Craig and I are in marriage counseling.
WOAH! I know, that’s a lot to take in.
Craig and I are actually in a pretty good place. There have been some very specific goals we want to work on and wanted a third party listener to go over things with. For example, I’m pretty anxious about having all three boys at home (one of them as a NEWBORN) while he’s harvesting this Fall. I wanted to talk it through and come up with a plan.
She helped us discuss what my expectations are and what his are. We developed a language for being able to ask for help and state our needs. I’ve come up with a list of ways Craig could help me, help the boys, help the new baby, and help around the house. He doesn’t have to complete the list EVERY day but say he’s only got 30 minutes at home after work, he can look at the list and see what fits in his schedule. We talked about ways I can support him during this season as well. We identified what feelings/issues may come up and how to communicate those feelings. It’s been SO HELPFUL!
The reason I’m telling you this is, well actually there are several reasons.
Craig and I have definitely had our share of ups and downs. We’ve really struggled with scheduling marriage counseling in the past. We have to drive at least 30 minutes to get to a therapist’s office, hire a babysitter, take work off, etc. We tried something new this time.
I signed us up for Talk Space. Talk Space is online therapy, maybe you’ve heard of Better Help advertised before as well. I looked into Better Help but they do not accept insurance. Talk Space unfortunately didn’t cover ours either but they do accept some insurances, I’m still working on it.
The best part about Talk Space is the availability. We were matched with a counselor within 24 hours and had our first session within days after that. It’s a monthly subscription of around $350, (we had a coupon, always check to see if there is a coupon!) that includes 4 counseling sessions and we also have a group chat with our therapist. If we were to try to get in with a marriage counselor locally, it would take MONTHS to schedule even just one appointment let alone get worked into their schedule for regular therapy.
The VERY best part is all of our sessions have been after 8 pm so the kids get an early bed time and Mom and Dad get to chatting! No time off, no babysitter!
It’s been SO GOOD for us. We will likely only use the service for this month. It’s great to know that if we are struggling, we can pick back up for a month with our therapist and if things go better we can take a break or decide to continue for another month.
I’m not getting sponsored to say any of this, I sincerely recommend it. Here is a link to a video explaining more how online counseling works.
There are other online options too if Talk Space is too expensive, like I said Better Help is one I’ve heard of before. There are options for individual counseling as well if you’re looking to work through some of your own personal issues. When you initially sign up, they ask you a series of questions that help identify which areas you’re having trouble with to help you find the best fit. For example, our counselor specializes in marriage and family therapy but some counselors specialize in domestic abuse or trauma or PTSD.
So that’s us! If you’re looking for some additional mental health support I highly recommend you check into it! I hope that by sharing our experience it can inspire someone else to evaluate their own marriage or mental health and explore additional options!
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I’m a firm believer in talk therapy.
Yea for you both! Ya’ll took life on full blast. I have always said the 20s are hard. We married at 19. We had to learn to be married, we still had to grow up. We had to learn how to communicate. We had to learn about money. We both went to college for years. We both started new careers. It was HARD! And we didn’t have any kids in the mix.
I’m so proud of you both for recognizing needs and your commitment to marriage….a Happy Healthy marriage. And you are kind and courageous to share so that others might learn that life is not easy peasy and asking for help is normal not weird.
Cheers and HUGS to you both!
Thank you for sharing this with all of us, it can be hard to tell friends and family that you are in counseling. One can learn so much if one is willing to listen and be willing to grow/change. I firmly believe that communication is key to being content and happy. Lots of companies send their employees out to workshops that teach them how to be better bosses, project leaders etc and communications is always part of the workshop. I have never heard of Talk Space or Better Health, so I have learned something new to save in my toolbox. Life for your family will certainly change when the baby arrives, nice to be prepared.