What is premarital counseling? Premarital counseling is defined as a type of therapy that helps couples prepare for marriage and is often provided by a licensed therapist. The therapist is known as a marriage or family therapist. There are also options to seek counseling through your religious institution if that works best for you and your future spouse (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). How to prepare for premarital counseling? When you embark on a new adventure in your life you need to follow steps that lead up to that moment, so below is a checklist that you and your future spouse should follow to ensure you have chosen the right one-on-one help in this big step. Before you and your spouse choose a person to help you on your path to marriage, research all types of counseling approaches offered. Then from that point choose a person who offers the approach you and your spouse are looking for. Make sure you know whether the person you chose is licensed or not. You may also want to see how many years this person has been in the profession. It is also important to ask for references or referrals in today's community, word of mouth still exists and in many cases goes a long way. Be sure to check the logistics of office locations and office hours. Have a treatment plan worked out on paper with your therapist or whoever you and your spouse choose to go with. Find out exactly how many sessions, for how long and at what cost to you and your spouse. You may also want to check which insurance costs you have chosen to submit to your insurer for payment. You can also see what your state or county offers to people if they attend premar...... half of the document ......r problem resulting from abuse would participate in this type of therapy. The last and final option available is telephone counseling. Telephone counseling is flexible and convenient because it is offered twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Then couples can schedule a time to call and be consulted and counseled (Duncan, Childs, & Larson, 2010). Works Cited Duncan, S. F., Childs, G. R., & Larson, J. H. (2010). Perceived usefulness of four different types of marriage preparation interventions. Family Relations, 59(5), 623-636. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00628.x Mayo Clinic Staff. (2013, 07 13). Premarital counseling. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/premarital-counselingStebbins, J. (2011, 06 20). Benefits of Premarital Counseling. Retrieved from http://relationalmentalhealth.wordpress.com/