"My wife Fiona and I got married last month. Neither of us are religious so we decided to get married in a Registry Office. We picked up a flyer for FOCCUS when we went to book the wedding. One of Fiona's friends had done FOCCUS and Fiona was desperate to try it out, but I wasn't really in to it. It sounded as if it was a form of marriage counselling, before we were even married and certainly before we had any relationship problems! I just thought, if it ain't broke, why try and fix it?

Well, how wrong could I have been? FOCCUS was very different to what I expected. We both filled in a questionnaire that would later be computer processed. It covered loads of different topics - the sorts of things that you really should be discussing if you're planning to settle down with someone. For instance: how you'll handle money; whether you want children; if you share the same friends and interests. 

Completing the questionnaire itself really opened my eyes but the next session was even better. Instead of the 'counselling' I had originally imagined, it was really just having someone to go over the responses with us. The facilitator helped us recognise all the areas we agreed on, and all the strengths and good points in our relationship. The facilitator also flagged up areas we could do some work on in our own time. Things that I previously wouldn't have thought of discussing, I suppose; for example why we wanted to get married in the first place. Since doing FOCCUS, Fiona and I talk a lot more and about more varied topics. I can see that there'd be potential for relationship problems if you don't talk about certain issues, so in that respect FOCCUS has helped me. After my initial scepticism, I'm really glad I did it and I'd thoroughly recommend FOCCUS to any couple that are getting married or cohabiting."

The full FOCCUS service costs £50 per couple.