A couples therapy intensive is an immersive relationship-focused therapy experience designed to help couples move through stuck patterns more efficiently than traditional weekly therapy.

Rather than spending months slowly revisiting the same arguments week after week, an intensive allows us to spend uninterrupted time identifying the emotional cycle underneath the conflict and creating new ways of connecting.

These intensives integrate:

• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

• Imago couples therapy

• Gottman Method Couples Therapy

• Attachment theory

• Trauma-informed relational work

• Communication and conflict repair strategies

The goal is not simply to improve communication.

The deeper goal is to help each partner feel emotionally safer, more understood, more valued, and more securely connected.

Many couples come to therapy after years of unresolved hurt, emotional distance, repetitive arguments, resentment, shutdown, or failed attempts at communication.

Traditional weekly therapy can feel frustrating because:

• Sessions feel too short

• Momentum gets lost between appointments

• Conflict continues between sessions

• One difficult week can derail progress

• It may take months before deeper patterns fully emerge

An intensive creates enough time and emotional space to work beneath the surface.

Instead of focusing only on communication techniques, we explore the emotional meanings underneath your interactions:

• Why one partner pursues while the other withdraws

• Why conflict escalates so quickly

• Why reassurance never seems to feel like enough

• Why both partners feel misunderstood, rejected, or emotionally alone

• Why old wounds continue resurfacing in the relationship

This allows couples to move from blame and defensiveness toward vulnerability, understanding, and emotional responsiveness.

• Chronic conflict and recurring arguments

• Emotional disconnection

• Communication breakdowns

• Attachment injuries and betrayal trauma

• Rebuilding trust

• Emotional withdrawal or avoidance

• Pursuer-withdrawer dynamics

• Anxiety within the relationship

• Intimacy concerns

• Feeling emotionally unseen or misunderstood

• Premarital and commitment concerns

• Navigating life transitions and stress together

• Reconnection after resentment or distance

…and more.

We’ll start with a free 30-minute consultation with both you and your partner so we can meet and see how we all connect, and discuss whether an intensive is a good fit for your relationship. If so, we’ll get your intensive scheduled and I’ll send you some prep materials for you to review and complete within a week of booking.

After booking, I will hold the dates for your intensive for one week. You will be charged a non-refundable deposit for half the amount of your total intensive cost. By the end of one week, I need completion of your paperwork in the client portal to continue holding your scheduled intensive.

We’ll spend lots of time on helping you understand and interrupt your current cycles of conflict and disconnection. You’ll get a chance to explore unmet attachment needs and how they’re showing up in your relationship. You’ll learn to see your partner’s behavior patterns as ways of protecting themselves, or trying to protect the relationship. This deep understanding builds connection, emotional safety, security, and empathy. 

While every couple is different, many of my clients say they leave their intensives feeling less anger, more confidence in their ability to communicate without feeling like they need an emotional translator, and better skills for managing the uncomfortable sensations that can get activated in the relationship.

Keep in mind that multi-day intensive sessions are similar to going on a private couples retreat. It’s best to allow time outside of sessions to be unscheduled or filled only with self-care activities like exercise, body work (acupuncture, massage, etc.), and creating expression such as drawing painting, or cooking.

As with any psychotherapy, results are not guaranteed, and everyone’s outcomes are a little different. However, a couples intensive will give you and your partner extended time to work through tough issues, rebuild trust, and heal your relationship—without the stop-and-start feeling of weekly sessions.

Some research shows that couples can reach their goals faster this way. Couples intensives are a newer approach and research is still ongoing. However, research on intensive sessions for individual therapy is overwhelmingly positive, which is a good indicator that the intensive format itself is a strong clinical tool. I’ve seen many couples experience incredible rejuvenation through an intensive. 

Intensives are just what they sound like—intense. We’re doing hard work; you may feel emotionally tired during or after the intensive. It’s also normal to feel like you’re having more disagreements at first. But we’ll take breaks and keep the pace manageable, and I will make sure you both feel supported the whole time.

Exact scheduling can be determined at the time of booking, and is flexible depending on how you’re feeling during your intensive (e.g., if longer breaks are needed). If you are interested in getting part of the intensive reimbursed through out-of-network insurance benefits, we may also schedule the intake and individual sessions on a different day to increase potential insurance reimbursement.

Here is an example of a schedule for a two-day intensive:

• Day One

  • 9-10am intake

  • 10-11am individual session

  • 11am-12pm individual session

  • 12-1pm BREAK

  • 1-3pm session

• Day Two

  • 10am-12pm session

  • 12-2pm BREAK

  • 2-4pm session

It depends. Many insurance plans (typically PPOs) will reimburse a portion of the cost of psychotherapy. For insurance purposes, I am considered an out-of-network provider.

I recommend you speak with your insurance company ahead of time to learn the exact details of your policy, including what out-of-network benefits are available, and if your insurance will reimburse several hours of therapy in one day or one week. You can call the customer service number on the back of your insurance card to find this information.

I can provide you with a superbill for all direct contact therapy services included in your intensive. This is what you will submit to your insurance for reimbursement. Please know that the insurance company requires a diagnosis code as a reason for treatment. If you have questions, let me know, as I’m happy to provide more information to help with this process.

This is a premium service. I charge higher fees due to the increased work, energy demands, and schedule flexibility required to offer intensives. Intensives also provide more value for you than traditional weekly therapy, and the investment reflects that.