Christian Marriage Counseling
Christian marriage counseling for couples who are not ready to give up.
Most people who call about their marriage are not looking for therapy. They are looking for a reason to stay. If you wanted to end it, you would be calling a lawyer. The fact that you are reading this page means some part of you still believes there is something here worth saving, even if you cannot say that out loud at the dinner table right now. Maria Van Thienen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Weston, Florida, with thirty years of practice. She is a Christian, and for many of the couples who find her, that is the reason they picked up the phone. They wanted someone who would not treat the covenant they made as an inconvenient detail to be worked around.
The couples who come here
Where most marriages are when they finally call.
- One of you has moved out, or is close to it, and you are trying to decide whether this is a separation or an ending.
- The arguments have stopped being about the dishes and started being about whether you respect each other at all.
- Something happened. Trust broke. You have not decided whether it can be rebuilt, and neither of you can talk about it for more than ten minutes without it going badly.
- You have been together long enough to have children, a house, a shared account and a shared history, and you do not want to spend the next thirty years unhappy inside it.
What Christian means in this room
Your faith is not something the therapy has to route around.
It does not mean you will be preached at. Maria is a therapist, not a pastor, and this is not spiritual direction. She does not tell you what God wants for your marriage.
What it does mean is that when you say the word covenant, or vow, or we promised, she understands what you are carrying. Your faith is not an obstacle the therapy has to route around. It sits in the room as one of the reasons you are still trying.
Some couples want prayer to be part of the work. Some do not, and some are in a marriage where one of you holds the faith more tightly than the other. All of those are workable.
How the work actually goes
Two accounts of the same marriage, and the gap between them.
The first session is mostly listening. Maria will want to hear both of you describe the same marriage, which usually produces two fairly different accounts, and that gap is often where the work starts.
From there it is practical. Most couples in crisis are not short on love. They are short on a way to talk to each other that does not end in escalation. Much of the early work is building that, because you cannot solve anything while both nervous systems are in a fight.
Where there is trauma underneath, and there often is, Maria is EMDR certified and can work with it directly rather than talking around it.
Sessions run in her Weston office or by video anywhere in Florida. That matters more than it sounds. A number of couples start when one partner is staying somewhere else, sometimes in another state, and video is the only way both people are in the same conversation at the same time. Maria also works in Spanish.
What this is not
No promises made before she has met you.
It is not a guarantee. No honest therapist will tell you a marriage can be saved before they have met either of you, and Maria will not.
It is also not couples therapy where the therapist quietly decides you should separate and spends six sessions getting you there. If Maria thinks the work is not going anywhere, she will say so directly.
Sessions are $250, self-pay, with a superbill available for out-of-network reimbursement.
Areas served
Christian marriage counseling sessions in Weston, FL and nearby Broward communities, Weston, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Cooper City, and Miramar. Secure telehealth is available across the state of Florida.
Related reading: Christian couples counseling, before a crisis · Catholic marriage counseling · couples counseling in Weston · all specialties. Learn more about how Maria works, her background, and session rates, or reach out.
Common questions
A few specifics.
Will we be preached at?
No. Maria is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, not clergy, and this is not spiritual direction. Your faith is taken seriously as part of why you are still trying, not used as the treatment plan.
What if one of us holds the faith more tightly than the other?
That is common and it is workable. Some couples want prayer to be part of the work, some do not, and some are split. All of those can be worked with.
Can we do this if one of us has moved out or is in another state?
Yes. Sessions run in the Weston office or by secure video anywhere in Florida, which is often the only way both partners are in the same conversation at the same time.
What does a session cost?
Sessions are $250, self-pay. A superbill is available for out-of-network reimbursement.
Ready to take the next step?
English or Español · in person in Weston or telehealth across Florida
Contact Maria