Our premarital assessments are specifically designed for couples considering engagement or marriage and want to know each other more deeply.
We know wedding planning is a busy time for couples and it can feel overwhelming to add yet another thing to your plate, no matter how meaningful. Thankfully, our premarital couples assessment has been designed to allow for a deep dive into your relationship in only three 2-hour sessions. You’ll also be able to take all you learn with you in a streamlined, straightforward powerpoint presentation that’s yours to keep and refer back to as much as you like.
Questions you might hope to answer:
“What are our strengths and challenges as a couple?”
“What potential relationship obstacles might we run into down the road?”
“How will we co-parent together?”
FAQs
What is a psychological assessment?
A psychological assessment is a handful of sessions (usually in the 2-8 range) that combine interviewing, psychological testing, and a feedback session to discuss the results.
What types of couples get a premarital assessment?
Couples who are at any stage in the process of making a deeper commitment to one another can benefit from our premarital assessment. This includes couples considering engagement or moving in together, engaged couples preparing for marriage, or even newlyweds or those renewing their vows.
Is this like Pre-Cana?
Our premarital assessments can be thought of as analogous to what many religious institutions offer for marriage preparation, with some key differences. First, our assessments have a psychological focus rather than a religious or spiritual focus. Second, there are many instances where these two processes are not considered redundant. For example, if a couple wants to prepare for their marriage within their religion but also want to deeply explore how their personality, psychology, and mental health affect their communication, relationship functioning, and life decision-making, then our premarital assessment can be a wonderful supplement to religious premarital counseling.
Why should I consider getting a premarital assessment?
If you and your partner are preparing to commit to each other more deeply and want to better understand your strengths and challenges as a couple, how each other’s mind work, potential problems you may run into down the road and how to overcome them, how you’ll parent together, how to communicate effectively, or how to navigate transition together, then a premarital assessment may be right for you. When you meet with your assessor for a complimentary consultation, you can decide together whether a premarital assessment would be a good fit.
What’s so special about these psychological tests?
You can think about psychological tests as similar to medical tests (such as X-rays or bloodwork). Just as medical tests can show something going on physically in your body that you may or may not know about or feel symptoms of, psychological tests can show aspects of a person’s psychology, emotions, thought processes, problem-solving style, or relationship functioning more clearly. Psychological tests have developed from decades of research and empirical evidence, making them robust in reliability and validity. Only doctoral level psychologists have the specialized training to administer psychological tests.
Should I only do testing, or should my partner and I both do it?
It depends. In most situations where a couple wants to improve their relationship, having both partners do testing can give a lot more information than just one partner doing testing. However, there are some situations where it makes more sense for only one partner to do testing. For example, if one partner thinks they might have ADHD, we can assess that partner for ADHD.
My therapist wants me to do testing. Will you talk with them? Do they get the results?
We deeply value professional consultation and collaboration and are always happy to consult with therapists about the results of testing. After our feedback session, we send your feedback PowerPoint to you through our secure client portal and you are welcome to share the report with your therapist. We are also able to meet with you and your therapist if you decide that would be helpful.
Can you do personality testing for public service job applicants (police, security, firearms certification, etc.)?
Yes, for Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
How does payment work?
After your free consultation with one of our assessors, you will receive a quote for the entire assessment. For any service hours (either face-to-face hours with an assessor, or hours the assessor is spending scoring and analyzing test results), fees are charged the day before the service hour occurs. Material costs are charged on the first day of testing along with the service hours for that day. In this way, the fee for an assessment is charged in spread-out portions over the course of a few weeks.
Does every person you assess get the same tests?
No! Our assessments are custom made for every couple or individual getting assessed. Which tests are chosen depends on what the couple or client are hoping to find out from the assessment.
How do you give me the results of testing? Do I get a report?
You will get the results of the testing in a 1-hour feedback session with your assessor. During this hour, your assessor will talk through the results and also present a feedback powerpoint, which you will get a PDF of after the session. We do not provide written reports because we’ve found that they’re not an effective way of delivering feedback to clients. However, if a written report is needed for a certain circumstance, we are open to discussing this further and providing one if appropriate.
Take our quiz to see if this assessment is right for you:
PCT clinicians who specialize in premarital psychological assessments
If you’re someone who likes the research, the evidence, and knowing why something works, you’re not alone. There can be something remarkably encouraging about having information that’s backed by science. At the very least, it gives us a clearer direction and a starting point for what comes next.
That’s exactly why we’re passionate about couples assessments here at PCT.
