Premarital counselling in CalgaryHave the conversations now that most couples reach years too late.
Nothing has to be wrong. Money, family, expectations and intimacy are much easier to talk about before they arrive attached to a specific argument.
Rather write than call? Send me a note.
You're in the right place if…
- You agree on almost everything, and some part of you finds that suspicious.
- Money conversations end faster than they should.
- You have very different pictures of what a normal week looks like.
- One set of parents is going to be a topic, and you both know which.
- One of you wants children sooner than the other has said out loud.
- You would rather start well than repair later.
Nothing here worrying you? This is still the easiest time to do this work. Most couples come because things are going well and they would like to keep it that way.
What working together looks like
No mystery, no long intake process. Four steps, and you can stop at any of them.
01
A free fifteen minutes
Both of you, on a call, before anything is booked. You ask what it involves, I tell you honestly whether the timing works. No charge and no obligation.
02
The SYMBIS assessment
You each complete it separately, online, in about half an hour. It surfaces where you already agree and where you have quietly assumed you agree.
03
Four sessions before the wedding
Your relationship and what you each expect of it; communication and conflict; family, finances and the pictures you each carry; intimacy and the life you're building. Spaced over up to four months, finishing two to four weeks before the day.
04
A check-in after the wedding
Six to twelve weeks in, once married life has actually started: what is working, what surprised you, and which of the skills need reinforcing. You leave with the two or three conversations worth having again in a year.
Five 60-minute sessions · $995 for the series, and the first fifteen minutes are free. The SYMBIS assessment, a copy of Gottman's The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and a check-in after the wedding are all included. No GST, and a payment plan is available. Many extended health plans cover a Canadian Certified Counsellor; I issue receipts.
Book the free fifteen minutesHow I work
Practical, not preachy — you leave with things you actually use.
Premarital counselling has a reputation for being a box to tick. It doesn’t have to be. The SYMBIS assessment asks you both, separately, the questions you would not think to ask each other, so nobody has to raise the uncomfortable one first.
The work is what we do with the results. Most couples find one or two genuine surprises and a handful of places where they had each assumed agreement. Those are cheap to sort out now and expensive to discover in year four.
You will leave with specific things you use: how you will handle money, and what you have each agreed about family. The check-in after the wedding is where we find out which of those conversations you actually had.
- SYMBIS certified facilitator
- Gottman Relationship Checkup
- Gottman Method, Levels 1 & 2
- Canadian Certified Counsellor
Who you'll work with
Lauren Harnett
Counselling & coaching · EMDR, Gottman, SYMBIS
Adedoyin (Doyin) Omoniyi-Ojo
Family counselling
More than one of us does premarital counselling, and Doyin is my first call for it. Book with Doyin directly, or take the free fifteen minutes with me and I'll match you.
“Through her knowledge and tools she helped us learn more about ourselves individually and as a couple.”
Questions people ask first
How far ahead should we book?
Four to six months before the wedding is ideal. The four pre-wedding sessions sit inside four months and finish best two to four weeks before the day, far enough out that planning has not swallowed your calendar. Later is still worth doing — if the wedding is close, say so on the consult call and we will pace it.
What does it cost?
$995 for the full series: five 60-minute sessions, the SYMBIS assessment, a copy of Gottman's The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, and the check-in after the wedding. There is no GST on it and a payment plan is available. Many extended health plans cover a Canadian Certified Counsellor; I issue receipts, and it is worth a call to your provider before we start. The fifteen minutes beforehand are free.
How many sessions is it, and what do they cover?
Five. The first is your relationship history, your expectations, your personalities and a first look at your SYMBIS results. The second is communication and conflict — your SYMBIS findings, Gottman's Four Horsemen, and how you repair. The third is family, finances and expectations: where you each come from, boundaries, money and the differences you will be navigating. The fourth is emotional and physical intimacy, shared values and rituals of connection, and it ends with a marriage plan that is yours. The fifth comes six to twelve weeks after the wedding, to see how married life is going and reinforce what you built.
Is it in person or online?
Either. In person in Calgary, by video anywhere in Canada, or a mix of the two as your calendar needs. The SYMBIS assessment is online regardless, so nothing about the format changes the work.
What is SYMBIS?
Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts — a research-based assessment you each complete separately. It gives us a map of where you match, where you differ, and where you have each assumed the other agrees. It is included in the premarital series.
Is this the same as pre-marital or pre-marriage counselling?
Yes. Premarital, pre-marital and pre-marriage counselling — or counseling, if you learned the American spelling — are the same thing: the conversations worth having before the wedding, with someone whose job is to make them easier. Some couples also call it marriage preparation. Whatever you searched for, this is it.
Do you use SYMBIS or Prepare/Enrich?
SYMBIS. I'm certified in it, the assessment is built into the premarital series, and it gives us a shared map of how you each see money, family, conflict and faith. If you've been asked for Prepare/Enrich specifically — some officiants require it — say so on the free consult call and I'll tell you honestly whether what we do will satisfy them.
Do we need to be religious?
No, but if faith is at the centre of your marriage you are in the right place. SYMBIS is a faith-based assessment at its core, with a secular version for couples who want one, and I run whichever fits you. Christian couples get premarital counselling that takes their faith seriously; couples without a faith get the same work with nothing religious attached.
Do you perform the ceremony?
No — I am a counsellor, not an officiant. This is the work underneath the wedding rather than the wedding itself. If you still need someone to perform the ceremony, I have a robust referral network and am glad to point you to the right person.
Fifteen free minutes, well before the day.
We'll talk about where you are, what the series involves, and whether the timing works. No pressure, and no wedding-industry upsell.
Rather write than call? Send me a note.
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