Online Marriage Counseling?

Question

My husband is leaving for Iraq soon. We have been having some marital issues lately. We know online marriage counseling is not a substitute for real life marriage counseling, but it is the best we can do at this point. We plan to get real life marriage counseling when he returns from Iraq. But, for now, is there any online marriage counseling out there? We just want to be able to work on at least some immediate issues. Please help. Thank you.

Answer 1

http://marriage.eharmony.com/

Answer 2

Just a word of caution before you go down that road -and not because of the obvious shortcomings and potential ineffectiveness of engaging in something so personal via a medium that is rather personal.

Consider a marriage counselor you can visit AND conduct some counseling online while your husband is in Iraq (Bless him and all our troops for their service to our country).  

I realize you said he leaves soon ... however, if there is time for both of you to see a marriage counselor face-to-face once or twice before he leaves, it may provide for a smoother transition for everyone once the counseling shifts to the online venue.

Also, by having a marriage counselor that you can visit together and/or you can visit while your husband is in Irag allows for a continuence of the counseling in a more conventional mode and also offers the possibility to shift to the online mode when the circumstances warrant that.

Finally, by having a marriage counselor that you can visit physically as well as electronically, it may save you the trouble and expense of seeking another counselor when your husband comes home if you had decided upfront to use an online counselor only.

I hope this is helpful and, at a minimum, provides you a viable alternative to consider before making such an important decision.  

Good luck!

Answer 3

There is online counseling.  I used metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com)to scout the territory.  Usually you can write to them and ask your question and they would probably tell you if there is someone willing to do it.  Some people may do it for nothing.  Some counseling online uses email and IMing is also possible, but less practical.  There are obstacles to performing treatment this way, but it might be done. Good luck!