marriage guidance

[bubble1]

can anyone out there tell me if marriage guidance counselling works or is it just a waste of time and money (er, and how much money)?

I don't know the answer but would be interested in other peoples experiences. x

i dont know how much it costs but i heard it worked for some people.
it depends on the counsellor, if you can get on with him/her.
good luck

Hi bubble,

I went to marriage counselling when I was 6 months pregnant with DS. (relate)
Had 10 sessions I think- £45 a go!
Tbh, we seperated when Ds was 9 months (1 year ago)
Not sure if I'd recommend it or not. I felt that in a way the counsellor excused some of ExH's behaviour and blamed my pregnancy hormones for alot! That was defo not the case.

I paid £40 an hour at relate but they reduce this if you can't afford it

I found it very helpful on my own when I was leaving dh - someone to talk things through with. Found it very unhelpful as a couple; struggled to tell dh the truth about how I felt about him - problems in relationship were personality based not relationship based IYSWIM

missing- I always wondered whether counselling would've been helpful alone.
Tbh, I have abit of a counselling phobia now I think. Was a pretty awful time in my life.
I'm sure counselling can really work for some people though, for me, anything was worth a try!

You can just look in the yellow pages under "counselling" and you will find relationship counsellors.

Just make sure they are qualified.

We paid between £30 - £40 a session.

From personal experience (obviously it depends on the counsellor) if you do it as a couple, you must both want to make it work.

Dont expect to go along, with a partner who doesn't really want to be there, and expect it to work - it wont!

You can always go on your own and talk things through

I've just started with Relate and am pinning my hopes on it helping, I've only had my initial consultation so far but start properly this week. I'm going on my own as I need to sort out my own issues first.
They means test how much you can pay and as I only work part time it is costing me £10 a session. They work it out on your own income not your joint one if you are going on your own.