Counseling couples takes a deft hand and an ability to empathize and understand the pressures that can strain a relationship. Careers in marriage and family therapy or couples counseling also require an understanding that the therapist can only help a couple so far as it wants to be helped.

Relationship coach and mental health therapist Melanie Gorman says that often couples are unwilling to help themselves fix their relationships.
"There are several reasons why it's important for couples to meet their counselor halfway," Gorman told divorce360.com, "and why it often doesn't happen."

The four main reasons Gorman gives are that couples don't have a goal in mind when they begin counseling, they are afraid to look deeply at their relationship, they don't want to do the work to fix the relationship and they see counseling as too expensive.

Marriage and family therapists help people modify the behaviors that are damaging a relationship and enhance communication and understanding among the parties involved. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field will experience growth of 30 percent in employment from 2006-2016, which is significantly faster than the national average for all occupations, rising to an expected 32,000 jobs in the U.S.