As many as one in two marriages now end in divorce, and three-quarters of divorced individuals remarry. Faced with these statistics, New Source Counseling offers hope and help to couples who are getting married for the first time; remarrying; or want to enhance their marriage.  Prior to separation, marriage counseling can provide new communication techniques, relationship skills training, and coping strategies which can restore the relationship.  We at New Source Counseling Centers offer programs such as Prepare/Enrich®, which was founded by David Olson, professor emeritus of family social science at the University of Minnesota.  This program, among others that we offer, provides couples with an individualized assessment of their relationship and with targeted interventions that will help them to build on their strengths and to restore areas where they need to grow.

Every couple faces unique challenges when getting married.  First time married couples are learning to live together, and sometimes they have the idea that everything will be good all the time.  This “rose colored glasses” way of viewing marriage generally doesn’t last for long!  The issues faced by couples entering second marriages can be radically different from those faced by couples in first unions.  They can be faced with issues of baggage from the first marriages, perhaps with challenges of dealing with a former spouse, and even with difficulty trusting either their partner or themselves in the relationship.  The most challenging marriage can be one involving the blending of children from previous marriages. The bonding process between children and a new parent can take up to seven years, and this understandably puts pressure on the new marriage.

While couples may find it difficult to get counseling before marriage because of busyness or thoughts that everything will be fine without counseling, or after marriage because of the stigma of not being able to fix things on their own, talking with a New Source counselor is designed to enable people to have the marriage that they have always wanted.

It is 5:30 am Thanksgiving morning and I’m thinking about Joe Hawkins and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Joe’s team is once again in the national spotlight and will soon play USC for a spot in the BCS championship game. Tammy and I met Joe and Diane and their beautiful family through our dear [...]

Are we there yet? A recent trip to Florida resurrected this question that I hadn’t heard since the days of summer vacations with our children, Stephanie and Ryan. Our most recent journey to the sunshine state included our three oldest grandsons Caleb, Luke, and Isaac (Stephanie and youngest grandson Jude met us in Orlando). Needless [...]

We all have fears, right?  I mean fear is normal, isn’t it?  After all, there are many things that can cause us to feel afraid or anxious.  Just turning on the TV or radio or opening the morning paper exposes us to a variety of things of which we can be afraid.  There are countless [...]