The Effectiveness of Intensive Couples Counseling

There comes a time in relationships when it is time to seek out couples counseling during a rough patch, needing to find more connection, learning how to resolve conflicts and get communication back on track, or recovering from the aftermath of an affair. One way to enhance therapy is to experience intensive couples therapy to help transform your relationship.

Intensive couples counseling can move you and your partner through the therapeutic process in 2-3 days, equivalent to 6 months of traditional couples therapy. Intensives are highly customizable to couples and usually last 10-15 hours, typically over a weekend.

An intensive approach to couples therapy can generate significant results, build hope for a relationship in crisis, and create rapid and dramatic change in a shorter time. An excellent intensive session can shift gridlock issues, reach resolutions, or turn around significantly challenged matters for a couple by the end of a weekend.

The Benefits of Intensive Therapy:

1. Focused and Dedicated Couples Time

During an intensive session, a couple can slowly take the much-needed time to communicate and focus on each other. It is a dedicated time for your relationship with no interruptions or distractions. It is a way to focus on the root issues and challenges you desire to work on in your relationship. Having focused time can lead to the breakthrough your relationship needs that might take longer in traditional couples therapy.

"Intensive Couples Counseling is my favorite way to work with distressed relationships following a crisis or affair. An intensive couples weekend gives both me and the couple the much-needed time to explore and understand deep problems in a relationship and make meaningful progress quickly." - Jeana Wescott, MDiv, MA, LMFT, Luminate Therapy Minnesota

2. A Tailored Approach Built For Your Relationship

Intensive couples therapy is a personalized experience that fits your unique needs and goals as a couple, making it highly effective. It allows for a customized therapeutic plan to ensure your time is spent efficiently and as effectively as possible for long-term change.

3. Deeper Exploration for Relationship Change

Spending several days together can help couples work on communication skills, problem-solving strategies, emotional attunement, deeper connection, and other relationship-building techniques. It can also lead to breakthrough moments, where couples gain a new perspective on their issues or come to a realization that helps them move forward. These breakthrough moments can be incredibly transformative for couples as they gain new hope for their relationship and develop new patterns for healthy and happier connections.

4. Faster Results Mean More Connected Time As A Couple

An intensive session can fit into one weekend. It can be challenging for a couple to fit in weekly traditional couples therapy. With intensives, you can fit a few days of couples therapy in one weekend and get quicker results than months of relationship therapy. It can be helpful for a couple who desires to travel to a therapist's location and get therapy "all at once" rather than commuting each week. Some couples even consider it a weekend getaway and enjoy spending time away from the distractions of home and work, spending the out-of-session time relaxing and reconnecting with each other.

5. Gain More Momentum For Your Relationship

Intensives can help you gain momentum that you can't get in traditional 50-minute couples sessions from week to week. Conventional therapy has its place, but for couples, a 50-minute session can go by fast, leaving both the therapist and couple desiring more time to dive deeply into the issues that bring them into therapy in the first place. In a typical 50-minute session, valuable time is consumed by initial check-ins and closing discussions, leaving only around 30-40 minutes for substantial therapeutic exploration. In distinction, with a 2-day intensive, you receive 12+ hours of intensive therapy without the starting and stopping, which can hinder the process.

6. An Investment That Can Save Money

Intensive couples counseling can save money over time. While the initial rates of an intensive session seem like an upfront investment, it can save a couple of dollars on therapy. By addressing issues intensively over a concentrated period of time, couples can solve their problems more quickly and effectively than they would in traditional weekly therapy. It can ultimately lead to fewer sessions and a shorter overall therapy process. Similarly, addressing issues before they escalate can help prevent more severe problems from arising down the line, which is in itself a way to save time, money, and also pain.

Conclusion

Couples intensives are a powerful opportunity for partners to find healing and connection and strengthen their relationship in a comfortable environment. If you are looking for a couples therapy experience with profound healing and a transformative relationship experience, intensives may be just what you are looking for.

Intensive Couples Counseling and Retreats at Luminate Therapy

Intensive Couples Counseling at Luminate Therapy in Golden Valley, MN has often moved a couple from thinking about ending the relationship to recommitting in new ways. An intensive couples therapy weekend is a transformative experience based on your unique relationship needs. We've seen couples come out of a weekend intensive with stronger relationships, closer connections, and a new outlook for their future together. Offering intensive couples therapy in person at our Golden Valley, MN office and online throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin using the Gottman Method Couples Therapy.