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If your relationship is in trouble, you might wantto take into account counseling to help save marriage. Your marriage is the central point in your life. All of your other relationships with children, with family, and with friends revolve around the marriage axis. Therefore, there is a need to help save marriage.

How do you know if marriage counseling is right for you? If you’ve any of these problems, you might wantto take into account counseling to help save your marriage:

Infidelity
Communication
Conflict
Work-Life Balance
Problems with Children
Blended Family Issues
Family Violence
Substance Abuse

A family counselor or therapist will be able to help you to enhance your family relationship by helping you to explore effective communication techniques, conflict resolution solutions, and other kinds of coping skills that will make your family work better. A therapist can also help you work on resolving deep issues that have carried over from childhood traumas.

So, how to you choosea family therapist? Well, you should know that you dont have to pick the first one you call. It is perfectly acceptable to interview three to five counselors before deciding which therapist will work ideal for you and your spouse.

Some of the questions you might want to ask include:

Have you worked with couples experiencing the difficulties were having?
What should I anticipate from counseling?
What are your treatment methods?
What are your prices?

You can find the names of therapists by asking for referrals from friends or family members who have tried counseling themselves. There are also referral services set up by non-profit boards who can give you the name or names of licensed professionals.

If you do not get a satisfactory number of referrals, you might want to check out therapists sites on the internet. When the yellow pages was the only source of advertising for therapists, the consumer would get Littlemore than a name and a phone number. But now, a counselors site can include a resume, articles he or she has written, and a description of their practice. You will be able to get an idea of how a therapist will work from his or her web site.

You do want to make sure that the therapist youselect is licensed. Some therapists have what’s known as a MFT (Marriage & Family Therapist License) which can only be obtained after a therapist completes both a masters degree in Psychology and 1500 hours of internship work under another licensed therapist. Other acceptable licenses include the LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), Ph.D or Psy.D. (Psychologist with a doctorate degree) and M.D. (Psychiatrist.)

You want to choosea licensed professional because there are educational, internship, and practice standards that must be maintained to retain the license. Relationship coaches and others with similar names don’t have similar obligations.

Different counselors have different payment options. Some offer sliding scale fees while others are able to take insurance.

Are you thinking of divorce? Save marriage by seeing a marriage counselor. There are many therapists who state they do marriage counseling, but how do you know which ones are really good? This article will give you a checklist of things to look for in a family therapist.

First of all, you want to see what their credentials are. There are three basic classes of counselors.

The first is the Ph.D. or Psy.D. level counselor. These people went to graduate school for a minimum of five years and wrote a dissertation. In addition, they performed a minimum of 3000 hours of therapy under the supervision of an experienced psychologist. In order to legally call yourself a clinical psychologist the person must have a doctoral level degree. Ph.D.s are often more academic in nature and tend to do scholarly and forensic work along with therapy.

Then there is the M.S.W. This means Master of Social Work. Social Workers are trained to apply social theory to specific situations. They can work in institutions or with individuals.

Finally, there’s the M.S. or M.A. in Counseling. Often called a Marriage and Family Therapist, these people can only work with individuals or small groups in counseling situations. They tend to have 2 year degrees and may not have written a thesis. They have 1500 hours of therapy under supervision.

If you’re using your insurance to cover your marriage counseling, your insurance company will probably direct you to an MSW or a Marriage and Family Therapist because they are less expensive.

Second, you have to determine what the price will be. Clinical psychologists tend to be the mostPriceywhile Marriage and Family Therapists are the least expensive. Remember you’re tryingTo ceasedivorce. Save marriage by finding the best fit not the most (or least)Priceyprofessional.

Look at the per session cost as well as the overall cost for the expected length of treatment.

Often, therapists working in groups or non profit institutions will have a sliding scale fee based on a couples income. If you qualify, this might make counseling inexpensive when it otherwise might not be.

Third, you need to look at the policies the therapist has. Some of these policies include:

What happens if you miss or cancel a session?
Can you take a pre-planned vacation without having to pay for the session?
Will the therapist accept calls outside of the normal session? Do they accept calls at home or just at the office?
Is there an alternative person you can call in an emergency?

A family counselor should help you put your family back together so that you dont have split up. Saving your marriage should be their ultimate goal. If you dont feel that you’re in synch with your counselor, move on and find someone who can keep you from divorce and save marriage.