Couple Specific Intensive Retreat- Therapeutic Couples Retreat built for two

Couple Specific Intensive Retreat- Therapeutic Couples Retreat built for two

Come join us at The Couples Clinic for a Therapeutic Couples Retreat designed just for you and your partner!

When the going gets tough, and people are hurt or angry and carry resentments about not being heard or understood, they often give up and then start down the road to Divorce.

A Couple Specific Intensive Retreat (CSIR) is a retreat where we can spend anywhere from 1 day to 3 days working specifically with a couple around their relationship issues.

This retreat built for two, is devoted to helping you recognize your communication patterns, breaking down the ones that are dysfunctional, and rebuilding the relationship. Each retreat is designed to be specific to the issues and problems that the individual couple is struggling with whether it’s communication, intimacy, family issues, or holding onto resentments.

This Retreat is all about the two of you.

Intensives can be a good fit for couples who:

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✅ Have a specific issue that needs to be resolved (like struggling with infidelity, work/life balance, communication issues, or commitment struggles.)

✅ They do not have the time to devote to working on their relationship for only 1 hour at a time. Traditional therapy just doesn’t fit their schedule.

✅ They are busy professionals, and it is easier to take a larger chunk of time to devote to their marriage/relationship.

✅ They focus better in an intensive setting where they can devote their time, energy ,and resources to the issues at hand.

✅ They prefer to have the option of having their retreat in the privacy of their home or at the The Couples Clinic.

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The goal of the Couple Specific Intensive is to allocate a chunk of time to really brainstorming, educating, and healing your relationship. By focusing, strategizing, and digging deep, the hope is to unveil the resentments, recognize the dysfunctional patterns and re-align the relationship so it can continue to grow.

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Ronnie meets with only one couple at a time, so they get her complete attention. Opportunities are given to meet individually so that each individual has the space to discuss what is causing them the most stress and pain in this relationship. Then we come together for learning and practice opportunities so that we can begin to repair the relationship.

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There are many breakaway sessions where you are going to practice the new skills learned while trying to work through some of the pain, hurt and unresolved grief you may have from this relationship.

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We will use deep discussion, videos, exercises, and handouts to support your learning and skill set building.

Typically, we will engage in 6 hours of therapy with a lunch break in between, and we can negotiate so it best accommodates your schedule.

After you’re intensive, we can either continue to do check-ins or I can refer you to a qualified therapist who can continue to support your growth.

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Remember in relationships and in marriage we either grow together, or we grow apart. But growth always requires some growing pains and change.

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After working with thousands of couples, I have discovered very clear patterns that happen that cause dysfunction in most relationships. It often centers around how we deal with emotional pain and complaints. We FIGHT them, or we FLIGHT from them, but we struggle with FACING them.

I teach couples the skill set of how to face pain. I teach couples how to hear and respond to complaints. I teach couples how to recognize what unresolved grief and pain they are holding onto as resentment. I teach couples how to move into forgiveness.

My end goal is to build a framework and help couples acquire a set of communication tools that will help them have regular uncomfortable conversations going forward. That helps them move into compromise and build a “Team Us” mentality.

We do this by learning about what our attachment style is, what our conflict pattern is, and ultimately learning how to have empathy for how our partner has pain and learning how to respond to it.

Thousands of couples have learned these tools and skills. Let’s face it, the vast majority of us come into romantic relationships clueless about conflict. If we didn’t have a great model of a healthy relationship demonstrated to us by our parents, then we come into our relationship with only the tools that we had.

I am here to tell you…there are better tools.

You can learn them.

And I will happily teach them to you.

You can do this. Look at what you have built already! You can absolutely build a better relationship.

• What makes and breaks attachment
• How to recognize 3 alarm bells behaviors that will signal your need to attend to your partner.
• How to attend to your partner when they are struggling.
• Understand how your past attachments in childhood may impact your present-day attachment.
• Exercises for you each to learn how to start communicating complaints.
• How to recognize your conflict style.
• How to get out of fight or flight when you are in conflict.
• Understand how to help your partner from withdrawing during conflict.
• Gain skills to stop feeling “nagged” or “pursued” by your partner.
• Exercises that will help you practice learning to stay calm during an argument- and the best way to stop an argument from escalating into an explosion.
• How to recognize and combat dysfunctional behaviours.

• Gain insight to the 4 communication behaviours that end relationships.
• Identify trigger words and learn positive communication techniques.
• Opportunities to practice making complaints, hearing them, and responding to them.
• Learn how to create compromise through 4 easy steps.
• Practice negotiating your first compromise.
• Explore how to listen, validate and trust one another.
• Recognize each other’s love language, and how each person best gives and receives love.
• Understand what creates resentment.
• Learn how to release resentment to move towards unconditional love and forgiveness.
• Learn how to break negative mental health patterns that destroy our relationships
• Will include breakaway sessions where you and partner can practice what you are learning.

• Take home toolkit booklet with exercises that you and your partner will complete together.
• 4 ready made dates for you to continue your growth after the retreat.
• A list of 12 dates that you complete together that focuses on both fun, and function so that you have a pre planned date every month for a year.
• A completed list of individual and TEAM US goals to promote growth over the next 2 years.
• A Scorching Hot Monogamy Exercise to learn your wants and needs in the bedroom, plus a specific tailor made Bedroom Menu that you both craft together.
• Take home assignments so that you can continue the journey.

During this 30 minute complimentary and confidential online consultation, we will meet to discuss your relationship, and how a CSIR (couple specific intensive retreat) can benefit you both.

We will go over what the present issues are, what your individual goals are and mutual goals for the retreat.

We will also go over what we cover in the intensive and what is the best time period (1 day, 2 day or 3 day) given our learning goals.

I also want you get a feel for me, and determine if it feels like a good fit and answer any questions you may have about the process or content of the retreat.

Please reach out to us at519-330-6417 or check out more info at https://www.thecouplesclinic.ca/the-couples-clinic

Sarnia is located on beautiful Lake Huron, with clean beaches, casin, and gorgeous parks.

Host or Publisher Ronnie Littlewood- CEO, Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist