Unfortunately, marriage does not work like most hope. Marriage, in general, takes a lot of work. Some marriages fall apart due to irreconcilable differences, emotional or physical affairs, or other underlying issues. Sometimes, mental health counseling is necessary to overcome obstacles.

Filing for divorce can be an emotionally exhausting and expensive process. If you both been faced with issues, you may feel that it’s the only option but it doesn’t have to be.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a divorce happens every 13 seconds. The average age of a person who has their first divorce is 30. The average length of marriages that end in divorce is eight years.

Don’t become another statistic. Instead, work out your problems together by seeing a marriage counselor. It can take two to tango and it takes two to make a marriage work.

Here are some of the following successful stories from married couples that will give you hope to make your marriage work.

One Struggling Couple’s Marriage Mental Health Counseling Success Story

This first couple (who will remain anonymous) has been married for 12 years, and they share two children, ages 7 and 10, according to Mentalhealth.net. They got married young, fell in love, and had children.

The wife fulfilled the role of doting wife and mother while her husband worked long hours to provide for his family. She became burned out because she wasn’t getting any additional help at home from her husband.

Ten years later, she started an emotional affair with another man. They were caught by her husband before it became physical. After her husband had caught her, they sought couples counseling and affair recovery for herself. She grew tired of being seen as just a mother, and he was tired of being seen as someone who’s seen as the sole provider of the family.

She grew tired of being seen as just a mother. Her husband was tired of being seen as just the sole provider of the family.

She wanted to take some time for herself and not feel guilty about it. He wanted to realize that he needs to do more than just provide financially. He has been helping out around the house and watching after their two kids.

Thanks to couples counseling and affair recovery, they learned how to communicate, express their needs, and become responsive to each other’s feelings. They were able to rebuild their trust and learned a lot about one another. They decided not to follow through with the divorce after all.

Mental Health Counseling Success Stories From Baby Center

The Baby Center online community has plenty of inspiring success stories when it comes to mental health counseling and couples counseling. One member admits that it can work, as long you both are willing to make it work.

She and her husband have only been to two sessions back in 2012, but they already found success when they started. They planned to continue their “marriage maintenance” with occasional counseling sessions.

Her husband was the one who wanted to set up the appointment and to carry on with counseling. She happily went along with it.

In their first session, they talked about the issues they dealt with in their marriage. They realized they needed to learn how to communicate better and set aside some “rules” when it comes to handling conflict.

The couple was fully aware that they were not done with their couples counseling just yet. She realized that it would take several sessions to figure things out, and they now have a newfound respect for one another.

She would highly recommend couples counseling to those in both healthy or troubling relationships. Going to counseling together doesn’t mean your marriage is in trouble. It can help improve your relationship or teach you new things about your relationship.

Couples Counseling Works If You Make It Work

Many have wondered if couples counseling works. Some assume it leads a couple down the road to divorce. In a 2012 Sunday edition of The New York Times included the in-depth article, “Does Couples Therapy Work?” that touched upon the challenges for both the therapist and the couples.

Couples are not only fighting among themselves, but they’re also fighting with the therapist, according to Psychology Today. Couples counseling has a higher chance at success if couples follow these three basic guidelines:

1. Both husband and wife must be willing and motivated to make their relationship work. If only one person forces the other into couples counseling or each member uses it as means to treat each other like a punching bag. Both husband and his wife must be motivated by love and dedicated to improving their relationship.
2. Allow the role of the counselor to understand each other’s contribution or problems in the relationship. The counselor must be as neutral as possible and be careful to pick any one person’s side over the other.
3. The reason for this type of mental health counseling is to allow the couple to take a good look at themselves and their problems. They must be willing to face those problems to make changes in themselves and within their relationship.

Discernment Counseling: A New Kind of Couples Counseling Improves Relationships

According to a 2012 report from Today, a new kind of couples counseling allows troubled married couples to determine if they belong together. This may sound unusual and defeat the purpose of traditional therapy, but Bill Doherty, a professor in the family social science department at the University of Minnesota says that it’s often successful since it allows couples to outweigh the potential of staying together versus getting a divorce.

Traditional marriage counseling allows couples to work out their problems while discernment counseling helps troubled couples to determine if they want to stay married.

Traditional marriage counseling has a success rate of 70 to 80 percent, and it looks like discernment counseling is on the rise, as well. The requests that marriage counselors have received for this type of unconventional mental health counseling has been overwhelming.

Couples In Marriage Counseling Happier Than Divorcees

A study from Linda Waite from Chicago University in 2002 revealed couples in marriage counseling was much happier than those who divorced, as reported in The Guardian.

And, it worked for Anna and James. They struggled for five years since 2001 and realized they wanted another child. Anna tried to get their marriage counselor to side with her. Instead, their counselor taught them to how to communicate their feelings.

They realized that they could make their marriage work as long as they were willing to work out their problems.

If these inspiring stories are any indications, then you may want to give your marriage another try. Instead of spending money on a costly divorce, book an appointment with a marriage counselor today.