Few things shape our daily peace more than the health of our closest relationship. When a marriage or partnership is thriving, it can be a steady source of comfort and joy. When it is strained, the distance can touch every part of life. If you and your partner feel stuck, disconnected, or simply weary, you are not alone, and reaching out for help is a sign of strength and hope rather than failure. We are here to walk with you.
Marriage counseling in Raleigh at Family Life Resources is provided by Ginny Porowski, RN, MA, LCMHC, a licensed clinical mental health counselor and registered nurse with more than 30 years of experience helping people. She sees couples in person at our North Raleigh office, off Creedmoor Road near I-540, and by secure video anywhere in North Carolina, and she is accepting new clients. You can read more about Ginny's background, including her BSN from Emory University and her MA in Counseling from Liberty University.
When communication breaks down
Many couples come to us because conversations that used to feel easy have become tense, circular, or silent. You may feel unheard, or find that small disagreements quickly escalate. Counseling offers a calm, neutral space where each of you can be truly heard, and where you can learn practical tools to express needs and listen without defensiveness. Over time, the goal is not just to argue less, but to understand each other more deeply.
Recurring conflict and resentment
When the same fights keep returning, resentment can quietly build. Together we look beneath the surface of recurring conflict to the longings and hurts underneath it. Naming those patterns gently and honestly often loosens their grip, making room for repair, forgiveness, and a renewed sense of teamwork.
Rebuilding trust after betrayal or infidelity
Betrayal, whether emotional, financial, or sexual, can shake the foundation of a relationship. Healing is possible, though it takes time, honesty, and patient care. We help couples process the pain, rebuild safety, and slowly restore trust at a pace that honors both partners. With support, couples can work toward a more honest and resilient bond.
Reconnecting and restoring intimacy
Life's demands can leave partners feeling more like roommates than companions. If the warmth, friendship, or physical closeness you once shared has faded, counseling can help you rediscover one another. We focus on rebuilding emotional safety and connection so that intimacy can grow naturally again, rooted in mutual care and respect.
Every season of partnership
Strong relationships still need support through change. We work with couples in many different seasons.
What does premarital counseling cover?
Premarital counseling helps you agree on communication, money, family, and (if you want) faith before the wedding. Beginning well matters, and newlywed couples can do the same work in their first years together, building shared expectations and a foundation that can carry you through the years ahead.
Premarital sessions can cover topics such as:
- How each of you handles conflict, and how to repair after an argument.
- Money habits, debt, and how you will make spending and saving decisions.
- Expectations about household roles, careers, and time together.
- In-laws, extended family, and healthy boundaries.
- Whether and when to have children, and how you each hope to parent.
- Faith and spiritual life, if that matters to you.
Premarital counseling is just as valuable before a second marriage. If you are remarrying after divorce or after losing a spouse, it gives you room to talk honestly about blending households, adult children, finances, and the grief or hurt each of you carries from before.
Parenting and blended-family stress
Raising children, and blending two families, can stretch even loving partners. We help you parent as a united team, navigate differences in approach, and ease the tension that step-parenting and co-parenting can bring.
Navigating major transitions together
A move, a job change, an empty nest, illness, retirement, or loss can quietly reshape a marriage. If you are weathering a hard season, our grief and loss counseling can complement couples work when sorrow is part of the story. We help you face transitions as partners rather than drift apart in them.
Marriage counseling for seniors, older couples, and second marriages
Ginny offers marriage counseling for seniors and older couples, in person at our North Raleigh office or by secure video from home. Marriage counseling helps at every age, including for couples in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond. Later-in-life marriages face their own pressures: retirement suddenly putting you together all day, health changes, an empty nest that reveals how far apart you have drifted, or the exhaustion of caring for an aging parent while trying to stay close to each other.
Second marriages bring their own questions, such as:
- Adult children who have not accepted the new marriage.
- Still grieving a first husband or wife, and not knowing how to talk about it with a new spouse.
- Tension over money, wills, and what belongs to whom.
- Old hurts from a divorce showing up in the new relationship.
Counseling gives you a calm place to talk these through together; decisions about wills, estates, or property belong with an attorney or financial professional.
Ginny has a particular focus on helping people through losing a spouse, to death or divorce, and building a healthy next chapter, including remarriage. When grief from a first marriage is part of the story, grief counseling after the loss of a spouse can sit alongside your couples work. As a registered nurse, she also understands the medical side of a partner's illness or a parent's decline, and how much strain caregiving can put on a marriage.
Signs counseling may help
You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from couples counseling. It may be a good fit if you notice some of the following:
- The same arguments keep repeating without resolution.
- You feel more like roommates than partners.
- Trust has been broken and you are unsure how to rebuild it.
- Communication often ends in shutdown, criticism, or silence.
- You are facing a big transition and feel out of step with each other.
- You want to strengthen a good relationship before problems take root.
What if my spouse doesn't want to go to marriage counseling?
You can still begin on your own. It is very common for one partner to be ready before the other, and individual sessions focused on the relationship can help you understand your patterns, communicate more calmly, and get clear on what you need. Sometimes a hesitant spouse becomes more open once they see that counseling is not about blaming one person.
A few things often make it easier for a reluctant partner to say yes:
- Inviting them to one session rather than asking for a long commitment.
- Letting them ask their own questions during the free 10-minute phone consultation.
- Starting with secure video from home if an office feels like too much at first.
- Framing counseling as a way to understand each other, not to decide who is right.
When a spouse is controlling, or home does not feel safe
Couples counseling works best when both partners can speak honestly without fear. If you feel controlled, belittled, constantly blamed, or afraid of how your spouse will react to what you say in a session, it may be wiser to start with individual counseling. Our counseling for people with a narcissistic or controlling spouse focuses on your experience, your boundaries, your self-trust, and your safety, whether you are staying, deciding, or leaving.
If anyone in your life makes you feel unsafe — through threats, intimidation, or physical harm — your safety comes first. Call 911 in an emergency, or reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline anytime at 800-799-7233 — free, confidential, and available 24/7. If you or your partner are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Can we get emergency couples counseling?
If your marriage is in crisis, call or text 919-306-0207 and we will look for the soonest appointment that fits, in person or by video. We are not a crisis or emergency service, so if anyone is in immediate danger, call 911, and for thoughts of suicide call or text 988. A marriage crisis might mean discovering an affair, or one of you talking about separation; the free 10-minute phone consultation gives you a chance to tell us what is happening so we can understand where to begin.
What happens in the first couples counseling session?
In the first couples session, you each share what brought you in, talk through your history together, and agree on first goals with Ginny. The session is unhurried and judgment-free, and you will both have space to be heard. From there, we chart a path forward together, checking in along the way so the work always reflects what matters most to you. You set the pace, and nothing is forced.
In a first couples session, you can expect to:
- Share, in your own words, what brought you in and what you hope will change.
- Talk about your history together, including what first drew you to each other.
- Name the patterns that keep repeating, without anyone being put on trial.
- Agree on first goals and how often to meet.
- Ask any questions about fees, privacy, and how sessions work.
Ongoing couples sessions are 50 minutes with both partners together. Our fees and insurance page explains private-pay fees, including what to expect for your first appointment, superbills for out-of-network reimbursement, and HSA/FSA payment.
In-person couples therapy in North Raleigh, or by video
We offer in-person couples therapy at our North Raleigh office, 8218 Creedmoor Road, Suite 101, near I-540, and secure video couples therapy anywhere in North Carolina. Couples therapy and marriage counseling mean the same thing here. You can choose either, and you can switch between them as life requires, joining together from home whenever that is easier.
- In person suits couples who prefer face-to-face conversation, or who find that a neutral room helps them slow down when things get heated.
- By video removes the drive and childcare logistics, and can make it easier for a hesitant partner to take part.
Our telehealth FAQ explains how secure video counseling works in North Carolina.
Our approach
Care at Family Life Resources is led by Ginny, who works with couples and with individuals on relationship concerns. She brings more than thirty years of experience and a warm, holistic approach that honors the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. Her methods are evidence-based, drawing on proven approaches to communication, conflict, and connection, while remaining personal and compassionate.
If one of you is wrestling with direction, purpose, or work-life balance alongside the relationship, our life and career coaching can be a helpful companion to couples work.
We are a private-pay practice with clear, simple fees. Individual sessions are $160 for 50 minutes, and marriage and couples sessions (both partners meeting together) are $170. We begin with a free 10-minute phone consultation so you can ask questions with no pressure. You can meet with us in person in Raleigh or by secure video telehealth from anywhere in North Carolina, whichever fits your life best. Whatever season you are in, there is real reason for hope, and we would be honored to help you move toward it together.
Christian marriage counseling in Raleigh, if you want it
Christian marriage counseling is available for couples who want it. Ginny is a Christian counselor, and when you ask, she can bring prayer, Scripture, and conversations about how your faith shapes forgiveness, commitment, and marriage into your sessions, alongside licensed clinical care.
Faith-based marriage counseling is always optional and never imposed. It also works when partners are in different places spiritually: one of you may want faith woven in while the other does not. Faith is brought into sessions only as far as you are both comfortable, never over either partner's objection. Couples of every background and belief are welcome. Learn more on our Christian counseling in Raleigh page.
Marriage counseling near me: Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, and Durham
If you are looking for marriage counseling or couples therapy near you in the Triangle, our North Raleigh office is the in-person home base, and secure video reaches couples anywhere in North Carolina.
- Raleigh and North Raleigh: in-person couples counseling at 8218 Creedmoor Road, Suite 101 (27613), or by video.
- Wake Forest: in person at our North Raleigh office on Creedmoor Road, or by secure video.
- Cary: by secure video from home, or in person at the North Raleigh office.
- Durham: by secure video from home, or in person at the North Raleigh office.
We also see couples from Apex and the other communities we serve, in person or by video.