Our Couples Intensive Program gives partners the opportunity to experience immediate change to their relationship. The Couples Intensive Program provides the ability to explore the inter-workings of their relationship, learn more about each other, repair moments of tension in real time, and learn skills that will increase communication. This program consists of a 90-minute intake, one 5-hour or two 2.5-hour sessions with a trained couples therapist, and a 30-minute follow-up session to explore integration of skills learned during the program and potential next steps in their relationship growth.

What are the benefits of the weekend intensive?

Dedicating a focused 7 hours to your healing work allows for deeper healing in a shorter period of time. From managing a specific issue to healing relationship wounds in real time, an intensive creates the space for you and your partner to have the support of a trained expert to guide you through the healing process. Partners who complete the intensive will walk away with skills for healthier communication, a clear vision of where their relationship is headed, agreements about how the relationship will move forward, and a better understanding of their own and their partner’s developmental history.

 Who is the weekend intensive designed for?

• Partners with busy schedules where weekly therapy sessions are not realistic
• Partners needing support with a specific issue or are getting stuck in the same frustrating communication cycle
• Partners facing a life change such as engagement/marriage, children, beginning/loss of employment, or moving
• Partners dealing with a specific stressor such as job stress, parenting, family, intimacy, or loss of a loved one
• Partners coping with a partner’s new medical or mental health diagnosis
• Partners that live outside the state of California but can come in person for a few days

What can you expect during the five hours of intensive work?

Throughout the five-hours of intensive work, your therapist will guide you and your partner through a series of activities and exercises that will clarify relationship stress while also giving you the tools to collaboratively find mutually beneficial solutions. Using principles of neuroscience, attachment theory, and resiliency building, your therapist will teach you psychosensory co-regulation techniques to lower emotional activation, explore how your nervous systems react to relationship stress, and identify concrete skills for partners to use to resolve conflict quickly and effectively.    

A sneak-peek into the Couples Intensive Program

During the initial consultation, the therapist and partners will identify the areas that need attention and focus most. Each intensive is personalized and designed to fit the unique interests and needs of your relationship. Throughout the entire process, your therapist will actively guide you in addressing issues in real time, so you are well-practiced in healthy relationship skills by the end of the intensive. Prior to the intensive, the therapist and partners will complete an initial intake to build rapport, establish intensive goals, complete psychoeducation on brain science and how the brain influences relationship, and learn psychosensory techniques for emotion regulation.

A sample Relationship Intensive Program schedule:

• Intake (1.5 hours)
  • 45-mins: Gathering partners’ history and relevant information to guide the 1-day intensive
  • 45-mins: Introduction to brain science and the mindful touch techniques to regulate distress and build resilience
• 1-day Intensive (5 hours)*
  • 9:30am-10am: Getting to the root of the presenting issue and follow-up from initial intake
  • 10am-11am: How Partner A’s developmental history informs the relationship and how to use your unique backgrounds to deepen the relationship
  • 11:00am-12:00pm: How Partner B’s developmental history informs the relationship and how to use your unique backgrounds to deepen the relationship
  • 12-12:30pm: Partners’ Coffee & Connection Break
  • 12:30pm-2:30pm: Skill development to manage stress, conflict, and communication; co-creating a relationship that lasts; and outlining your shared vision for the future
• Option to split the five hours across two days of 2.5 hours each

What will you gain from doing the Relationship Weekend Intensive?

• The ability to see beneath the surface to understand how you and your partner are showing up in the relationship
• Skills to quickly and effectively resolve relationship stress in the moment
• A clear understanding of the goals for this relationship and what the future may hold

At the close of your intensive session, you will receive a packet of practical tools to put into practice immediately. Your therapist will also send you a personalized summary of what was completed in the session and next steps to take to continue building the relationship you and your partner have always wanted. 

Contact us today to schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation!

“[Close relationships] protect people from life’s discontents, help delay mental and physical decline and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.” – (from article: Harvard Study, almost 80 Years Old, Has Proved That Embracing Community Helps Us Live Loner, and Be Happier) 

Citation for quotes:

Mineo, L. (2024, January 11). Harvard Study, almost 80 Years Old, Has Proved That Embracing Community Helps Us Live Loner, and Be Happier. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/