is the result. However, marriage counseling in reality is intended to help couples work through their issues and communicate more clearly so they can arrive at a mutually agreeable conclusion and go forward in a healthier way. Sometimes that conclusion involves a decision to stay together, and sometimes it involves a realization that a marriage is simply not fixable.

Talking to a therapist about your marriage is not like talking to the Genius Bar technician about your broken iPad. Many who are wondering about the effectiveness of marriage counseling are expecting a quick fix that, unfortunately, doesn’t exist. Marriage counseling is designed to teach couples how to communicate the things that have gone unsaid and to give them a safe space for that communication. Some couples go through that process and find themselves better equipped to continue their marriages. Others, however, learn that they are simply no longer compatible. That doesn’t mean that marriage counseling failed. Often, that conclusion would have taken years of pain and difficulty to reach that were avoided because of marriage relationship counselling.

Can marriage counseling help? Yes. Will that help necessarily look the way you’re expecting it to look? Perhaps. The important thing about marriage counseling is the knowledge that you tried and that you arrived at a conclusion that was carefully considered. Check out this website for more.