Discernment counseling is a chance to slow the decline into disconnection and take a deep look at your options for your relationship. A trained discernment counselor holds hope for both partners—no matter their positions—while a decision about the future of the relationship is reached, whether that decision is divorce, break-up or make one last effort at repair.
Discernment counseling is designed as a short-term counseling process that is focused on making a mutual decision on one of three paths forward. In other words, each of the paths represents a different form of “treatment,” and the discernment counseling sessions represent the conversations to decide which treatment is best for both partners. Here’s a closer look:
PATH ONE: THE STATUS QUO
Path one is to maintain the relationship as it has been. Many couples who enter discernment counseling rule out path one quickly—the status quo has become unsustainable, thus they are seeking help to make a decision that brings change. Sometimes, however, at the end of discernment counseling no clear commitment to leaving or staying has been reached. In these situations, couples can simply default to taking a break from the process and trying again for a decision at some point in the future.
PATH TWO: SEPARATION OR DIVORCE
Path two is to move toward ending the relationship. Although some path two decisions are not mutual, in that one partner chooses separation or divorce against the wishes of their partner, the goal of a path two decision would be for both partners to feel clear and confident about a decision to part ways. When couples choose separation or divorce, the discernment counselor makes them aware of additional resources, including individual therapists and divorce professionals who can facilitate a healing and fair separation process.
PATH THREE: COUPLES THERAPY
Path three is to make a six-month commitment to couples therapy in an all-out effort to restore the relationship to health. Separation or divorce are taken off the table during the couples therapy process, and at the end of six months both partners are invited to make another decision about whether to stay or leave. Couples therapy, in turn, is more likely to succeed because both partners are committed to applying themselves fully to the hard work of change.
In the conversations that lead to a choice for the path forward, here’s what discernment counseling offers couples in distress:
- Deepened clarity and confidence about a decision for the future of the marriage or relationship
- Deepened understanding of what has happened to bring the couple to this point, and an understanding of the role each partner has played in problems to date
- A mutually agreed-upon plan of action, should the couple decide to repair the marriage in couples therapy
- Insights about each partner and the relationship that will carry forward into future relationships, should the couple end this one