According to research conducted by Williams (2007) most premarital counseling today is offered through churches. Some churches require couples to participate in some type of counseling that uses skills programs that incorporate scriptural guidelines before getting married. Couples also encounter other forms of premarital counseling such as: premarital counseling with clergy, engaged couples meeting, mentor couples, and one-day workshops. The most common premarital counseling within a church involves the couple meeting privately with a person from the clergy, this is known as premarital counseling with the clergy. The clergy decides the number of meetings the couple must have. For example, one clergy may hold one session with the couple and discuss wedding plans, but some may have several marriage preparation sessions to explore different areas of the relationship such as communication, conflict resolution, egalitarian roles, sexuality , commitment, finances and personality issues. The Catholic Church uses two types of approaches: the engaged meeting and one-day workshops. The Engage meeting offers several presentations on marriage by a group of married couples or a priest. After the presentation, people have time to reflect and write about their feelings and share them privately with their partner. In a one-day seminar, engaged couples participate in a full day where they have multiple speakers such as married couples, clergy, or experts in an area who present a number of different topics, including building effective communication, spiritual development and nourishment within marriage, dealing with financial matters. In the mentor pairs approach; the couple meets a married couple who provide tutoring. The......middle of the paper......and the report. The couples in the second section focus on self-exploration: love, myths, family origin rules, relationship and love. The third section teaches couples to create empathy for their partner, shows couples how to distinguish the need for bonding and the need for sex. Couples identify the caring behaviors they would like from their partners and identify the “on/offs.” The couples in the fourth section explore the pleasure of physical limits and touch. It also addresses early sexual decisions, sexual myths and jealousy are also addressed. The fifth section is used to clarify expectations and goals. After completing the five sessions, couples use the skills and insights learned to help negotiate a contract or set of expectations for their relationship. Works CitedWilliams, L. (2007). Premarital counseling. Journal of couple and relationship therapy, 6(1/2), 207-217.