Intensive Marriage Counseling Retreats
What is an intensive marriage counseling retreat?
When you are going through a particularly difficult time in your relationship, periodic, 50-minute counseling/therapy sessions simply may not be sufficient. That’s when an intensive marriage counseling retreat can be an extremely effective way to do a “reset” and work to resolve the communication, intimacy, trust and other issues that might be putting your relationship at risk.
An intensive couples retreat gives you and your partner the opportunity to work deeply and without interruption with a highly skilled counselor and coach who has over 20 years of experience facilitating couples counseling and retreat work. Over the course of several days in a nurturing location, away from the day-to-day demands of your life, the intensive counseling that takes place during a retreat can jumpstart the process of healing your relationship.
Common issues addressed during a couples counseling retreat:
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Communication – bring open, honest interaction back into the relationship through a couples counseling retreat
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Intimacy – find ways to rekindle passion and nurture closeness
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Depression and anxiety – get to the root cause of issues and find ways to be free of these debilitating symptoms
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Trauma – learn to face and reconcile difficult experiences of the past
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Infidelity – rebuild trust in the relationship and create a path toward healing
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Substance abuse*– incorporate addiction counseling and learn skills for coping with triggers
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Children and parenting – develop communication and boundary-setting skills that ease stress and restore family harmony
Why intensive couples retreats instead of regular counseling sessions?
While not necessarily a substitute for periodic 50-minute therapy sessions, an intensive couples retreat can provide significant and lasting changes in your relationship. That’s because together we’re able to devote steady attention over multiple days to helping you and your partner uncover deep, personal insights while reinforcing positive ways to work through difficulties and promote healing in your relationship. Many couples who take advantage of one of my personal therapy retreats report improvement in their relationship that lasts far beyond what they might have been accomplished solely through regular counseling sessions.
Unlike traditional sessions where you need to pause the therapeutic process once your 50-minute appointment has elapsed, a marriage counseling retreat provides the opportunity to take all the time that’s needed to process issues as they arise during your sessions. It’s these kinds of flexible counseling sessions, which when paired with a multi-day intensive approach that makes the difference for so many couples.
And keep in mind that you don’t need to be in crisis to reap significant benefits from an intensive marriage counseling retreat. Use the focused time of your retreat to develop skills and practices that enhance the existing wellbeing and closeness of your relationship, while making your life together more resilient to challenges as they come along.
What is the format of a couples counseling retreat?
Your couples counseling retreat is a truly collaborative, personalized experience as I don’t believe in using a one-size-fits-all approach. This allows you to be involved in decisions such as format and length of your sessions, structuring the time between sessions (i.e.: rest, exercise, reflection, etc.), the location and accommodations of your retreat, and more. What matters most is that you and your partner feel completely at ease and be without distraction as you each engage this deep inner work. Because of this, I work with you to make the environment and format of your retreat as conducive to that as possible.
Locations for your marriage counseling retreat
Unlike some other marriage counseling retreats that are conducted in a fixed location, I give my clients the option to select the location for their retreat. That is why I make myself available to travel to any location of your choice and am available to collaborate with you on all arrangements. Alternatively, I welcome clients to my location near Franconia, New Hampshire in the beautiful White Mountains where I can make recommendations for a venue and accommodations that are most comfortable for you.
Over the years I have conducted private, customized counseling retreats for couples in a wide variety of settings, including:
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Luxurious, private resorts in tropical, mountain or other locations
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Private beach houses and condos
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Secluded cabins in the woods
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Sailboats
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Rugged, outdoor campsites, including backpack journeys to wilderness areas
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And many other settings
Whether in a city, a secluded rural environment or in breathtaking wilderness, what matters most is that your couples counseling retreat takes place in an environment where you and your partner can fully step away from the demands of your life and focus on renewing your relationship.
What is the cost of an intensive couples therapy retreat?
The cost varies depending on the duration of your retreat, the location and the accommodations. Since each of my intensive couples retreats is different so is the total cost; therefore, I encourage you to contact me to so we can discuss the type of retreat you have in mind. After our discussion I’m happy to prepare a cost.
David Stringham, MPH, MSW - expertly guiding intensive marriage retreats for over 20 years
With extensive experience as an intensive marriage retreats counselor, I pride myself on skillfully curating and facilitating retreats in ways that are fine-tuned to the needs and circumstances of each couple. Drawing on a broad range of experience and training, including traditional couples counseling and mindfulness coaching, I listen closely and carefully to each person in the relationship, weaving in the right modalities and approaches at each moment to help couples work more deeply and come away with practical, lasting skills for enhancing the wellbeing of their marriage. Click the link to learn more about David Stringham, MPH, MSW.
David Stringham, MPH, MSW
* It is recommended that prior to attending an intensive marriage counseling retreat that any participant struggling with a substance or alcohol abuse issue should first consider a medically-supervised detox program.