Here you can find answers to some of the common questions that are asked about our marriage coaching.
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What is the difference between coaching and counseling?
The name “coaching” uses a metaphor from the sports community, where coaching is an established activity. No team of athletes would consider trying to reach excellence without a coach. In being coached, one does not have to admit either to needing help or even to having a problem, so the shame-based feelings often triggered by counseling are by-passed. It is no disgrace to have a coach, when even Tiger Woods has had several!
Counselors and therapists were not in the vanguard of the coaching movement. However, as coaching becomes more popular and more counselors discover it, more counselors are found in various coach-training programs, and are either including coaching as one of the services they offer or transitioning from a counseling practice to a coaching practice.
If one compares coaching to psychodynamic models, for example, one might say that therapy focuses on issues of pathology, healing and unresolved psychological issues of the past. Coaching, on the other hand, begins with the present and assists clients in setting very clear and specific goals that they want to achieve in the future. While the past may be discussed on occasion, it is addressed only in the context of discovering what is blocking the client from moving forward. The focus is always on movement and taking action, not on insight or understanding.
Counselors/Therapists work more from a solution focused or more systemic end of the therapy spectrum. The word “therapy” conjures up the notion that someone is in need of help or a cure. Coaching clients choose to work with a coach because they want to, not because they need to.
Coaches, as contrasted to counselors, are not seen as experts. Rather, they are seen more as a person with a set of skills they use to support people to achieve goals. A coach can be seen more like a partner or buddy that you check in with from week to week to review your progress, vision for the future and set new goals.
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What does the marriage coaching process consist of?
In our marriage coaching, we ask that a couple meet with us once a week for the first 3 weeks and we re-evaluate the status of their marriage at that time. Some issues can be resolved in a few sessions, while others may take longer. Each session lasts approximately 55 minutes.
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How much does marriage coaching cost?
We work on a sliding fee scale based upon your combined annual household income and the number of people in your family. When you receive your intake packet, it will include a copy of the sliding fee scale to calculate how much you will pay per session. Keep in mind that we never allow finances to be an issue. There is a flat fee of $250 for marriage prep coaching.
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What if we don’t live in your area?
No Problem! The majority of our coaching is done over the phone, in all parts of the nation, and we’ve even coached with couples in Europe over the phone. We’ve also been known to utilize technology like MSN and Skype to work with couples around the world.(doing good things with the technology God has blessed us with).
