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 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 fiance 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 see my bio here: About Elizabeth
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!