My husband and I went to our 5th counseling session last night. At the end our counselor said that he didn't want us to come in every other week like we have been. He wants us to come in once a month. He doesn't feel that we are making any progress and he knows that it is getting expensive for us. I feel so abandoned. That was a "safe place" where I could bring up issues and have a mediator to keep things under control. My husband works long hours (between 15-17 per day) and we haven't had time to work on our communication techniques at home and he really hasn't been making any effort towards the development of our marriage. He comes from an alcoholic broken home and is working towards being an alcoholic himself. But we have made some improvements, it's just that once a week he reverts back to his old ways and I don't handle it well. My question is what do I do? I am so scared. Getting my husband to go to counseling was not easy and I felt like it was a big positive step. Now, without that waiting the next week, I have no leverage to get him to do the communication exercises. I love my husband dearly and I want to make my marriage work. (We have only been married 16 monthes.) but I am really feeling hopeless now and I am scared to death. If our counselor has given up on us, how are we supposed to try? What do I do?!!!

Mari,
<p>I'm mainly replying to you because I really empathize with your feeling of being scared. I'm scared myself. I'm not so sure I have anything useful to offer.
<br>Perhaps you should try another counselor. But from what you described that may not help right now. My immediate suggestion would be to see if there is a place near you that does a Retrouvaille weekend. Retrouvaille came out of the popular Marriage Encounter weekend, but it was designed for marriages that have more serious problems. Like alcoholism for one.
<br>Check out there homepage at www.retrouvaille.org. Your should be able to track down a phone number in your area to learn about the next weekend function. I understand that these affairs are highly successful in situations such as yours.
<br>And keep coming back to this forum. I'm sure others here will have some advice for you, or at least moral support. Take care.