Do You Want To Improve Your Relationship, But Counselling Doesn’t Seem Effective Enough?

Have you and your partner been working hard to save your relationship, but you still feel stuck? Does it feel like your conflicts never get resolved and every interaction just creates more misunderstanding? Do you want to give your marriage or relationship a better chance to thrive?

Maybe you’ve tried counselling and it didn’t work. Perhaps your schedules were too busy for you to commit to weekly sessions. Or maybe the sessions were too short and infrequent to create meaningful change—the progress was slow and there wasn’t enough time to practice the skills you learned.

Yet at the same time, neither one of you wants to sit idly by. You’re both committed to getting the best out of your relationship and don’t want to continue spinning your wheels. You might feel like every conversation turns into an argument and you’re walking on eggshells with each other. Or perhaps you’ve begun to feel like you’re just roommates—the romance has left the picture and the spark isn’t there anymore.

Whether you want to save your relationship or simply improve it, I encourage you to try a couples intensive with me. This is a chance to go deeper than ordinary therapy and practice communication strategies in a more concentrated format. What’s more, doing an intensive retreat makes it easier to get productive results than couples therapy, since you have time to really build on the things you learn.

Intensives Let You Incorporate New Skills More Immediately And Effectively Than Traditional Therapy

According to a study done by a team of researchers at University College London, it takes an average of 66 days—or more than two months—to form a new habit. Yet traditional couples therapy takes up only about one to two hours per week. Therefore, many couples feel frustrated by their lack of progress. Short and infrequent sessions result in slow progress and a lack of momentum.

Little wonder, then, that couples intensives—consisting of one or two all-day sessions—offer such an effective alternative to traditional therapy. A two-day intensive is equivalent to six months of traditional couples counselling. It is easier to remember different tips and skills when you are learning them in a continuous, uninterrupted fashion. What’s more, you have more time to apply what you learn. For this reason, many couples prefer the format of intensives to standard counselling.

If you and your partner would like to try an intensive, I would be honoured to work with you. With my help and support, I am confident that you can solve communication issues, learn to navigate your differences, and enjoy a more loving and intimate connection.

A Couples Intensive Can Help You And Your Partner Feel Loved, Understood, And Connected

When couples come to me for an intensive, one thing I often ask is: “Are there any relationships in your life that you would consider a good role model for what a healthy relationship looks like?” Unfortunately, the answer these days is usually no. The truth is that many of us grow up with less-than-stellar relationships around us. To make matters worse, we’re not taught in school how to have a good relationship and the media often shows us unrealistic depictions of romance.

Couples intensive therapy gives you a chance to learn what really makes a relationship healthy. I want to help you see beyond the relationship myths that our culture perpetuates and set you on a path towards deeper, more meaningful connection. My sessions provide a space to be heard and understood, learn new patterns of interacting, and communicate about the topics causing tension in your relationship.

What To Expect In A Couples Intensive

The process for an intensive is very straightforward.

  1. First, you and your partner will have a one-hour consultation with me to address all your questions and concerns.

  2. If we decide that a couples intensive is a good fit for your needs, we will schedule a time to meet.

  3. Next, you will fill out a few forms so that I can understand your relationship’s strengths and weaknesses. Forms must be submitted at least a week before your intensive. This way, I can thoroughly review your answers and develop a customized plan that takes your relationship’s unique strengths and challenges into account.

  4. Then we will begin the intensive, meeting for two consecutive days from about 9 AM to 4:30 PM. Each day has a 90-minute lunch break and several other smaller breaks and the potential for individual breakout sessions if you choose. I try to keep the schedule flexible so that I can accommodate your needs. The first day is usually educational and focused on expanding your knowledge about how healthy marriages and relationships function. The second day is generally more skills-based—it’s where you really get to practice and hone the strategies you learn.

  5. After the two days are done, we will schedule a one-hour follow-up session. During your follow-up session, I will provide you with a Marriage Maintenance Plan with recommendations for you and your spouse to continue to grow in your relationship and your love for each other.

Using The Developmental Model Of Couples Therapy

The main approach I use in my intensives is called the Developmental Model of couples therapy. This approach views each partner’s individual development as essential to the development of your relationship. The Developmental Model explores the family history of you and your spouse while drawing on the latest research from neuroscience and taking into consideration how your nervous systems respond to each other.

I’ve been working with couples since 2004. In that time, I’ve helped many couples overcome their hurdles. Between my experience and your willingness to invest time and effort, I believe it’s possible to have a relationship where you and your partner feel loved, understood, and supported.

You May Have Some Questions About Couples Intensive Retreats….

  • An intensive is much cheaper than a year of traditional therapy and much cheaper than a divorce. My question to you is, can you afford to not invest in your relationship? After all, your relationship is one of the most important aspects of your life. Research shows that a fulfilling relationship can have a positive influence on physical and mental health, finances, and life satisfaction while providing each partner with opportunities for personal growth. If you had heart problems and discovered a new and improved surgery with a greater success rate, wouldn’t you pay to have it done? Intensive marriage counselling is like cutting-edge surgery for your relationship, with the potential for lifelong benefits that will impact the quality of your life going forward.

  • In my experience, many couples find that two days of a therapy retreat actually energize them. An intensive provides the opportunity to gain real momentum in your relationship and implement new skills in a matter of days. What’s more, we will take regular breaks to pace each day of the intensive, giving you time to relax and recharge your batteries.

  • The perspective you gain can be transformational! You can learn a lot about yourself and your partner and—best of all—you won’t have to stop and start over and over again as you would in traditional counselling. Not only will I teach you new skills, but you’ll have more time to practice them, too. In this way, couples retreat counselling makes it easier to strengthen the weak spots in your marriage and save yourself time and energy in the process.