Couples and marriage Intensives
So… What’s the deal with Couples and marriage intensives and why might these help our relationship?
… Maybe you both feel stuck in some sort of holding pattern. You can see what this pattern is and yet … you can’t seem to get the momentum you need to get up and over this hill in order to begin coasting on the other side.
… Maybe one hour of therapy each week seems like a *measly* amount of time compared to the busyness of your schedules AND you just want to jump start your therapy together.
… Maybe you needed change, about, ohhhhh (glances at watch), say, YESTERDAY. These arguments give you both pits in your stomach, and you look at your partner and think, “I love you but I don’t know how to make this stop.”
I get your worries. I hear these weekly. Your relationship matters and I’m holding a place of hope for you both. Restoration is possible.
Enter Couples and Marriage Intensives
These are days intended to provide intense, accelerated therapy given in a 2-day timeframe. Intensives are ideal for clients who are already working with another EFT therapist, live in an area without an EFT therapist, or for couples who want to fast-track their work vs. working for 1-hour sessions over a few weeks.
Are you picking up what I’m laying down?
If you’re curious and are wanting to learn more, read on below. Shoot me an email if you have questions that I didn’t answer on this page. There’s nothing to be lost in asking and so much to be gained in just knowing. And hey, there’s no obligation to schedule just because you’re curious.
Interested??
Call me at 864-214-5742 to schedule a FREE video consult or email me here to see if you are both a good fit for the intensive.
Scroll down below to read extra, if you’re feeling ultra-anxious about this, or are just really Type-A and want to know all the things.
Two-Day Intensives
2-Day Couples or Marriage
Intensives
So, you’re here, reading and pouring through my website because you want to know -
“Is this person as good as she says she is?”
Yes, I’m *really* effing good at what I do. I’ve studied, trained, undergone extensive supervision, and learning to help you and your partner make the progress you need. I’ve even learned from the best about how to do intensives well because I’m not dumb - I’m a type-A, over-achieving, empathic, bull-sh*t caller, direct, and sarcastically warm therapist - and we are gonna do beautiful but hard work together.
“Why on earth would I want to spend TWO. WHOLE. DAYS. talking about our problems? Isn’t that just gonna be exhausting?”
Um, yes, exhausting for sure. But - also deeply helpful. You will not finish the intensive feeling as stuck as you did before. You will feel very understood - especially by your partner. You will have a clear plan to move forward you didn’t know existed before and you will have already accomplished the first two to four months of that plan.
“Why on earth would I pay so much money to accomplish what I can accomplish in a few months’ of therapy? I mean, what if you’re not as effective as you think you are? Have you met me or my spouse? We’re a hot-mess express. We’ve got highhh expectations for you, lady, and we don’t have a lot of time to mess around. We’re busy people. How can two measly days + a sh*t ton of money make this any better?”
Hi. So glad you’re asking me this. First, it’s not just two days of work that you pay for when you book an intensive with me. (*laughs quietly at the thought*) Nooooo. Buckle up, buttercup. You pay to have unparalleled access to me and my amazing therapist brain and skills for the time leading up to the intensive, during the intensive, and after the intensive. We meet and do an initial free video consult, because, well, if you’re gonna spend that much time and money to work with me I want to be absolutely positive we’re a good fit, you can handle the level of emotional work we’re gonna do, that you feel safe with me - heck, even like me - and I feel the same way about you. I want to make sure that whatever pain you’re feeling in your relationship is one I can understand and work to relieve and heal. If not, that’s a big WASTE of your time and money as well as my time.
Ahead of the intensive, I give you a lot of prep work to do - not just the “sign-here-forms”. I want to know what it’s been like to be you, in your relationship, and how you see the problems from your perspective. I want to understand what led up to this stuck place so that we can hit the ground running on day one. I also give you pre-intensive work to do in order to prepare you both for the types of conversations we will have in those two days. In that pre-intensive work, I want to help you start to see your part in this stuck pattern you’ve both created and understand why it’s so hard for you.
After the intensive, I pair you with another incredible, seasoned EFT therapist to pick up where we leave off. You both sign a release and I will share assessments, forms, notes, all of it with this therapist so that their work with you becomes an extension of the 2-days you spent with me. I even will chat with them via phone to make sure we’re on the same page about post-intensive work.
Do you now see why the price reflects my skill and work? It’s a lot and I don’t take this lightly. Still not sure? Click here to book an intensive consult to at least learn more and share your doubts with me.
What can we expect during a 2-day intensive?
Day 1 you can expect me to do assessment work. I want to figure out what this pattern looks like how it throws you both off. I’ll be curious about how you experience it, the meaning you give what’s happening, what feelings it brings up, and how those pieces influence your moves in the cycle. I’ll give you chances to talk to each other - safely - in order to share these new realizations. Here’s an example of a possible 2-day intensive schedule. As always, this is subject to change.
Day 1, Friday -
Start - 9:00 am // Joint session - 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Individual sessions - 10:00 am - 11:00 am // Couple session - 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Lunch break - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm // Couple session - 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Day 2 is for building off the momentum of Day 1 but getting to a place where, now that you know your moves and what they’re about, you can begin to own and see the impact these moves have on your person. THE PERSON. This is a day to begin to see yourself and your partner in a new way. We’ll close with overall impressions and direction for future couples work or with your therapist back home. I don’t want to leave you hanging. I’ll make sure you have some solid options for either an EFT therapist who works like me in your area OR a plan for an EFT therapist to continue working with you. I may also provide some resources for you to read, watch, or try in the interim.
Day 2, Saturday -
Start - 9:00 am // Joint session - 9:00 am - 11:00 am // Lunch break - 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Couple session - 1:00 - 3:00 pm // Break - 3:00 - 3:45 pm
Couple session - 3:45 pm - 4:30 pm wrap-up and recommendations
This option is available for my practice clients and non-practice clients once a month, on Fridays and Saturdays only.
Cost: $3000 for a 2-day intensive
Please note that intensives require a non-refundable deposit upon scheduling ($1,500.00 for the 2-day intensive) as these fill up quickly. This fee reserves your spot and is transferable in the event you have to reschedule or cancel. Couples who cancel their intensive with less than a week remaining will be charged for the FULL intensive cost. Thanks for understanding!
Next Steps
Okay so, you’re both all in on this idea and you are ready to schedule. Please review this list so that you know what you’ll need to do next –
A. Think through whether you and your partner are a good fit for a couple’s intensive. This means you and your partner …
1. Are weary of fighting and are dedicated to improving your relationship, but you just can’t seem to get out of this pattern on your own.
2. Might be seeing another therapist but want to buckle down and focus on getting the work done more quickly than could otherwise be possible during weekly or biweekly sessions.
3. Might be living in an area where there are limited couple’s therapists options.
4. May have already completed some therapy work, but focusing intensively on remaining roadblocks would help boost your progress along.
5. Have a safe relational history and have already disclosed potential “big” hurts (such as affairs, other betrayals, addictions, etc., and as needed, individual therapy is already occurring).
B. Consider if you and your partner are NOT a good fit for a couple’s intensive based on one or more of the following reasons because you or your partner have …
1. Active but unacknowledged affairs, especially when the partner having the affair is not ready to end this outside relationship.
2. Active but unacknowledged addictions, especially when the partner struggling with an addiction is unwilling to seek individual therapy and/or treatment to address this concern: sexual or pornography addictions, drug addictions, and/or alcohol addictions.
3. Ongoing fights that escalate to include domestic violence, especially in cases where one partner has recently feared or currently fears for their safety and/or life.
4. Recent involvement with the Department of Social Services, Police, and/or Sheriff to address the physical abuse, sexual abuse, endangerment, and/or neglect of a minor (a child under the age of 18 years) in the couple’s care.
5. Differing agendas: couples where one partner has already decided to end the relationship and one partner is still invested, hoping that the intensive will be a “last-ditch effort” to save the relationship.
6. Couples who are looking to be seen “ASAP” – since intensives are booked months or weeks in advance, I cannot accommodate urgent requests for intensives.
**Please note that I reserve the right to decline to work with a couple if any other concerns arise during the pre-assessment phase. I am happy to recommend other trusted therapists in the area who can begin working with you, if for some reason I am full and unable to proceed with your intensive.
C. Contact me here to set up your FREE intensive consultation. I will return your message within 24 hours, Monday - Friday.
D. During the call I’ll learn more about why you’re interested in an intensive and determine whether or not your relationship is a good fit for an intensive.
E. Once I determine that you’re ready for the intensive, we will schedule and I’ll charge you the non-refundable intensive deposit. Also, I’ll send you both intake paperwork and some assessments through the client portal, which will contain a link to log-in and access your paperwork. You’ll need to get this paperwork back to me within 7 days of me sending these to you (if you can’t get this done, you will lose your intensive spot). If for some reason, post-phone chat and paperwork completion, I think you guys aren’t ready for this intensive, I’ll let you know some next steps you can take.
F. It is also worth noting, that while intensives can lead to beautiful changes, there is no way I can guarantee progress to any couple. Intensives are not meant to be a “cure-all” or “fix-all” to the issues any couple is facing but are a chance to jump start your work together.
G. I strongly encourage my couples with scheduled intensives to read either: “Hold Me Tight” or “Created for Connection” (a Christian version of “Hold Me Tight”) prior to the start of the intensive as I find that the exercises in these books will prepare you for our work, and may even give you a leg-up going with more potential traction than could be possible otherwise. If you REALLY want to get into some depth after you read “HMT” or “C4C”, I suggest this workbook: “An Emotionally Focused Workbook for Couples: The Two of Us”, which builds off the practice in “HMT” or “C4C” but contains additional exercises for you and your partner to complete. While this is not a requirement for the intensive, I find that couples who read either “HMT” or “C4C” ahead of the intensive enter the experience already in a more softened, open place, ready for the work that will await us.
H. Once we’re through with the intensive, I REQUIRE that you follow up with additional EFT therapy. If not, you can expect the hard work you accomplished during your intensive to disappear over the next couple of months. We will work out a follow-up plan for therapy post-intensive.
I. Ready for the next step? Click here to schedule that free video consultation with me.
Coming from out of town or looking to make this a weekend to focus on your relationship without distractions (here’s looking at you people with kids, pets, busy work schedules, etc.)??
Congrats! You’ve read this far! That makes you either super detailed (High-five, fellow Type-A person!) or you really need someone to see you and your relationship. If this is you AND you and your partner are coming from out of town, please note the following information regarding lodging accommodations, where to dine, and what to see while visiting our lovely city.
Click here for things to do (though, don’t get too invested - you’re gonna be VERY tired at the end of the day and that’s okay).