Navigating Conflict: The Surprising Benefits of Marital Mediation vs. Couples Counseling

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Couples facing challenges or difficulties in their marriage have traditionally turned to couples counseling or marriage therapy for help. And we often hear from clients who are now deciding whether to stay or go that they found the experience of couples counseling to be quite frustrating with lots of blame and finger pointing and little to no resolution of the issues at hand. But what if married couples had another choice? 

Enter Marital Mediation. 

While both couples counseling and marital mediation share the overarching goal of promoting healthier, more harmonious relationships, they differ significantly in their approaches, methodologies, and intended outcomes.

Couples counseling focuses on exploring and understanding relational dynamics, emotions, and patterns of interaction. Therapists in couples counseling often adopt a more directive or interventionist stance, offering guidance, feedback, and psycho-education to promote positive change.

Marital mediation, by contrast, emphasizes practical problem-solving and negotiation skills. Mediators in marital mediation maintain a neutral stance, refraining from offering advice or solutions. Instead, they facilitate dialogue, negotiation, and problem-solving, empowering couples to generate their own solutions and agreements.

As ADR modalities and processes are becoming more commonly used by families in conflict, we are seeing an expansion of the practice of marital mediation or couples mediation. By offering couples a future focused, problem solving approach, we hope to be able to create agreements that allow the couple to navigate conflict and remain in relationship.

Learn more about DCA® or any of the classes or events mentioned in this episode at the links below:

Website: www.divorcecoachesacademy.com
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Email: DCA@divorcecoachesacademy.com