The spouses can rely on family for encouragement or even financial support. They can call on friends to help them through difficult moments with humor or a different point of view. They can certainly use prayer as they seek the strength and openness required of any relationship. With research, your students can also find other means of support provided by the Church. There are programs such as Marriage Encounter, a nondenominational weekend program intended to improve communication between spouses.
Parishes also offer retreat programs for couples as well as for wives and husbands individually.
When a couple experiences substantial difficulties, divorce is not always the first recourse. There are individuals, trained counselors and small firms specializing in mediation. We re used to seeing this in union negotiation situations or perhaps as an alternative to small-claims court. But these services are now available more widely to individuals who need help in settling divisive differences with friends, family, neighbors or spouses. Mediation is a constructive step toward resolving differences.