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What is Premarital Counseling?

Premarital counseling helps couples to determine their readiness for marriage. It can take several forms: therapy with a licensed mental health practitioner, counseling with a religious leader or coaching with a knowledgeable professional. Effective premarital coaching will assist couples in highlighting potential “pain points”, reduce conflict, and develop new skills and coping strategies to navigate the inevitable issues that arise during your marriage.

Why Should Couples Engage in Premarital Counseling?

Premarital counseling reduces divorce by thirty-one percent. Most couples spend an extraordinary amount of time and money planning the wedding, but neglect to plan for their marriage. Premarital counseling can help you to create a roadmap for relationship success.

What services does Soul 2 Soul (S2S) offer?

S2S offers the following premarital/marital counseling services: the SYMBIS

Assessment; Love Wins! Online Weekend Mini LGBT+ Couples Retreat;

Love Wins! LGBT+ Couples Retreat; Weekend Retreat for LGBT+ parents and private couples and parenting coaching.

What is the SYMBIS Assessment?

The SYMBIS Assessment (short for Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts) provides a roadmap for a successful and happy marriage. Couples are assessed individually through an online tool. The report is unpacked in individual or group sessions with a certified SYMBIS facilitator. The SYMBIS Assessment is an insightful tool for all relationships and the webinar or individual sessions are open to all couples: engaged, newly married, married for years, long-term partners, second marriages and LGBTQ+ couples.

Are S2S’s services helpful for couples who are newly married, in long-term partnerships, married for years or people going into second marriages?

Yes. During the course of our lifetime we are constantly learning and growing psychologically and emotionally. S2S’s services can be beneficial at any stage of a couple’s relationship. For example, the SYMBIS Assessment includes additional questions for couples entering their second marriage and/or blending families.

What is the difference between the Love Wins! Online Weekend Mini LGBT+ Couples Retreat and the Love Wins! Weekend LGBT+ Couples Retreat?

The online version is a shortened retreat for couples that may have time or budget constraints. It is four hours of live online instruction that occurs over a two-day period (two hours on Saturday and two hours on Sunday). The topics discussed include: Family of Origin, Sex & Intimacy, Communication and Creating a Road Map for Success. The Online Retreat package also includes a curated “Goodie Box” that includes Doc’s top picks that will recharge your relationship.

Love Wins! Weekend LGBT+ Couples Retreat-is a weekend –long couples retreat that combines LGBT+ specific coaching with a luxurious resort experience. The retreat includes fourteen hours of live instruction exploring the following topics: communication, family of origin, spirituality, finances and sex and intimacy. Couples will develop coping methods tailored to the unique issues gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples face. Couples also receive a specially curated “Goodie Box” unique to the on-ground retreat.

What makes Soul 2 Soul different from other companies that provide similar services?

As a Black and Filipino gay male, I have first-hand knowledge of what it is like to belong to marginalized groups. I understand the impact that being deemed “other” (due to race/ethnicity and sexual orientation) has on one’s personal development and on romantic and familial relationships. The workshops were developed with these issues in mind and include a deep dive into the possible effects of marginalization and how to create skills and coping mechanisms to enable your relationship to thrive.

Are the Love Wins! Weekend Online & On ground Retreats only open to LGBT+ Couples?

There are issues that are unique to LGBT+ Couples, so at this time the Retreats are limited to those couples. The plan is to offer a similar Retreat to heterosexual couples in 2021. All couples are invited to attend the SYMBIS workshops, private SYMBIS coaching, private couples and parenting sessions and the Level Up event. On occasion, S2S schedules complimentary workshops have been enjoyed by both heterosexual and LGBT+ individuals and couples.

Is this therapy?

The Love Wins! Retreats and SYMBIS Assessment are not couples or family therapy. Love Wins! and SYMBIS both assist couples in exploring issues that may impact their marriage, but are not therapy. The Retreats and SYMBIS Assessment workshop are lively and engaging and often include discussion of topics that many therapists shy away from.

What if I/We need therapy after taking the SYMBIS Assessment and/or attending the Online or On-ground Retreats?

Some couples may find that they need further exploration of the issues raised in the Retreats and SYMBIS Assessment. I have been training marriage and family therapists and psychologists for more than two decades and can connect you to a skilled therapist for further work.

I am single. What about me?

Preparing for one's next relationship is forward-thinking and can reduce conflict and increase future relationship happiness. Interested singles can book individual relationship coaching and attend the “Level Up” workshop, which will help them to clarify what they value before beginning their next relationship.

What if I/We are unsure about we what may need?

Schedule a half hour consultation and I would be happy to explore the options with you.