4 Surprising Benefits of Online Marriage Counseling

Online marriage counseling is becoming increasingly more popular over the last few years - And for very good reasons. Online couples counseling services offer the same qualified and experienced professionals (via phone, chat or email), but with added benefits that traditional counseling just can't provide. Some people opt for ongoing counseling with a single counselor, while others choose a single session with a counselor just for guidance on a specific matter.

The Top 5 Benefits of Online Marriage Counseling Over Traditional Sessions

There is little doubt that marriage counseling works (you can the statistics here), but the traditional system has a few major flaws that make some of us hesitant about using it. This is how online marriage counseling solves all these problems (thus becoming the most effective solution to save your marriage):

The Price

Problem: Traditional couples counseling is usually very expensive. An average session costs about 200$ (and let's not forget the cost of getting to and from the clinic) and after a few months of counseling you may realize that your savings are gone.

Solution: Online marriage counseling is cheaper. It's not because the therapist is any less credentialed, experienced and professional. It's because he or she don't have clinic-keeping costs. Also, you pay per minute and not per session. So if your phone call or chat took only 10 minutes, you only pay for 10 minutes.

Availability and Comfort

Problem: Traditional counseling is usually consisted of weekly sessions. You have to "stuff" all your frustration and pain to one hour a week. But our marriage exists all week, 24/7 and many times we need help right now. But we don't get it. Second, many of us simply don't have the time to get to and from the clinic.

Solution: Marriage counseling online is conducted at the privacy of your own home. No time is wasted to get to and from the sessions, but more importantly, it's available almost 24/7. Even if it's in the middle of the night, you can send an email, or pick up the phone and you will be helped almost immediately.

Choice of Counselors and Privacy

Problem: Face to face sessions require you to choose a counselor that has a clinic near by. You can't start traveling for hours every week for your meetings. This limits the choice of counselors you have. Second, attending the same clinic every week raises the unwanted risk of running into a familiar face going in and out of it (who wants that?...).

Solution: Online counseling means you can talk to any counselor, no matter what part of the world you live in. It also means that your privacy and anonymity is secured. You won't run into anyone because you're at home, and you don't even have to tell the counselor your name.

Spouse Motivation

Problem: Unfortunately, every marriage in crisis has a spouse who is much less willing to seek marriage counseling. That's just the way it is. It's very easy for a reluctant spouse to use excuses such as "I don't have the time to go to therapy, I'm too busy at work", or "We don't have the money for this".

Solution: Your spouse can no longer use these excuses because the sessions can occur day or night, after work hours and on weekends and he or she don't even have to leave the house. And the money is not an issue when you can stop the session at any time and pay accordingly. Most online counseling services offer the few first minutes for free and you only pay if you decide to hire the therapist. That seems fairer to me.