If you’re considering marriage counseling but aren’t sure where to start, you’re in luck! Therapy is becoming much less stigmatized, which is leading to more options for both individual and couples therapy. The best part? The ways in which you can go about therapy have become way easier than traditional, in-person therapy.
Enter: Online marriage counseling and relationship coaching apps. Both are solid options for getting the help you need anytime, anywhere, from almost any device.
Here are the top four benefits of online marriage counseling:
Convenience
Online therapy works on your schedule—no commuting and no waiting rooms. There’s also a lot more privacy, since it takes place in the comfort of your own home.
Recently, an even more accessible form of therapy has emerged in the form of relationship coaching apps. The app Relish provides the ability to send messages to a relationship coach any time of day, knowing they’ll get a response as soon as the coach is back online. There’s also lessons, quizzes, and insights that help tackle every aspect of your relationship—and it’s all tailored to your specific needs.
Affordability
More traditional therapy can cost thousands of dollars. If you and your partner are interested in therapy, but can’t afford the price tag, a relationship app is a great option! Most charge a yearly subscription and are much more affordable than traditional options. (For example, Relish is $100 for a yearly subscription after a free trial.)
Flexibility
Marriage counseling can be difficult if you and your partner are on different pages about how to approach it. Maybe one of you prefers speaking with a coach, while the other prefers to read lessons from experts. The beauty of a relationship app is that you can navigate it however you choose!
On the Relish app, for example, one person can focus on completing an interactive lesson each week while the other spends more time talking to their relationship coach. As long as you’re discussing what you learn with each other, there’s no wrong way to use the app.
Couple-Centric
Traditional, in-person therapy is often about the therapist-couple relationship, since establishing trust is necessary for couples to open up about their issues. On the other hand, apps like Relish focus more on your wants and needs as a couple and less on the relationship with your therapist. (And you don’t need to shop around trying out different ones.)
Once you sign up, you’re immediately given helpful lessons, quizzes, and insights that are specifically tailored for you and your partner. The relationship coach best-suited for your needs is there anytime you’d like to chat. (And if you’d rather not? That’s fine too!) This model expedites the process of improving your relationship, and centers the process on you and your partner.
In the past, many people only considered therapy as a last-ditch effort to save the relationship, but that’s not the case anymore! Today, couples therapy is being recognized as something even happy couples should pursue as a form of relationship maintenance. Taking the time to learn more about it is the first step towards a happier, healthier relationship.