Some lawyers in Abuja on Thursday, solicited adequate and constant marriage counselling to reduce the high rate of divorce in the country.
The lawyers, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in on Thursday, also said couples could learn how to identify and deal with their marital challenges through counselling.
Mr Audu Nuhu added that counselling provided a safe and supportive environment for couples to identify and communicate issues, feelings and behaviours bothering them.
Nuhu said that communication was very important in marriage, adding that lack of it had become a source of many problems that led to the alarming divorce rate in the society.
“Many communication problems in relationship result from bad listening habits like interrupting, not listening, speaking too long, and not giving the partner time to respond.
“Communication is a means to share and connect; it is not a battle or war that each partner wants to win,” he said.
Nuhu stressed that listening skills could be learned and practiced with the help of a marriage counselor.
Contributing, Mrs Temitope Gbenga, said that behaviour was usually influenced by emotions, adding that the emotions involved in a conflict situation could be better interpreted with the help of a counselor.
According to Gbenga, a counselor can help identify and analyse behaviour patterns that lead to conflict in certain situations, adding that once the patterns were identified, they can be modified.
“A marriage counselor can guide couples toward getting their relationship back on the right track by identifying what the real issues are and helping them to implement solutions.
“Going to a marriage counselor when you have marital problems does not guarantee 100 per cent solution to your marital issues, but it can help in areas the couples have issues,” Gbenga said.
Mr Michael Gideon said that after divorce, most people usually realised that they could have made more effort to learn how to deal with marital issues.
“That is why marriage counseling should be constant to avoid such and help children from facing the trauma of having divorced parents.
“Marriage counselors can also help with coping skills in stressful situations like the loss of a loved one or serious illness in the family which can make couples depressed or tired of their union.
“Sometimes, couples might want to improve their relationship, but neither of the two know how and where to start, but with a counselor, they can succeed,’’ Gideon said
He said counselling facilitated understanding and positive change in marriage.
According to lawyers, marriage counselling affords couples the opportunities to know how to resolve marital issues without confrontation or third party involvement.(NAN)
