Marriage counseling and couples therapy in Grand Rapids

Picture a Saturday morning at the Fulton Street Farmers Market. You were having a good time until someone mentioned the credit card bill, and now the drive home up Fuller is quiet in a way you both recognize. Nobody is a villain here. You are two people who keep landing in the same spot and are tired of it.

If you are searching for marriage counseling in Grand Rapids, you have plenty of company and plenty of choices. This guide focuses on what is particular to couples here: a city where living together before marriage is common, a deep tradition of faith-integrated counseling, and a downtown training clinic that sometimes sees couples. It also explains how Iryna Morhunova-Sutton, LLMFT, works with Grand Rapids couples through online sessions.

For the basics, our couples therapy overview explains how sessions work, and the marriage counseling page covers the overlap between the terms. You do not need to be married or in crisis to start.

One household in ten is an unmarried couple

Census figures for 2020 to 2024 show that 34.2 percent of Grand Rapids households are married couples and another 10.2 percent are cohabiting couples, unmarried partners sharing a home. That cohabiting share is notable: roughly one household in ten. About 11.0 percent of residents 15 and older are divorced.

For counseling, that means many Grand Rapids couples looking for help are not yet married, or are deciding whether to marry. Common questions include whether to merge finances, how to handle families who disapprove of living together, whether faith traditions line up, and what commitment means to each partner. A therapist who treats cohabiting couples as fully legitimate clients, rather than as a stage on the way to “real” counseling, is worth seeking out. The same goes for couples who married young, divorced and are now building a second partnership with children from both sides.

Christian marriage counseling in Grand Rapids: finding faith-integrated care

Faith runs deep in Grand Rapids, and many couples want counseling that respects it. That is a reasonable thing to look for. Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, for example, was founded here in 1910 and describes its care as rooted in Christian values while respecting each person’s own faith. Catholic Charities West Michigan offers behavioral health counseling at several locations, many private practices describe faith-integrated options, and churches often keep referral lists.

• Are you licensed in Michigan? Pastoral counseling can be meaningful, but a pastor or lay counselor may not hold a clinical license. If you want therapy, confirm the license.
• How do you bring faith into sessions? Some therapists pray with clients or draw on scripture, and others simply respect your values. Ask what it looks like in practice.
• What if we are in different places spiritually? A good counselor makes room for both partners, including one who has left the faith the other still holds.

To be clear, this site does not describe Iryna’s practice as Christian counseling. If faith-integrated care is what you want, these questions will help you find it.

WMU’s downtown clinic and other lower-fee routes

Western Michigan University’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services at 200 Ionia Ave SW is staffed by graduate student counselors supervised by licensed faculty. WMU lists marital, family and couples counseling among its services with income-based sliding-scale fees for community members, though its Grand Rapids page says marital and family therapy is offered periodically. Call 616-771-4171 to ask about current availability; WMU notes that telehealth is available.

Network180 (616-336-3909), Kent County’s public mental health authority, can explain what public services you may qualify for. For private practice fees, our guide to couples therapy costs in Michigan walks through what drives prices, and this explainer on insurance covers why relationship counseling is often billed differently from individual care.

A crowded field of couples therapists

A search of the NPI Registry on October 7, 2026 returned 102 records with the Marriage & Family Therapist taxonomy and a Grand Rapids practice address, about 5.1 per 10,000 residents. With that many names, a structured approach helps: our step-by-step guide to finding a couples therapist lists questions for a first call, the credentials explainer sorts out the licenses, and a two-minute LARA check confirms that a license is active. If you are weighing whether it is worth trying at all, our summary of couples therapy research is a fair place to begin.

Video couples sessions for Grand Rapids partners

Iryna is based in Troy and works online only, with no office and no in-person sessions, so Grand Rapids couples work with her through online therapy anywhere in Michigan, from their own living room. Both partners need to be physically in Michigan during each session. That can suit couples who live together but keep different hours, or couples in Walker or Wyoming who would rather skip a cross-town drive on a January weeknight. Some couples keep the same evening each week so the session becomes a habit rather than one more appointment to negotiate. Her approach is collaborative and compassionate, and as she puts it, therapy “is not about fixing you.”

For individual and family options across the city, see our guide to finding a therapist in Grand Rapids. When you are ready, request an appointment.