Recently I have had many inquiries about my Private Marriage Retreats. My thought in this post is to give you information for yourself or your friends who may benefit from one. You might also want to give yourself a retreat by spending an isolated and intimate weekend discussing difficulties and solutions. Also share your joyful memories and strengths of your relationship.
The focus of a marriage retreat is to improve on the issues in your relationship that are causing stress or unhappiness. Private Marriage Retreats serve as an Intensive Marriage Counseling experience.
When to do a Retreat
Sometimes clients use this retreat at the beginning of their therapy for a jump-start and sometimes to address a specific issue during their therapy. Some clients have done a retreat do deal with an affair. Some have dealt with chronic problems and still others have come after one year of marriage for an easy tune-up.
Often clients come from around the country. Last month I had a couple come from Germany and we did some marvelous communicating and got them on a beautiful track to continued marriage happiness. (They also had the best sex of their life after the first day!) Often the Private Marriage Retreat is the only contact we have in helping a couple move forward with success and happiness.
Private Marriage Retreats are scheduled for you and your spouse or partner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays that are mutually good times for us. I plan no more than 2 retreats a month, usually located at my office. They can be from 6 to12 hours over 2 days. I suggest you stay in a hotel if you are going to have a lot of responsibilities between sessions Thursday night and Friday morning or Friday night and Saturday morning.
What is Included in a Retreat
The purpose of the retreat is to give you both an experience of learning about and understanding each other’s relationship patterns and discovering new ways of thinking about them. We spend a lot of time practicing new skills of communication and establishing a plan for you to continue improving the success and happiness of your relationship.
You will learn how to listen, to resonate with your partner and understand their perspective. You will gain skills in influencing each other, repairing hurts, and getting your needs met. You’ll learn to explore options and negotiate “win-win” solutions.
Three hours gives you an introduction to me and my style of helping you. Often we can have a breakthrough with your understanding of each other’s thinking and behavior patterns that are not working.
Six hours or more gives you skill building techniques and practicing as we discuss and work through some of your issues. I will usually suggest things to do (homework) Thursday or Friday evening, which is why it is beneficial to stay in a hotel and avoid responsibilities of children, family, tasks, phone, internet, etc.
Some people decide to continue with marriage counseling and others have an experience to make decisions, learn new skills, and have goals to create more happiness without any on-going work. Some couples return for checkups and/or deeper work. Depending on your purpose, commitment, and your ability to change, I design the retreat to meet your needs.
I hope this tells you a little about my Private Marriage Retreats and answers some of your questions.
Please email me or call 702-242-4222 to discuss your interests or scheduling.
