I could not agree MORE. I believe Susan got very, very, very bad advice, from what we know about her counseling. This is the central element we still don't dignify in women - the ability to know, and say, that you are in danger and will be leaving now.
Melissa Jenkins: "knew" the Prues were dangerous, had turned down interaction in the past, but "had" to go help them, she felt, because that's what nice women do.
Susan Powell, knew her husband had threatened her and the boys, wrote that down, was encouraged to "work on it," and felt she needed/wanted to do that. What we need to convey to girls is that violence has nothing to do with what you "want" - we all would like our marriages to work out and to be loved back by the people we are loving to. Reality bites. Once you are threatened, THAT IS THE WARNING. Go then, go now, solve the problems down the road from a safe distance. If it was an aggressive dog, if it was a cougar in your back yard, you wouldn't continue to go out into the yard and say, "I'm just going to throw it meat continually and treat it nicely and SURELY, SURELY, it will become more friendly to me."
In Susan's case, she apparently had multiple parties assisting her, encouraging her, to ignore what she knew, in her body.
And here's a big flag to me about the counseling: you don't set goals for other people. You can assist children to set their goals. Adults set their own goals. Josh's goals were obvious; Susan's counselor just didn't want to admit that. You can only set goals for yourself and convey what YOU need - a temple marriage, consistent church attendance. You can only set a deadline for yourself, by which time you will not be able to go forward, in this same arrangement, with this person.
Another big flag: you don't give ultimatums to people who have expressed violence against you. Among the parties who have a lot to answer for, I think her counselor has gotten off very easy, and I would be fascinated to find out who that person was and what their real professional expertise was. No qualified counselor I can think of would recommend these things.