One of you is pulling away from the marriage. The other wants to rebuild it. Discernment counseling is for a couple where one partner is unsure whether to stay in the marriage, and it helps them decide what comes next.
Three-time winner, Best in Therapy & Counseling, Hunterdon Happening List
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2025
2026Couples therapy assumes both partners want to stay together and that it's safe to do so. You can't do repair work on a marriage one partner hasn't agreed to stay in. If you're both committed, couples therapy is the better fit.
Discernment counseling is short term and structured. It takes five sessions at most. The first is usually about two hours; later ones run 1.5 to 2 hours. The cap exists so you don't stay in limbo indefinitely. At the end you choose one of three paths.
Discernment counseling is a defined process with a certification of its own, and Nicole Locorriere is the only counselor in Hunterdon County who holds it. She's a licensed marriage and family therapist with Gottman Method Level 1 and 2 certificates. You come in as a couple. Every session includes individual time with each of you.
Sessions run in person in Flemington, or online anywhere in New Jersey. In person is encouraged when you can get to the office.
Discernment counseling doesn't fit three situations:
Where there's danger of domestic violence, safety comes first.
Five is the maximum, so the process ends there. Keeping things as they are, with a check-in session a few months later, is one of the three real choices. You don't have to leave with a marriage decision.
You're committing to six months of couples therapy with divorce and separation off the table during that time. After the six months, it's reasonable to step back and re-evaluate where things stand.
Prologue is a self-pay practice and doesn't participate in insurance panels. Our biller can check your out-of-network benefits before treatment begins and file claims on your behalf. You're reimbursed once your deductible is met.
