Discernment Counseling for Couples on the Brink

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Couples on the Brink
If you or your spouse are considering divorce but are not completely sure that is the best path, you are in a tough spot. Discernment counseling is a chance to slow down, take a breath, and look at your options for your marriage.

Discernment counseling is a new way of helping couples where one person is “leaning out” of the relationship—and not sure that regular marriage counseling would help — and the other is “leaning in” — that is, interested in rebuilding the marriage.

Matleena will help you decide whether to try to restore your marriage to health, move toward divorce, or take a time out and decide later.

The goal is for you to gain clarity and confidence about a direction, based on a deeper understanding of your relationship and its possibilities for the future.

The goal is not to solve your marital problems but to see if they are solvable. You will each be treated with compassion and respect no matter how you are feeling about your marriage at the moment. No bad guys and good guys.

You will come in as a couple but the most important work occurs in the one-to-one conversations with Matleena. Why? Because you are starting out in different places.

Matleena respects your reasons for divorce while trying to open up the possibility of restoring the marriage to health.

The importance of each of you seeing your own contributions to the problems and the possible solutions is emphasised during the sessions. This will be useful in future relationships even if this one ends.

Number of sessions:
A maximum of five sessions. The first session is up to 120 minutes and the subsequent sessions are 80 minutes.

Cost:
The first session is 2000 AED and the subsequent sessions cost 1360 AED.

Discernment counseling is not suited for these situations:

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Emotional Wellbeing Check

An Emotional Wellbeing Check is a 30 minute consultation to give you an overview of how you are doing with your psychological wellbeing. It will highlight key areas of your wellness and give an indication as to whether there are any areas of your life that would benefit from some attention. Like any other health check up, an emotional wellbeing check is an important part of staying on top of your mental health. With no commitment to engaging in regular therapy, this service offers a useful measure of your overall emotional wellbeing.

When might an emotional wellbeing check be beneficial?

  • Something feels “off”, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is
  • You are considering embarking on therapy, but you remain uncertain as to whether this would be beneficial for you
  • You have a history of mental health difficulties and want to stay on top of your emotional wellbeing


Following the wellbeing check you will be provided with a brief summary report with recommendations from Dr Shamarel. As this is not a service that insurance companies typically reimburse for, you will not be given a formal diagnosis.