• Safe and open space to talk about your expectations for your future together

• Establish good communication skills

• Prevent common marital problems before they start

• Feel confident in your decision to be together

• Get the skills you need to build the relationship you want

• Feel confident that you can face together whatever challenges married life might bring you

Premarital counseling is ideal for couples who are engaged (6 months or more before the wedding) or newly married (less than 2 years). These aren’t hard rules, but guidelines for the time frame where our premarital counseling program will best help you.

You will benefit most from the program if you complete all the sessions. Before signing up, consider if you can commit to all seven (or eight) weekly sessions. You will complete an online assessment prior to your first session.

Our premarital counseling uses the Prepare/Enrich framework. It is a 7 week program that covers:

• Getting to know you, hear your love story and setting goals

• Family histories, marital expectations (rules/roles)

• Personalities/Communication Skills

• Conflict Management

• Sexual Intimacy

• Finances/Money

• Children/Parenting

• Spirituality/Faith/Religion (optional)

Nope! Free or low-cost premarital counseling is a wonderful service offered by many religious organizations. And that is not the only option available for premarital counseling. We offer an alternative that’s perfect for secular, interfaith, or mixed-faith couples. Our approach is rooted in scientific research about characteristics of happy, healthy couples and can complement religious or spiritual integration or stands alone with a faith element.

You are in the right place, friends! This is our specialty. Our owner, Rebecca Williams, has more than 10 years experience helping mixed faith and interfaith couples have satisfying, happy relationships. Her therapy superpower is helping families connect across the religious-secular divide. If you’re already married, you might want to check out our page for mixed-faith and interfaith couples.

Premarital counseling for interfaith couples is unique. You don’t just need to talk about finances and conflict management, you also need to discuss holidays, religious observance, sacred or holy days, dietary restrictions, extended families, and whether and how you’ll raise children in a mixed-faith household.

Our approach does not prefer any religion over another nor do we prioritize religious belief over a secular worldview. We want to help you find ways to build a beautiful life together that doesn’t require either of you to hide or sacrifice who you are. And we want to help you take a stance in your relationship that treasures your partner for exactly who they are, including the faith that brings their life meaning. That might seem impossible, and we believe it is absolutely possible. We’ve seen it over and over: couples who come in uncertain about whether they can be together and leave full of hope, love, and optimism.

Many religious groups offer premarital counseling for free or for a low fee. So why should you choose to do your premarital counseling sessions with a licensed therapist?

• You don’t belong to a church or organized religion, so that’s not an option

• You don’t belong to the same religion, so a faith-based program won’t work for both of you

• You really want the perspective of someone professionally trained and experienced in working with couples

• You value evidence-based practices and want to ensure the person you trust with your relationship knows how to help couples like you

• One or both of you has an ongoing mental-health condition. Our licensed therapist will be able to help you know how to have a great relationship even when one of you suffers from depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, etc.

• You know your relationship has some problems and you want to get them solved before getting married. If you don’t get skills for managing these issues you might call off the wedding.

• Your situation is complicated and you suspect you might want to do more couples counseling sessions beyond the premarital counseling program.

• When you end premarital counseling you can easily sign up for more sessions with your therapist. We help couples every day! We can help you problem solve some tough situations without you needing to start all over with someone new.

Not exactly. You won’t be in a group with other couples. You will get a completely personalized experience with one of our experienced couples Therapists. There are set topics you will address but each session will be customized to you. You can ask all the questions you want. You will have the time and space to take the information presented and apply it to your unique situation.

Yes! We have offices in Riverside, CA and Murrieta, CA. If you’re in the Inland Empire and would like to do your premarital counseling sessions in one of our office locations, we would love to see you. We can also provide the same quality in online premarital counseling to anyone in California.

Our premarital counseling sessions are billed at our standard therapy rate. You can find our current therapy rates on our FAQ page.

Unfortunately, health insurance doesn’t cover relationship enrichment or relationship preventative care. If you or your partner have a covered mental health diagnosis, insurance may cover some therapy sessions to help address the symptoms or your covered diagnosis. Schedule a free consultation with us and we can talk through the specifics of your situation and your insurance and give you some guidance.