Relationship Intensives
Are you ready to connect more deeply with your partner, without waiting between sessions?
Weekly therapy is effective and impactful, but it is not always the ideal format for every relationship. Some relationships need more time, more depth, and more space to make changes. If you’re looking for solutions and skills now, a relationship intensive might be what you need to finally shift. Relationship Intensives give couples dedicated, uninterrupted time to explore communication, intimacy, and shared goals. Over the course of one, two, or three days, you’ll engage in focused, transformative sessions that allow for breakthroughs and deep connection that weekly therapy sessions often can’t provide. Whether you’re looking to resolve long-standing conflicts or strengthen an already solid foundation, an intensive offers a concentrated path to growth.
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Intensive Days
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
Evening Appointments Available
What is a Relationship Intensive?
A Relationship Intensive is a focused, high-impact therapy experience for couples. Unlike weekly therapy, which spreads work across multiple sessions, an intensive allows for continuous, in-depth exploration of your relationship. It’s structured to provide space for meaningful breakthroughs, immediate application of strategies, and deep reflection together. Intensives are ideal for couples who want to make significant progress in a shorter period of time, with guidance from an experienced therapist every step of the way.
Clients choose intensives when they feel:
Limited by weekday availability
Stagnant in long-term weekly therapy
Prepared for a breakthrough or major shift
Motivated for immediate change now, not later
No need to start over every session! Take the time you need to make the change you want.
What Makes This Different from Weekly Couples Therapy
Relationship Intensives offer a level of depth, continuity, and immersion that isn’t always possible in a traditional 50-minute weekly session. Instead of stopping mid-conversation or waiting until the following week to continue, an intensive gives you and your partner the space to stay fully present with what’s emerging. This uninterrupted time allows patterns, conflicts, and emotions to surface and be processed in real time, without the constant “catch-up” that weekly therapy requires.
The work can unfold at a pace that matches your relationship’s needs rather than the clock, and therefore couples can explore deeper communication issues, long-standing conflicts, and entrenched patterns with clarity and focus. You’ll have dedicated time to practice new ways of relating, strengthen connection, and experiment with strategies immediately, rather than trying to recall and apply them between sessions.
Many couples find that a single intensive creates the kind of shift that might take weeks or months to access in standard therapy. Intensives aren’t about working harder! They’re about creating the right conditions for insight, connection, and relational growth to take center stage. Weekend availability means that you can move your relationship forward without disrupting your weekday schedules.
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Intensive Days
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
Evening Appointments Available
Relationship Intensives: What to Expect
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Every relationship intensive begins with a free 20 consultation via secure HIPAA compliant video platform. This is a relaxed, no-pressure space for us to connect, explore what’s bringing you in as a couple, and discuss whether a relationship intensive is the right fit.
During this consultation, we’ll talk about your relationship history, recurring patterns, communication challenges, and the areas where you’d like to see change.
Even if you decide an intensive isn’t right for you right now, this conversation will leave you feeling heard and informed. If it does feel like the right next step, I’ll guide you through scheduling, consent paperwork, and everything you need to prepare for a focused, transformative experience.
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Before the main intensive, we’ll meet for a 90-minute pre-intensive session. You’ll gain access to a secure client portal to complete intake forms, and complete the Gottman Relationship Checkup to identify strengths and areas to grow. I review all of this before our session so that when we meet, we can immediately focus on the areas that matter most.
This session is where we begin to establish safety, clarity, and a shared understanding of your goals as a couple. We’ll explore your communication patterns, recurring conflicts, and where disconnection or tension shows up. Using Gottman’s framework, we may start building your “love maps” (understanding each other’s inner world and emotional landscape) and identify strengths and resources that you can draw on during the intensive.
We’ll also discuss practical strategies to stay regulated and emotionally present during the intensive. This ensures that both partners feel supported, grounded, and ready to engage fully in the work ahead.
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The Relationship Intensive
This is the heart of the experience. Intensives are offered in 3-hour or 6-hour sessions, with 1-3 day options.
We begin by strengthening connection and regulation: grounding exercises, resourcing, and creating a safe, supportive environment for both partners. Then, we dive into intensive work guided by Gottman’s Relationship House, focusing on:
Building Love Maps: Understanding your partner’s inner world, preferences, and experiences.
Creating Fondness and Admiration: Highlighting strengths and positive qualities to reinforce connection.
Turning Toward Each Other: Practicing bids for connection and responsive communication.
Managing Conflict: Learning tools to navigate disagreements safely, repair ruptures, and resolve issues without escalation.
Making Life Dreams Come True & Shared Meaning: Exploring individual and shared goals, values, and rituals that deepen your bond.
Throughout the intensive, you and your partner are supported to practice new communication patterns, address long-standing conflicts, and reinforce positive interactions. The immersive nature of the intensive allows you to experience breakthroughs that might take months in weekly sessions, with space to practice and internalize changes immediately.
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About one to two weeks after your intensive, we meet again for a 90-minute integration session. This is your opportunity to reflect on what shifted, discuss what’s still unfolding, and solidify the tools and insights gained during the intensive.
You’ll leave with:
Practical strategies for maintaining progress in your daily life
Insights on ongoing patterns and strengths to build upon
Recommendations for next steps, whether that’s continued therapy, check-ins, or independent practice
This session ensures that the breakthroughs achieved during the intensive are not limited to the session itself. This becomes lasting changes in how you connect, communicate, and grow together.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Weekly sessions offer steady support—but the 50-minute format often requires you to stop right as the deeper work is surfacing. Couples who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or caught in repeating patterns may find it difficult to build momentum when sessions end just as emotions become accessible.
A Relationship Intensive gives you hours of uninterrupted time to slow down, explore what’s actually happening beneath the conflict, understand each other’s inner worlds, and practice new communication patterns with guidance and support.
Because we’re not rushed by the clock, the work unfolds naturally, allowing partners to:
Repair long-standing injuries
Have conversations they’ve avoided for years
Rebuild trust and emotional safety
Learn and practice skills in real time
Reconnect through the entire Relationship House framework
What might take months to uncover in weekly therapy can become clear—and shift—within the focused, immersive container of an intensive.
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Relationship Intensives are private, personalized, clinical therapy sessions designed specifically for your relationship—not a group experience, not a retreat, and not an educational workshop. Retreats and workshops often provide helpful information, but they are not tailored to your history, your patterns, or the unique challenges your relationship is navigating.
A Relationship Intensive gives you focused time with a trained couples therapist who is working exclusively with you and your partner. Instead of general teachings, you receive customized assessment, real-time feedback, structured interventions, and individualized repair work grounded in Gottman Method principles.
In other words:
Workshops teach concepts.
Retreats create an experience.
Intensives transform your relationship through targeted, evidence-based therapy made just for you. -
our goals, relationship history, and level of distress all help determine which format is most supportive.
A 1-Day Intensive (6 hours) may be ideal if you:
Want to address one specific issue
Are looking to strengthen communication
Need help navigating a recent conflict
Want a focused tune-up for a generally strong relationship
A 2-Day Intensive (9 hours) may be a better fit if you:
Have recurring conflict patterns
Experience frequent miscommunication or emotional disconnection
Want support discussing a complex issue (blending families, parenting differences, rebuilding trust, etc.)
Need time to pause, process, and revisit exercises the next day
A 3-Day Intensive (12 hours) may be the most appropriate option if you:
Have a longer history of conflict or distance
Are navigating betrayal, ruptures, or repeated cycles of hurt
Feel emotionally shut down or stuck in gridlock
Want dedicated time for rebuilding the foundation of your relationship
During your free consultation, we’ll discuss your relationship dynamic and goals so I can help you choose the format that fits your needs: not too little, not more than you need.
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Preparing well sets you up for meaningful, grounded work. Here’s what I recommend:
Emotionally:
Come with openness and curiosity, not perfection
Expect to be vulnerable and supported in that vulnerability
Talk with your partner beforehand about shared goals
Acknowledge that this time is for both of you
Approach the experience as a team, even if you feel disconnected
Logistically:
Plan to eat beforehand and bring snacks so your body feels supported
Dress comfortably, including layers if your temperature fluctuates
Ensure you’re in a private, well-lit space if your intensive is virtual
Stay hydrated and get good sleep the night before
Protect your time before and after the intensive—avoid scheduling anything stressful
If you have children, arrange childcare so you’re not rushing or interrupted
The more grounded, rested, and present you are, the more spacious the intensive will feel, and the deeper the work can go.
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