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Helping Couples: Proven Strategies for Coaches, Counselors, and Clergy
The ultimate guide to marriage mentoring so you can feel confident in offering wisdom, encouragement, and practical help to couples who want to live out a love that lasts!
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott and Dr. David Olson--renowned marriage experts and founders of the two largest marriage support organizations, SYMBIS and PREPARE/ENRICH--share what they have learned from decades of research involving more than five million couples. Packed with practical and proven methods, data-driven techniques, and immediately usable strategies, Helping Couples
The secrets--and the science--behind couples who thrive with lasting loveWhy romantic love is never enough, and what to do about itStrategies to instantly help reduce conflicts and increase intimacyThe game-changing boost that scientific assessment tools give couples at any age or stageFour common myths about marriage and how to debunk themThe distilled wisdom from hundreds of insightful surveys and studiesHow you can reduce a couple's chances of divorce by 31 percent The ultimate guide for coaches, counselors, and clergy who want to know what really works!
Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott and Dr. David Olson--renowned marriage experts and founders of the two largest marriage support organizations, SYMBIS and PREPARE/ENRICH--share what they have learned from decades of research involving more than five million couples. Packed with practical and proven methods, data-driven techniques, and immediately usable strategies, Helping Couples
The secrets--and the science--behind couples who thrive with lasting loveWhy romantic love is never enough, and what to do about itStrategies to instantly help reduce conflicts and increase intimacyThe game-changing boost that scientific assessment tools give couples at any age or stageFour common myths about marriage and how to debunk themThe distilled wisdom from hundreds of insightful surveys and studiesHow you can reduce a couple's chances of divorce by 31 percent The ultimate guide for coaches, counselors, and clergy who want to know what really works!
- GenresCounselling
155 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 18, 2021
24 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Les Parrott III
151 books131 followers#1 New York Times best-selling authors, Les and Leslie. A husband-and-wife team who not only share the same name, but the same passion for helping others build healthy relationships. In 1991, the Parrotts founded the Center for Relationship Development on the campus of Seattle Pacific University - a groundbreaking program dedicated to teaching the basics of good relationships.
Married in 1984, the Parrotts bring real-life examples to their speaking platform. Their professional training - Leslie as a marriage and family therapist, and Les as a clinical psychologist - ensures a presentation that is grounded, insightful and cutting-edge.
The Parrotts are New York Times #1 Best Selling Authors. Their books include the award-winning Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, Love Talk, Real Relationships, The Parent You Want to Be, The Hour That Matters Most and Crazy Good Sex.
Each year Les and Leslie speak in over 40 cities. Their audiences include a wide array of venues, from churches to Fortune 500 company board rooms. Their books have sold over two million copies in more than two dozen languages.
The Parrotts have been guests on many national TV and radio programs such as CNN, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The View with Barbara Walters, NBC Nightly News, and Oprah. Their work has been featured in USA Today and The New York Times.
Visit their website for lots of free resources at www.LesandLeslie.com
Married in 1984, the Parrotts bring real-life examples to their speaking platform. Their professional training - Leslie as a marriage and family therapist, and Les as a clinical psychologist - ensures a presentation that is grounded, insightful and cutting-edge.
The Parrotts are New York Times #1 Best Selling Authors. Their books include the award-winning Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts, Love Talk, Real Relationships, The Parent You Want to Be, The Hour That Matters Most and Crazy Good Sex.
Each year Les and Leslie speak in over 40 cities. Their audiences include a wide array of venues, from churches to Fortune 500 company board rooms. Their books have sold over two million copies in more than two dozen languages.
The Parrotts have been guests on many national TV and radio programs such as CNN, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The View with Barbara Walters, NBC Nightly News, and Oprah. Their work has been featured in USA Today and The New York Times.
Visit their website for lots of free resources at www.LesandLeslie.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 30, 2025
If you’re unfamiliar with the authors, it’s fine, but if you’re already familiar with their material, then there really isn’t much new here at all. The bulk of it feels like an advertisement for their marriage assessments.
October 16, 2021
I would highly recommend using the Parrott’s SYMBIS assessment, but I would not recommend buying or reading this book. This book is only an advertisement for the SYMBIS and P/E assessments.
It takes until chapter six to begin to get any kind of helpful information. All of the information before chapter six can be found in the training and supplemental materials of the SYMBIS assessment.
Please don’t waste your money like I did, expecting this book to be additional helpful tools for counseling couples. Just get the certification for the SYMBIS. It will give you the tools you need to be a more effective couples’ coach.
It takes until chapter six to begin to get any kind of helpful information. All of the information before chapter six can be found in the training and supplemental materials of the SYMBIS assessment.
Please don’t waste your money like I did, expecting this book to be additional helpful tools for counseling couples. Just get the certification for the SYMBIS. It will give you the tools you need to be a more effective couples’ coach.
May 17, 2021
I was super excited about this book — actually so excited that I reached out to them to see if they’d send me a free copy for my review and they did! Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott have a marriage assessment test called SYMBIS, based on their book “Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts”; and Dr. David Olson is the designer of the marriage assessment called Prepare-Enrich. First, I think it’s totally cool that even though most people would see these as competing assessments, these professionals just see that the world needs MORE marriage help than ever, and we can’t be competing in this endeavor. I personally am certified to do both Prepare-Enrich and SYMBIS with couples. I can never decide which I like better, so I usually end up just having people take both! And most of my couples love taking both, because they are a little different and there’s so much value in each one.
If you’re familiar with either of these assessments or these authors, you might note that they are technically Christian authors. However, there is nothing inherently Christian about this particular book. In addition, the assessments are geared somewhat towards a religious audience, but I use them with all kinds of couples, and the fact that there are some spiritual questions has never been an issue. You can find the SYMBIS at www.symbis.com, and Prepare-Enrich at www.prepare-enrich.com. I highly recommend getting certified in these assessments if you are a counselor.
Now to this book. My only complaint is that I wanted more, but to be fair, they did say in the introduction that this was not an exhaustive book on marriage; but they hit all the high points. And in fact, I think this is a great book to have around as kind of a “top-level” reference guide for therapists and counselors. My favorite thing about the book is all the science and statistics, because I find that statistics resonate particularly well for men. Couples like to know we are not just guessing but that we have some science to back up our thoughts and interventions. And people are much more likely to do things or stop doing things if they know the cost. For example, if I tell a couple that “the odds of divorce for couples who have monthly date nights is 30% lower than those who hardly ever go out” (page 98), I think they are more likely to actually do it than if I just say “date nights are good for you”.
This little book (I read it in two hours) covers all of the basics, gives a ton of good statistics, and is just a great reminder of some of the most important points to helping couples. If you help couples you know that it’s so easy to get lost in the weeds – there’s so much going on! But if you make sure you hit the points in this book, you will be on your way for sure. And you can always delve much deeper into any of the topics with these authors’ other books. I would definitely recommend having this on your shelf for quick reference if you are a therapist or coach working with couples.
If you’re familiar with either of these assessments or these authors, you might note that they are technically Christian authors. However, there is nothing inherently Christian about this particular book. In addition, the assessments are geared somewhat towards a religious audience, but I use them with all kinds of couples, and the fact that there are some spiritual questions has never been an issue. You can find the SYMBIS at www.symbis.com, and Prepare-Enrich at www.prepare-enrich.com. I highly recommend getting certified in these assessments if you are a counselor.
Now to this book. My only complaint is that I wanted more, but to be fair, they did say in the introduction that this was not an exhaustive book on marriage; but they hit all the high points. And in fact, I think this is a great book to have around as kind of a “top-level” reference guide for therapists and counselors. My favorite thing about the book is all the science and statistics, because I find that statistics resonate particularly well for men. Couples like to know we are not just guessing but that we have some science to back up our thoughts and interventions. And people are much more likely to do things or stop doing things if they know the cost. For example, if I tell a couple that “the odds of divorce for couples who have monthly date nights is 30% lower than those who hardly ever go out” (page 98), I think they are more likely to actually do it than if I just say “date nights are good for you”.
This little book (I read it in two hours) covers all of the basics, gives a ton of good statistics, and is just a great reminder of some of the most important points to helping couples. If you help couples you know that it’s so easy to get lost in the weeds – there’s so much going on! But if you make sure you hit the points in this book, you will be on your way for sure. And you can always delve much deeper into any of the topics with these authors’ other books. I would definitely recommend having this on your shelf for quick reference if you are a therapist or coach working with couples.
May 27, 2021
Basically a summary of the PrepareEnrich and SYMBIS assessments. Not as “practical” as I would have liked, but still good content. Just get certified in one of the assessments if you have the time and money.
August 17, 2021
If you provide premarital counseling and especially if you use Prepare Enrich or SYMBIS for your assessment tools, this is an encouraging, helpful and quick read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews