You Don’t Have to Navigate Marriage Alone
Marriage mentoring offers couples the opportunity to walk alongside another trusted couple who can encourage, provide practical wisdom, and offer hope from their own experience.
Mentoring is not professional counselling or crisis intervention. Instead, it’s a supportive relationship where couples can have honest conversations about marriage, communication, conflict, intimacy, parenting, faith, and more.
Whether you’re newly married or have been together for many years, being mentored can help strengthen your relationship and remind you that you’re not alone.
What Does Marriage Mentoring Look Like?
Typically, a mentor couple meets with another couple once a month for about a year to have guided conversations on 14 essential marriage topics. These conversations are designed to encourage growth, strengthen connection, and help couples move toward greater oneness in their relationship.
Meetings often take place in homes, coffee shops, churches, or other comfortable settings where couples can talk openly and build trust.
While every mentoring relationship is unique, many mentor couples incorporate prayer, biblical principles, and faith-based encouragement into their conversations.
Mentor couples aren’t expected to have perfect marriages. They simply offer encouragement, perspective, and a willingness to walk alongside another couple.
Marriage mentoring is primarily focused on strengthening the relationship between husband and wife, though individual experiences and perspectives are naturally part of the conversations.
Between meetings, couples may reflect on discussion topics, work through sections of the mentoring guide together, or intentionally practice new relationship habits discussed during their sessions.
Who Is Marriage Mentoring For?
Marriage mentoring can benefit couples in many different seasons, including couples who are:
Wanting to strengthen an already healthy marriage
Feeling disconnected or stuck
Navigating conflict or communication challenges
Newly married or adjusting to a new season of life
Looking for encouragement and practical wisdom from another couple
However, if your marriage is in crisis or experiencing abuse, addiction, or severe conflict, professional counselling is strongly recommended and please read this resource page we put together.
Here is a list of recommended professional marriage counsellors.
How Can We Find Marriage Mentors?
While FamilyLife Canada does not currently provide direct mentor matching services, we would still love to help point you toward possible next steps.
If you’re hoping to connect with a mentor couple, here are a few places to start:
Reach out to your pastor or church leadership and let them know about this Marriage Mentoring Initiative. They may wish to start this at your church.
Ask trusted friends if they know a mature couple who could walk alongside you. They may be willing to use our MMI resources to help guide your conversations. In many cases, couples begin with an informal introductory conversation to get to know one another and determine whether the mentoring relationship feels like a good fit.
FamilyLife Canada also offers confidential email mentoring for individuals.
Thanks for Pursuing a Stronger Marriage
Seeking support for your marriage is a sign of strength and a desire for more oneness in your marriage. We’re encouraged by your desire to invest intentionally in your relationship and pursue a stronger marriage together.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes. There is never a charge to hear from a mentor.
Mentors are volunteers who have been screened and then completed a training program. Mentors select the areas that they feel comfortable talking about. When you talk to a mentor, odds are good that they have been through a situation that is similar to yours. Mentors are monitored and each one reports to a community leader who makes sure that our standard of service is being met at all times.
You can ask just about anything. Many of the questions that come in are about relationships – marriage, parenting, dating, divorce, family dynamics and everything in between. You can ask about faith or finances, work or future plans. We are not able to give medical or legal advice but other than that we’re here to help.
No, mentors are not professionals and mentoring is not a counselling service. Mentoring provides support by coming alongside a mentee. Mentoring is not intended to replace therapy or to be used as counseling. (See our terms of service for all legal notifications and statement of liability.)
Mentors usually respond within a couple of days. (During peak times it can take up to a week.)
We try to ensure each email is connected successfully. However, occasionally there are glitches. If you have not heard from your mentor one week after your initial email, please use this form to let us know; we’ll need the email address you put on the initial mentoring form. If you remember approximately when you sent your request that also helps. This form is checked daily during business hours.