Relationship Therapy, Raleigh NC

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How Does a Marriage Retreat in North Carolina Work?

As a couples therapist in Wake Forest, NC, I work with individuals and couples who have problems in their relationships and want to improve their lives, marriages, and mental health.

Many of my existing and new clients decide to sign up for a marriage retreat in North Carolina to improve their relationship and better understand themselves and their partners.

Why a Marriage Retreat in North Carolina?

A marriage retreat in North Carolina is a private program that is tailored to you and your partner's specific needs and desires. It is a one-day marriage retreat or a customized emotionally focused therapy (EFT) couples therapy intensive where we meet for about seven hours virtually or in person.

During a marriage retreat session, you and your spouse turn off your phones and leave your children in the care of a childcare provider.

You spend the whole day doing exercises designed by experts in the field to help you learn more about yourself, your partner, your habits, and the best ways to communicate and connect with each other.

Taking a marriage retreat in North Carolina is a great way to start learning more about each other, your behavior, your relationship cycles, and the big problems in your marriage.

EFT exercises aim to help us understand our behavior and our triggers and gain more clarity on the process. Once we gain a cognitive understanding of where our issues are coming from, we can drop into our bodies, trying to feel the pain points and learn what is happening to us underneath the triggering behavior and reactivity. Then, we can learn to communicate that understanding with our partners.

Our marriage retreat sessions can take place in person or virtually.

How Does a Marriage Retreat in North Carolina Work?

So, a marriage retreat in North Carolina is one day in length. It can be in person or virtual. I do marriage retreats in North Carolina on Fridays, once or twice a month. Therefore, we would pick a Friday that works best for all three of our schedules and meet for our EFT-based couples intensive.

Most couples prefer to divide this seven-hour session into two parts. So, we usually meet for three hours in the morning, go on an hour-long lunch break, and meet for three more hours in the afternoon.

It is important that you arrange child care for your children (if you have little kids), delegate errands and tasks to someone else, turn off your phones, and really ground and orient yourself to the marriage retreat process.

For this to happen, I strongly encourage my clients to find a neutral location where they can go on Friday and stay throughout the weekend.

I call this EFT couples intensive a marriage retreat because I want to encourage my clients to make a weekend full of understanding, connection, and intimacy out of it.

So, you will be encouraged to find a place with neutral energy to stay together while I am in my office, if we have a virtual marriage retreat session.

It is essential to find a place that feels safe and comfortable because we will do a series of exercises, take breaks, customize the intensive to your needs, and work at your pace.

For example, we can slow down or stop when we need to focus on vital moments, then pivot to different places based on your needs.

As a process consultant and an expert, my role is to help you with the possible directions, but you are the real experts, knowing what works for you and what makes you feel safe.

Summary

We spend so much money on materialistic gifts that provide instant gratification but don't bring any long-lasting value to our lives.

A marriage retreat in North Carolina is an experience that will profoundly transform you and your relationship. This deep-dive, intense day is the best gift you can give to yourself, your partner, your marriage, and your family.

In addition, skills you learn in couples intensive are remarkably transferable, so you can generalize them across different relationships and use them to improve relationships with your parents, children, friends, coworkers, and so on.

I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment in my Wake Forest or virtual office, do not hesitate to book your free 15-minute phone consultation online by clicking here.