Marriage and couple counselors have heard all sorts of problems and sorts of reasons from both the husbands and wives. They’re experienced in dealing with these sorts of conflicts and may be able to help you. If you ask them, should me and my boyfriend get back together? you might be surprised at their answer.

The goal of marriage and couple counselors is to save relationships. Unfortunately, many of these programs aren’t that good at really diagnosing the problem. If either half of the couple lies, it makes it even more difficult for them to treat you.

But once they get to the bottom of things, you might be surprised how accurate they are. And since their goal is to help you handle your relationship, the word divorce isn’t thrown around. If you go to counseling talking about divorce it might come up. Or if they really feel that you’re in a dangerous or destructive relationship.

But for the most part, their aim is to keep you together or get you back together in a way that you can both be happy. The hardest part of you and your boyfriend get back together will probably be getting him to go to the counseling in the first place.

The good news is that he doesn’t actually have to go. You can decide to go to couple counseling on your own. It might not be as effective, but it does a couple of very good things for you when you’re trying to get back together.

First, it shows him that you’re serious. If he won’t go and you opt to without him, then it seems to him that you’re really trying hard to change something about your relationship. Why else would you go alone to a session meant for two people?

Second, you can learn some important tips and techniques in counseling that you can start putting to use right away. Just because he’s not going to counseling that doesn’t mean that you can’t improve the relationship by leaps and bounds.

You’ll learn communication skills and persuasion skills that can make a real difference in how the two of you relate to each other. And if he sees you going to counseling and better able to handle yourself in general without getting angry with him, that could actually prompt him to decide to go, too.

You have to set the example and hope he follows if you’re the only that will voluntarily go. Whether you and your boyfriend get back together or not, you will have benefited personally from the skills you learned in counseling so it’s definitely worth going.

The struggles continue but there are some things you should think about to see if saving a relationship like the one you are in is worth the challenge. If you are thinking about getting a divorce or separating, you need to look at these things honestly and maybe get some serious relationship advice. Saving a relationship is an important thing to try and accomplish and will take a lot of work. It can also be frustrating work if the relationships not really there.

Write a list of the people you most enjoy spending time with. Is your spouse or partner on that list? Do you really enjoy spending time together? When was the last time you went out and just had fun? Is it possible for the two of you to do that? Are you content just being with them? A good relationship between two people is going to be one where they can enjoy being together or can feel content just having the person there.

Another very important thing to consider when you are deciding if this relationship is worth saving is do they make you feel like you are understood. Do you listen to your spouse? Do you feel like you are being listened to and that they understand you? Spend some time and try to see if they do.

A relationship is supposed to be a place where you can go when you need comforted. Is the relationship one that makes you feel comfort when you have gone through something bad? Is the relationship something that you constantly need comforted about? If you are looking elsewhere for comfort, there may be a problem.

If there are questions about faithfulness or infidelity, they need to be addressed. Are you able to trust them? Are they able to trust you? If you have a problem answering either one of those questions affirmatively, then you may either need some serious marriage counseling or couple’s therapy.

In saving a relationship, there are many other things to consider and a decision like this should not be taken lightly. Ask hard questions and search hard for answers and then you may be able to find if saving a relationship like the one you are in is worth it.

Some relationships truly do need to end. If your partner is abusing you, you need to get out of the relationship as soon as possible. If you’re on other side, and you’re having trouble controlling your temper, then you’re obligated to break up with the other person for both of your sakes.

Aside from the obvious, when should you consider ending a relationship? When it’s clear to you that the two of you no longer want the same things in a relationship. If the other person wants to get married and you don’t, that’s a sign. When you find yourself moved to cheat on them with someone else, that’s a sign.

Ending a relationship shouldn’t follow a big fight. This is how good relationships end up being broken apart when there’s no reason they had to. When considering breaking it off with the other person, you need to have a clear head about the entire relationship.

Once you decided to break it off, you need to do it the right way so that you can both move on. There are three basic guidelines you need to follow:

Don’t Play Games – Nobody likes to break up with someone. That’s normal, but there’s a temptation to try and make the other person do the dirty work in ending a relationship. Mostly subconsciously, we pick fights and play games to try and antagonize the other person into breaking up with us.

This is a trap you need to avoid. Be direct, be honest and be proactive; make sure you treat the other person with respect. Trying to goad them into breaking up with you will simply make you both miserable.

Do it in Person – Breaking up is a very painful experience for both parties. It is very tempting to bring the relationship to the end by email or phone or, these days, text message. That way, you don’t have to see the look on their face or if you leave a message, without even talking to him.

But obviously, this is no way to end a relationship. If you do not interact with the other person will breaking up, you won’t have any kind of closure. This defeats the entire point of making a clean break. Do both of you a favor and break up in person in a relatively private place.

Be Honest – You need to tell the other person exactly why you are ending the relationship. This isn’t easy, because they will have tendency to try and talk you out of it, but the truth is that lying to them about the reasons doesn’t help either of you. Be honest, even if they don’t want to hear it.

If you follow these three tips, you will find ending a relationship to be a much smoother, much more effective process. Be aware, though, that along the way, you might find that the problems you have are fixable. If this is the case, you need to find some resources to help you mend and repair the relationship.