Discernment Counseling

Not all couples that enter couple or marital therapy agree that the therapeutic agenda for change should focus on improving the relationship. In fact, in as many as 30% of couples that show up for couple therapy, one member is likely ambivalent about being in the relationship at all. William (Bill) Doherty and colleagues with the Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project at the University of Minnesota refer to these clients as “mixed-agenda” couples in which one partner is leaning into the relationship and wants it to be healthy, and the other partner is ambivalent or even leaning out of the relationship and has difficulty with the thought of staying together. Traditional couple therapy efforts to improve these relationships are often fruitless when one of ...