Pre-Marital Counseling
Congratulations!
You’re making the announcements, taking the photographs, picking out the wedding venue, music, colors, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flowers and sending out the invitations. But, are you preparing for the marriage? Or are you preparing for the just the wedding ceremony.
We all know that preparing for the wedding does not equal preparing for the lifetime of marriage that the two of you are about to embark upon.
It’s understandable that some couples spend more time preparing for the wedding than they do the marriage. Every year, experts are making great strides in identifying how to significantly improve the odds that a couple has in fulfilling their goals in a lifetime of marriage. A number of studies show that certain pre-marriage variables can differentiate couples who will do well and those who will not do well in marriage with up to 94% accuracy.
Perhaps that is why so many are now motivated in pre-marriage education now, more than ever. Couples that invest in pre-marital education have higher levels of satisfaction, lower levels of destructive conflicts and higher levels of commitment according to the experts.
Here are some statistics:
- 76% of married couples say they wish they had pre-marital education
- 86% of Americans over 18 say that all couples considering marriage should get pre-marriage education
- Couples who do not receive pre-marital counsel/education are more likely to see their problems as atypical and unsolvable
- 41% of divorced couples say lack of pre-marriage preparation contributed to their divorce
So, does pre-marital counseling and education work?
Absolutely! In fact, couples are 31% less likely to get divorced if they get some sort of pre-marital training before they get married. Not only that, but couples who participate in pre-marital education experience 30% increase in marital success and fulfillment over those who do not.
Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts is a pre-marital book and workbook that Drs. Les and Leslie Parrot have written. From that, this new tool SYMBIS, has been developed as an assessment to be used in pre-marital counseling education sessions prior to your wedding. The SYMBIS assessment is built on a growing mountain of research that reveals what is most effective when it comes to pre-marital education and it explores issues that two individuals will experience together in their first years of marriage.
Certification of Completion of Qualifying Premarital Education
This course qualifies under Section 19-3-30.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated in that at least 6 hours of instruction involving:
- Your Personal Momentum for Marriage Assessment
- Mindset
- Well-being
- Context
- Dynamics:
- Love
- Attitude
- Communication
- Gender
- Conflict
- Spirituality
The assessment can be emailed to you and completed at your own pace. Once the assessment is complete, Dr. McCollum will book your sessions to review your profiles.
The SYMBIS assessment is $35 per couple. You may use the assessment results between the two of you to prepare for your upcoming marriage.
However, if you wish to have premarital education, six (6) hours is required and a certificate of completion is awarded. The SYMBIS sessions are billed separately in a variety of options to fit your needs.
Once completed, you may take your certificate to the Courthouse for potential discounts on your marriage license fees.