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Marriage Counseling

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Submitted By jprayer
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According to Worthington (2005), hope-focused marriage counseling consists of a “blueprint” that is reported to help couples to improve their relationship. Based on this blueprint, the marital counseling involves the following components: goal, focus, strategy, target areas, and interventions (Worthington, 2005). The overall goal according to this blueprint is to produce stronger marriages instead of those filled with strain and trouble. Although this is the overall goal, it must be appropriate for each individual within the marriage. The focus component of this blueprint is based on building hope within marriages. Hope can be described according to a three-part theory consisting of willpower, waypower, and waitpower. It has been reported that hope is developed when we have the mental willpower to change and the waypower to reach our goals (Worthington, 2000). God is our source of hope and we are expected to look to Him to help instill hope in our relationships. As a counselor, it is important to have a specific plan or approach to use within the counseling session. Not having a plan in place causes a client to be confused. This goes to show that strategy, the next component within the blueprint, is very important. Worthington (2000) shared that he uses the strategy of “faith working through love” as a way of including God’s approach to helping others. Once a plan or strategy has been established, it is critical that the counselor use the information gathered from the assessment to tailor the plans to fit the stage of counseling that the couple faces, known as target areas (Worthington, 2005). For example, the counselor may have to handle the session differently when working with the couple together as oppose to when working with the individual alone. The last area of the blueprint, interventions, shows that it is vital to have guidance within the counseling session

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