The topic is when you have an individual client talking about potentially divorcing their spouse, but when you ask about whether they’ve tried couples counseling, they claim, “my spouse won’t go.”

Therapists too often just accept this statement at face value. Sometimes what’s behind it is the client’s own ambivalence. Sometimes they’ve broached the idea only during fights or in a way that did not seem serious to the partner. The risk is that a marriage goes down the drain when it could have been salvaged with a good dose of couples therapy. Whether or not the spouse ultimately agrees to therapy, Bill has an approach that helps the client pursue the possibility of couples therapy an assertive and sensitive way—something that will encourage the client’s personal change