That’s the hard part done.

Your call is confirmed and it is in my calendar. You will get an email with the details and a link to join. If it has not arrived in a few minutes, check your spam folder, then tell me and I will resend it.

Booking a call about your marriage takes something. I don’t take it lightly that you did it.

Read this before we talk

Fifteen minutes, online, from wherever you are. Nothing to prepare and nothing to buy.

Stephen Bickle, relationship and marriage coach

15Minutes, no pitch

Confirmation is in your inbox Online, from your own couch No pitch on the call

What happens next

Three things, and none of them are homework

Right now

Check your email

The confirmation has the time, the link, and a way to reschedule if something moves. Put it in your calendar while you are thinking about it.

Before the call

Decide who is on it

Both of you is ideal, one of you is completely fine. Plenty of couples start with the partner who is more ready, and the other joins later once something has actually changed.

On the call

Say the real thing

You do not need it organized and you do not need to make it sound reasonable. The messy version is more useful to me than the tidy one.

If you are the partner who was talked into this, usually the husband, here is what you are walking into. Nobody is going to tell you what is wrong with you. I do not take sides, and the relationship is my client rather than either one of you. Fifteen minutes, and if it is not for you, you say so and that is the end of it.

While you wait