The institution of marriage takes hard work and sometimes even though couples work hard to maintain a happy healthy relationship, they encounter issues that they cannot address alone and may need help. There are many well trained counselors that seek to aid couples in their area of need and even the professionals sometimes have to adjust in order to aid in their healing. Couple counseling just as any counseling takes hard work and dedication. The intake process is vital to the couple’s outcome and what’s even more important is how the counselor addresses the couple’s issues after the intake process (Ripley & Worthington, 2014). It is important for counselors to figure out the best treatment to fit the needs of the couple specifically. Ripley provides four questions to aid in those treatment decisions; they will be referred to as AFTR. AFTR stands for appropriate, fit, typical and relevant (Ripley& Worthington, 2014). After reading this week’s lesson the question that stood out most states: Is couple counseling appropriate for this couple?
Of the four questions, the most important is the question of appropriateness because in order to begin any treatment one must first find the issue and provide the best resolution according to those issues. Couple therapy can be contraindicated as determined by research studies and discussions amongst clinicians (Ripley & Worthington, 2014). The text breaks down different circumstances in which a couple may need to seek a different form of treatment before couple therapy can be effective. It would not be in the best interest of the clients to start a counseling process that is counterproductive. It is the goal of the counselor to assist clients with methods to overcome their issues so that they may have a healthy relationship. It is explained that the couple’s outcome could be damaged more after attending counseling sessions if