Questions of Referral

The essence of marriage counseling is in team work, not only among marriage counselors themselves, but also between them and suitable members of a comprehensive panel of consultants. As already mentioned these consultants are professionally trained people of special competence in an appropriate field related to marriage, who are willing to see clients referred to them, generally at their own professional rooms or offices, under a mutually acceptable financial arrangement.

As we have seen they can be divided into two groups, those who are especially competent in the counseling and psycho-therapeutic fields, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and some pastors and social workers; and those with little or no training or experience in the psychological areas but expert in some limited field such as gynecology, urology, medicine, pediatrics, social casework, law, ethics, religion, vocational guidance or child guidance. Other specialists, in such fields as finance and “home economics” or “domestic science” may have a part in some special cases. As also emphasized these consultants should have some continuous contact with the marriage counseling agency with which they work, and some acquaintance with the principles and goals of the work.

The main reason for referral is that the apparent difficulty for which counseling is sought has some elements in it which are beyond the scope or the training or experience of the marriage counselor, and are within the special competence of the consultant. In this way the counselor can refer the partners to someone known to have the most adequate knowledge and experience for this portion of the situation, and can then use his own experience to help with the marital relationship itself. When there is smooth cooperation between the various members of the “team” the clients will receive the best available total help.

Much referral will naturally be governed by availability of the appropriate consultants, geographically, and from the points of view of finance and time. Marriage counselors are generally aware of the available resources in the community for such consultation, and the conditions on which clients are accepted, and this prevents disappointment and frustration.

The actual process of referral is one which needs careful and tactful handling by the counselor because it may cause some strain to any client who has “summoned up courage” to come originally for the counseling and experienced some rapport with the counselor. The prospect of going over some of the possibly painful material again, and the suggestion that referral means that the situation may be more serious than anticipated, may produce considerable anxiety and even resistance in the client.

Keywords: Marriage, Marriage Counseling, Marital Relationship, Marital Disorder, Marital Conflict