My fiancé and I recently went through several pre-marital counseling sessions with Sarai, which she ran under her SPICES framework. 

First of all, Sarai is wonderfully skilled as a counselor.  Having never been in a counseling situation before, I was quite anxious about the whole thing. 

Sarai made me feel safe and after some initial awkwardness, I eased into opening up.  I appreciated the objective third party view on our relationship, and she was able to effectively translate our points of view into digestible insights that we probably wouldn’t have been able to arrive at ourselves.  Sarai is incredibly perceptive and was able to gently pinpoint character traits for both of us that we knew we needed to work on.      

Secondly, the ideas that she suggested under the SPICES framework, were quite valuable.  Some of them, such as practicing gratitude and taking responsibility for our own actions and feelings, are things that most people have heard of and are universally thought of as healthy relationship skills.  However, Sarai was able to explain those ideas in a way that allowed me to see how powerful they can be. 

While ideas such as these are certainly inspiring, they must be put into action, and I really appreciated the way Sarai helped us figure out ways to practice the necessary skills in everyday life. 

My fiancé and I have been trying out these practices and are seeing improvements in our communication and general well-being.   

Sarai was generous enough with her time to do these sessions with us privately, and I think that made a huge difference in the way I was able to internalize her teachings.  I’ve heard some of these messages before in large group settings and have always felt inspired afterwards, but there was something about having Sarai’s full attention that made a difference. 

Perhaps it was the targeted, personalized suggestions, or the fact that I knew that my partner was on board with me, but I carried these lessons with me in a way that I never did before.  I have a habit of looking at the negative side of situations and stressing myself over things that I have no control over. 

Sarai honed in on this habit of mine during our sessions and I saw how the negative effect that it could have on my relationship.  Since then, I’ve made very conscious efforts to gauge my thoughts and turn them around, per Sarai’s suggestions. 

I am a work in progress on many fronts, but with Sarai’s invaluable insights and encouragement, I am committed to the effort of building a relationship that is loving, enriching, and supportive of fulfilling our purposes in life.