Today there are numerous approaches that couples try to improve their marriage. There are self help books, friends, counselors, weekend retreats, and the old favorite, nagging. While each has its advantages and disadvantages, there are many failures as evidenced by our divorce rate. Why is that?
We believe the answer is straightforward. We receive little training in interpersonal communications and many of the examples that we grew up around were not healthy. Consequently, we never learned effective methods of communication. When poor communication skills are coupled with unhealthy ideas about marriage roles and responsibilities and unexpressed expectations that we have for our spouse, it should be little wonder that marriages are experiencing difficulty.
Changing our thinking and behavior is difficult and long-term change is unlikely to occur from a single conversation or weekend retreat. Couple coaching as presented by MarriageTeam provides several features that promote long-term change and growth:
- Learning improved interpersonal communication and problem solving skills that are practiced for several weeks and incorporated into daily use
- Supportive environment for effective communication and exploring issues
- Exercises to explore “hidden” issues with practical approaches for resolution
- New insight into many of the issues causing stress in the marriage
- Different paradigms for looking at the marriage relationship
- Accountability with the coach couple for implementing agreements
We have seen how coach couples can come along side other couples with skill building materials to create stronger marriages. This provides an excellent outreach opportunity to the community where couples can come and improve their relationship.
