"Discernment counseling" is a type of therapy that helps couples who are considering divorce make a clear decision about the future of their relationship. It involves talking with a trained professional who helps each person understand their own desires and motivations, and also assists in exploring the options available to them.
Full definition
I treat couples who are on the brink of divorce in a type of short - term, solution - focused treatment known
as discernment counseling.
Initiailly only a few therapists
provided discernment counseling through this program, but a beginning training was first offered to practicing marriage and family therapists in June 2011.
You will leave
discernment counseling sessions with greater clarity and confidence to make a decision, based on a deeper understanding of what's happened to your marriage.
Couples come out of
Discernment Counseling with a decision either to divorce or give the marriage a full - out, six - month effort in marriage counseling to see if they can right the ship and have a strong relationship again.
Couples who go
through Discernment Counseling most often come out the other end more settled and confident about their next steps: whether to make one, last, all - out effort in couples counseling to restore their marriage to health, or to move forward with divorce.
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If you or your spouse are considering divorce, but are not completely sure that is the best path,
then Discernment Counseling is designed for you.
Dr. Emily Cook, Jocylynn Stephenson, and Lindsey Foss have been specially trained to provide
Discernment Counseling at Emily Cook Therapy in Bethesda, MD..
Discernment Counseling differs from regular Couples Therapy in three ways: 1) the goal is not to solve problems in the relationship, but to figure out whether the problems can be solved.
What discernment counseling gives you is a realistic assessment of what both staying together and getting divorced entails in terms of doing the best for your children.
Common issues that bring couples to
Discernment Counseling include affairs, separations, a history of breaking up and getting back together again, or the sense that one of you has fallen out of love.
Bill Doherty has developed
discernment counseling protocols for couples therapists (five sessions) and for clergy (one session and referral), plus an «ambivalence» protocol for family - friendly divorce lawyers and mediators.
Discernment Counseling takes the «elephant in the room» (these uncertainties), honors them, and gives you space to understand what's happened to your marriage, including each person's contributions to the problems, and to develop clarity and confidence about whether to divorce or to make one more all - out effort to change your marriage for the better.
Annie Lareau, a 43 - year - old arts administrator from Seattle who divorced after several years of couples therapy, says she
thinks discernment counseling sounds like a promising idea.
When couples choose to separate or divorce they are usually more cooperative and respectful if they have been in
Discernment Counseling before arriving at the decision to end their relationship.
You also may decide to break up or separate as your next step and not seek couples or marriage counseling — or that you
want discernment counseling in person to help you determine if you can stay together or not.
Many couples who
enter discernment counseling rule out path one quickly — the status quo has become unsustainable, thus they are seeking help to make a decision that brings change.