PRE MARRIAGE COUNSELLING
WITH
Divine Empowerment
Journeying with you as you conquer your past
Pre Marriage Counselling
Pre-Marriage Counselling is a specialized service designed for couples who are engaged or considering engagement. It provides a foundation for a strong and lasting marriage by addressing important aspects of a relationship from a Christian viewpoint. This preventive counselling aims to prepare couples for the commitment of marriage, equipping them with the tools and knowledge to build a union that reflects the love and commitment Christ has for the church.
During Pre-Marriage Counselling, couples will engage in:
- Discussions about expectations, roles, and responsibilities in marriage.
- Exercises to strengthen communication and conflict resolution skills.
- Exploration of financial management, family planning, and lifestyle choices.
- Deepening of spiritual connection and understanding of marriage as a divine covenant.
Our approach focuses on preparing couples not just for the wedding day, but for the lifelong journey that follows, with Christ at the center of their marriage.
Catalina Arevalo
Principal Counsellor
With a Christian worldview, Catalina offers therapeutic sessions that place the Bible and faith at the centre of all her modalities.
Catalina’s research, credentials and experience provide you with a professional service, which facilitates a relationship that invites closure, healing and personal growth.
Member of Australian Counselling Association
Member of Australian Association of Social Workers
Member of Christian Counsellors Association Australia
More Online Services
Couples Counselling
Research shows that Couples Therapy positively impacts 70% of those receiving treatment. And for many couples, seeking professional help can be the difference between making the long haul or becoming a divorce statistic. Within the modern context, couples therapy is initiated to create and maintain a healthy marriage rather than simply being a “last resort”. Couples therapy can improve communication within your marriage, allow for ongoing mediation and helps to guide your relationship to cultivate genuine Christ-centred love.
Marriage Counselling
Marriage counselling isn’t meant to be a quick fix and won’t be beneficial if both parties aren’t committed to doing the work. Marriage counselling helps to create openness in dialogue between spouses and allow for a deeper level of connection through the guidance of the Counsellor. During our time together we will collaboratively plan strategies that will introduce active and compassionate listening into your relationship and assist in cultivating deep understanding.
It is also important to understand that the focus of marriage counselling is not to address or work through you or your partner’s childhood trauma and impactful life events. For such support individual counselling is recommended.
Family Counselling
Family counselling is a therapeutic method to develop and maintain healthy and functional family relationships. Family counselling can help define roles, improve communication, and assist in developing healthy boundaries within family members. Often, a primary goal for engaging in family counselling is to address problems within the family and identify each members contribution to the family dynamics. Understanding the emotional, psychological, or behavioural patterns in your family will help to give direction as to what areas can be explored and improved to create healthy, loving family interactions.
Trauma Counselling
Trauma Counselling provides people with an opportunity to discuss their experiences within an empathetic supportive setting.
At Divine Empowerment we do not promote "re-living" the traumatic experience or discussing the event in detail if our clients do not feel comfortable doing so.
We are a trauma-informed practice and are committed to making sure that your preferences and comfort are of primary importance. Trauma Counselling can help guide you through lingering and intrusive thoughts, negative thought loops, triggers, and anxiety.
Greif & Loss Counselling
Grief is a natural response to loss. Though it’s often thought of in relation to death, it can occur no matter what type of loss you experience. It might well be the loss of a loved one. But it could also be the loss of a relationship, job or something else entirely.
The more significant the loss, the more intense your grief is likely to be. It can affect every part of your life and have a big impact on your mental health.
Grief and loss counselling helps you to work through the primary and secondary losses and also identify if you're experiencing cumulative grief.
Christian Counselling
For a variety of reasons we don't always have a safe person in our life who we can turn to when we need it most.
Unlike mainstream counselling, Christian counselling integrates faith into therapeutic practices. With Christian counselling, the Bible, faith and prayer are used to compliment therapeutic modalities and facilitate deep spiritual closure.
Counselling provides you with a non-judgmental, safe and confidential space to talk through issues and concerns that can be affecting your quality of life, relationships and well-being. Counselling can provide professional assistance with specific areas of concern in your life, in a way that no other relationship can facilitate.
Pre Marriage Counselling
Marriage is a union that God desired to be “till death do us part”. However, the research data shows that divorce rates among Christians are as high as divorce rates among those with no faith. Why? Because marriage is challenging - even when God is at the centre of the relationship. Catalina has been with her husband for 25 years and married for 20 of those years. With her personal and professional relationship experience, Catalina has developed a pre marriage counselling program that brings clarity around some of the topics that cause the most conflict within marriages. The program touches on relationship and role expectations, effective communication, parenting, relationship goal-setting, and family. Pre-marriage counselling helps bring to light areas that may be potential challenges once couples are married. In pre marriage counselling, you and your fiancé will also be given strategies that will help you with any pre-existing relationship concerns. Statistically, establishing therapy as a foundational part of your marriage will set you up for marital success.
God created the union of marriage to be a blessing, not a curse. Marriage is too sacred to not invest in it so that you both have the greatest opportunity to succeed. Call Divine Empowerment to begin preparing for success.
Adolescent Counselling
Adolescence can be one of the most challenging stages of personal development and identity formation. The adolescent brain is experiencing so much change that it's often hard to understand and empathise with children during their teenage years. Counselling during this stage of development can become a safety net for some young people while also bringing peace to parents and caregiver.
At Divine Empowerment we provided psychological support as well as helping adolescents with identity formation, social skills, communication skills and emotional awareness and regulation.
Client Testimonies
I have avoided therapy because I didn’t feel comfortable dragging other people into the mess of my life. I was so used being the one encouraging and helping other people that I refused to ask help for my self.
Talking with Catalina has made me feel more encouraged and comforted. I’ve realised that I didn’t have to face it all alone. I can trust Catalina as she listens to me patiently and as she practical gives counsel that is so applicable in my situation.
I would highly recommend Catalina as a counselor. She’ll make you feel welcomed, heard and loved. She also has lots of first hand experiences that helps her to deeply relate with the people that she counsels
I've done a bit of counselling before, but it's been hard to find a counsellor that I could "connect" with. With Catalina, that was different. She has such a gentle and caring way of helping you understand yourself, and at times it seems like she understands you more than you do!
Things that I usually avoided talking about suddenly felt easy to talk about, and I found our conversations to be uplifting and genuinely healing. I highly recommend having a chat with Catalina if you can!
I wasn’t sure if [therapy and professional support was] the right place for me to get help. I found [counselling] helpful and I can understand my circumstances better when I speak with someone who understands my situation.
I really appreciated Catalina asking me some questions I wouldn’t feel comfortable opening up to and sharing with anyone else.
After sharing with Catalina, I was amazed on how she could help me understand and manage my thoughts better and how I can find myself in a positive place and move forward with my journey.
I highly recommend her to people who have been through infidelity, suicidal ideations, separation, divorce and similar complicated life situations.
I will forever be grateful for the conversations I’ve had with Catalina . It’s literally been life changing.
She’s helped me work through and get to the bottom of things I’ve struggled with for years, and offered support in the most genuine caring way.
I previously felt that therapy was very time consuming and too confronting. I also felt daunted because I was worried I may not have any connection with the therapist which would make it feel really awkward.
Catalina was excellent at getting to the point without coming across as intrusive or prying. It was amazing how I could have such deep conversation in such a short period of time.
I would highly recommend Catalina to help with problems that you feel preventing you from moving forward with your emotional health. Catalina is a therapist that is genuine and kind in her approach; gentle yet driven to help you reach the goals you set together. I appreciate her!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Initial Consult in couples counselling?
The initial session, sometimes called a “relationship assessment” or “partners’ intake session,” focuses on understanding the dynamics between the partners. The counsellor will aim to learn about the history of the relationship, the challenges being faced, and the goals both individuals have for counselling. This session sets the stage for subsequent therapy by establishing communication guidelines and exploring the readiness of each partner to engage in the process.
WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM COUPLES COUNSELLING?
Couples counselling is a sacred therapeutic space. Not just because marriage is a sacred union but because it is the most intimate and vulnerable relationship we will ever experience with another person. With couples therapy the direction of the sessions is often determined by the motivation for engaging in therapy. If your marriage is struggling, therapy is anchored on deep understanding and restoration. If your marriage is thriving, therapy is centred around sustainability. If you’re losing connection in your marriage, then therapy is introduced to identify blocks and barriers. Couples therapy can be used as crisis intervention-for an intense, short-term need or as a relationship self-care- with a less frequent, long-term commitment.
If you have any questions about couples therapy or would like more details on our counselling plans, please contact Divine Empowerment, we value your enquires.