What is a Couples Intensive?

Written By Lauryn Lucido, LMFT

At Woven, we offer couples intensives as an alternative to weekly couples therapy. Couples intensives include 6 hours of therapy over the course of a weekend, typically 3 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday (all virtual). It is focused therapy just for you and your partner, no other couples are present. 

What is the difference between a couples intensive and couples therapy?

Couples intensives offer clients the ability to get specialized treatment quickly. Sometimes a weekly therapy appointment is difficult for both members of the couple to commit to with the reality of busy schedules. A couples intensive allows for couples to set clear goals and spend the weekend working to address the issues they are coming in with.

Sometimes clients start off with a couples intensive to get the ball rolling on the therapy process and then transition to weekly couples therapy for additional support. Some clients start off in weekly therapy and decide they need more space than the weekly 45-minute session to address issues and opt to do a couples intensive in the middle of the therapy process. And then some clients come for just the couples intensive because that is sufficient for what they want to address. 

What couples issues would be helpful to address in a couples intensive?

You and your partner can come into a couples intensive for many reasons, but we typically see clients coming in wanting to address one or more of the following:

  • Affair recovery/betrayal trauma 

    • Typically the discovery of an affair or betrayal is an urgent matter for couples to address so intensives allow for couples to dive right in to address the issues at hand and in a timely manner. I talk more about betrayal trauma in a previous blog.

  • Premarital preparation

    • I am trained in a premarital assessment that can be taken prior to the intensive, allowing couples to spend the intensive discussing hot-button topics in a structured way in order to prepare for marriage. Curious about what hot-button issues other couples are discussing? I dive into the common hot-button issues for couples in my last blog.

  • Big decision making

    • Sometimes couples just need the space to dig into a decision they are having trouble making. Should we get married? Should we move in together? Should we have children? Intensives allow for 3 hours of uninterrupted time each day to talk through all the hard things (we do take breaks of course!). 

  • High conflict issues

    • Couples who tend to have high conflict (as displayed by yelling, intense rage, name-calling, etc) and struggle with regulating benefit from an intensive space so the therapist can help bring distress down. Sometimes a 45 minute appointment is not enough time to allow for regulation for both members of the couple. *If there is active domestic violence present, couples therapy is not recommended until it is clear the cycle of violence has stopped in order to ensure everyone’s safety.*

If you are struggling with any of the issues above, feel free to reach out to us to see if a couples intensive might be the best option for you!

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Lauryn Lucido, LMFT
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