TRANSCRIPT: Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth Ortiz and I am a current Intern at Austin STRONG: Relationship Buiilding Center. I am completing my Practicum there and am very excited to start working with couples or individuals that are seeking counseling. I am starting these short vlogs to share with you guys a little bit about myself but also to share a little bit about why Premarital counseling is a good tool to utilize in any relationship. I myself am recently engaged and am currently living with my fiancée. This has brought on new experiences and new challenges everyday but they are all welcome and we are both ready to handle any curve ball life throws at us. And of course, the first curve ball we get hit with is a global Pandemic. This has definitely put a halt on majority of our wedding planning ideas and it has definitely caused a bit of stress in the household. If any of ya’ll are in the same boat, don’t you worry. Even for a premarital counselor like myself, these are trying times for any couple. And although the pandemic is a unique -hopefully once in a lifetime experience--if you think about it, if you’re going to spend a lifetime with your partner--you will probably face stressful times in the future as well. With that said, there is no better way to prepare yourself for a STRONG marriage, then to get it started on a solid foundation. One of the ways you can do that is by completing premarital counseling. In the PREPARE/Enrich model of premarital counseling- which I am trained in- you and your partner will complete an assessment that will show you your similarities and differences in 12 different areas. These areas are issues that are core values for many couples, and things that will make a difference in your relationship long-term -depending on if it is a strength area, or an area of growth. A few of these areas are: conflict, communication, sex, financial management, leisure activities and more. Although the pandemic has many drawbacks, you and your partner can still use this time to get premarital counseling together. I am fully telehealth certified and currently taking new clients. Any couple who completes the Prepare/Enrich course with me will also receive a discount on the marriage license in the state of Texas- good for one year after completing the course. So, reach out! You can contact me through the Austin STRONG website at: counselingstrong.com In the next video I will explain the 5 types of couples and what that means for long-term relational health. See you soon!

{SPANISH} Hola a todos, mi nombre es Elizabeth Ortiz y soy una pasante actual en Austin Strong. Estoy completando mi Practicum allí y estoy muy emocionado de comenzar a trabajar con parejas o personas que buscan asesoramiento. Estoy comenzando estos breves vlogs para compartir con ustedes un poco sobre mí, pero también para compartir un poco sobre por qué el asesoramiento premarital es una buena herramienta para utilizar en cualquier relación. Yo mismo estoy comprometido recientemente y actualmente vivo con mi prometida, esto ha traído nuevas experiencias y nuevos desafíos todos los días, pero todos son bienvenidos y ambos estamos listos para manejar cualquier lanzamiento de la vida de la pelota curva hacia nosotros. Y, por supuesto, la primera bola curva con la que nos golpean es una pandemia global. Esto definitivamente ha detenido la mayoría de nuestras ideas de planificación de bodas y definitivamente ha causado un poco de estrés en el hogar. Si alguno de ustedes está en el mismo bote, no se preocupe. Incluso para un consejero prematrimonial como yo, estos son tiempos difíciles para cualquier pareja. Y aunque la pandemia es una experiencia única, por suerte, una vez en la vida, si lo piensa, si va a pasar toda la vida con su pareja, es probable que también se enfrente a momentos estresantes en el futuro. Dicho esto, no hay mejor manera de prepararse para un matrimonio FUERTE, que comenzar con una base sólida. Una de las formas en que puede hacerlo es completando el asesoramiento prematrimonial. En el modelo PREPARE / Enrich de asesoramiento prematrimonial, en el que estoy capacitado, usted y su pareja completarán una evaluación que le mostrará sus similitudes y diferencias en 12 áreas diferentes. Estas áreas son cuestiones que son valores fundamentales para muchas parejas y cosas que marcarán la diferencia en su relación a largo plazo, dependiendo de si es un área de fortaleza o un área de crecimiento. Algunas de estas áreas son: conflicto, comunicación, sexo, gestión financiera, actividades de ocio y más. Aunque la pandemia tiene muchos inconvenientes, usted y su pareja aún pueden aprovechar este tiempo para obtener asesoramiento prematrimonial juntos. Estoy totalmente certificado en telesalud y actualmente estoy aceptando nuevos clientes. Cualquier pareja que complete el curso Preparar / Enriquecer conmigo también recibirá un descuento en la licencia de matrimonio en el estado de Texas, bueno por un año después de completar el curso. Entonces, ¡extiéndete! Puede contactarme a través del sitio web de Austin STRONG en: www.counselingstrong.com

TRANSCRIPT: Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth Ortiz and I am a current Intern at Austin STRONG. I am completing my Practicum there and am very excited to start working with couples or individuals that are seeking counseling. I am starting these short vlogs to share with you guys a little bit about myself but also to share a little bit about why Premarital counseling is a good tool to utilize in any relationship. In my last video, I talked about how Premarital counseling can help get you and your partner set up for a healthy and STRONG long-term relationship. So that actually leads me into giving you guys a bit of information on the different Couple Types that are often seen in a counseling session. We first have the “Vitalized” couples, and these are the couples that tend to have the highest levels of relationship satisfaction. These are also the couples that score a very high all-around score when they take the PCA, which stands for positive Couple Agreement. Next we have the “Harmonious and the Conventional” couples, and these are the ones that tend to have a more moderate relationship satisfaction, as well as a moderate score on the PCA. The “conventional” couple, however, also tend to have a lower PCA when it comes to communication and conflict, which often times results in a higher PCA score in Roles and Spiritual Beliefs. And finally the “conflicted” and “devitalized” couples, these are the couples that tend to have moderately low to low levels of couples satisfaction and PCA. And, a quick side note, The Devitalized couples ONLY applies to married couples. So after learning about these 5 types of couples that are often seen in a session, I do not want you all to go home and start to categorize yourself and your partner. That is NOT the purpose of this video, and truly, one can never really know what type of a person we are in a relationship on our own. It often takes an outside unbiased source, to really help us, if we are seeking that help, of course. So this is the end of today’s vlog, I hope you guys learned a bit about how Premarital counseling works, at least in the types of couples that are often categorized at the beginning of a counseling session. I hope you guys enjoyed it and got to know me a little better, and if you are looking to improve your relationships, or get your marriage started on the right foot, please reach out! You can contact me through the Austin STRONG website at counselingstrong.com And of course it does not have to be about premarital counseling or marriage counseling, I also offer individual counseling sessions for anxiety, depression, and work/life skills. Thank you all so much and gave a great day!

TRANSCRIPT: Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth Ortiz and I am a current Intern at Austin STRONG: Relationship Building Center. I am completing my Practicum there and am very excited to start working with couples or individuals that are seeking counseling. I am starting these short vlogs to share with you guys a little bit about myself but also to share a little bit about why Premarital counseling is a good tool to utilize in any relationship. In my last video, I talked about the 5 different types of couples that are often seen in a counseling session. So for this week I wanted to share with you all about the six core exercises that are recommended for the couples who are in counseling with prepare/enrich. These six core Exercises include Sharing Strength and Growth Areas, this is relevant for overall awareness between the couple. Creating a Wish List Using Assertiveness & Active Listening this is relevant for communication between the couple. The Ten Steps for Resolving Conflict -this is relevant for conflict resolution. Couple & Family Maps – Mapping your Relationship this is used to map out your relationship Personal Stress Profile – this is relevant for Identifying the Most Critical Issues, and the Personality Exercise – utilizes “SCOPE” to scope out your individual Personalities These exercises’ are designed to help both the couple and the counselor have a better understanding of who the couple are individually as a person. This is not a test so there is no need to worry about passing or failing, this is not something that is meant to predict relationship success or failure, and it is not a tool to deal with weaknesses or issues, but instead it’s meant to help you identify the strengths between you and your partner I for one believe these exercises are beneficial, especially when it comes to communication between couples. Even for someone like me, there are times where I have to be reminded that it is okay to not agree 100% of the time with what my fiancé wishes to do for our home and that is okay, we are allowed to have conflicting opinions but it is the communication that will become essential in being able to help us reach a happy medium on where we both have felt heard and acknowledged and are happy with our results. It is okay to want to be our own person with our own beliefs, as long as we are also being considerate and respectful of our partner’s beliefs. So this is the end of today’s vlog, I hope you guys learned a bit about how Premarital counseling works, at least in the six core exercises that are utilized in a couples counseling session through PREPARE/Enrich. I hope you guys enjoyed it and got to know me a little better, and if you are looking to improve your relationships, or get your marriage started on the right foot, please reach out! You can contact me through the Austin STRONG website at counselingstrong.com And of course it does not have to be about premarital counseling or marriage counseling, I also offer individual counseling sessions for anxiety, depression, and work/life skills. Thank you all so much and gave a great day!