A Conveniently Located Marriage Therapy
Retreat For Couples From Ohio

If you’re in a struggling marriage and have been looking at counseling options, then you’ve surely come across some weekend retreats. But what exactly is an intensive marriage counseling retreat? What will you do on a couples therapy retreat? And are weekend couples counseling workshops better than weekly sessions?

If you’re at a standstill with the type of counseling you should choose, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll give you the rundown of exactly what a weekend intensive retreat is and how effective they can be. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions with answers to help guide you in your decision.

1. What is a Marriage Retreat Intensive?

A marriage intensive retreat is designed to help couples with marital issues that is far beyond the scope of the traditional once a week couples therapy! Intensive marriage counseling is a private marriage retreat designed to move couples through 4-6 months of couples counseling in three or days.

Some have a spiritual or religious focus while some have a science focus with evidence-based methods. No matter what your preferences are, there is an intensive marriage counseling retreat for you and your partner.

Length and accommodations can also widely vary, so those are two major factors to consider. You can easily find 2 or 3-day retreats if you don’t have much time or if you would like to have a few days of vacation to yourselves. Or, if you and your spouse are going through an extraordinarily hard time and are thinking of divorce, a longer retreat could be more beneficial.

There are 5-day retreats and even weeklong or longer retreats for those who would like to get away for longer and/or feel they need more help in their relationship. The choice is totally up to you and your partner and what you feel would be best.

Many retreats also offer help in advance to uncover the problems in your relationship and will advise you on the best length and type of counseling. You can also find weekend couples counseling retreats that are totally private in which you and your partner will not engage in any group workshops or activities.

2. What is The Difference Between a Non-Religious Retreat and a Religious Retreat?

Religious retreats specifically cater to couples in marriages that practice and are based upon faith, though most of these will gladly host couples who are not a part of that religion if they are interested in it.

There are many Christian marriage retreats all across America and even other countries. The Catholic Church offers many marriage retreats for established marriages and even for engaged couples to learn God’s plan for their marriage and ways to go forward in faith as one.

You can likely find several or many religious marriage intensives near you, but there are also many in amazing destination locations for those of you who want the vacation aspect, as well. Whether it’s beaches or mountains or international travel you want, you can find a religious retreat in an ideal location.

On the other hand, a non religious couples retreat is not based on religious beliefs and teachings. What you will learn at a non religious retreat is a set of effective, practical tools that will help your relationship and address issues that have kept you from being happy together.

3. What is The Benefit of a Couples Therapy Retreat?

There are so many benefits to couples therapy retreats. The most obvious one is that this is an opportunity to fix your marriage or relationship before it is too late.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking out help to get your partnership back on the right track. So many couples do it and they do it with success!

You owe it to yourself and your spouse to try. You didn’t get married for no reason. The love, trust, bond, connection, and admiration are still there! They might just be lost under some other things going on in your lives.

No matter what the issue is – communication breakdowns, volatility, infidelity, trust issues, and a whole plethora of others – there are plenty of marriage retreats that can help.

Couples all over the world are extremely grateful that they tried weekend couples counseling before letting everything go. You can be, too!

An intensive marriage counseling retreat also combines a getaway with the help/therapy that so many couples are looking for. Vacations, in general, are great for relationships and combining them with counseling and guidance for effective communication creates a very healing and loving atmosphere.

Trust is built any time two people adventure together, especially if going to “uncharted territory.” You and your partner will find yourselves working together as a team with excitement and hope for the future.

Many couples credit an intensive marriage counseling retreat with saving their relationship and many want to attend more in the future, even if their marriage is doing great! It is simply a great way to bond and build better skills to cope with inevitable life stressors together as a team.

Let’s not forget the other benefits of getting away from everything for a weekend. If you have children, it will be a likely much needed break from all day every day responsibility to them.

If you are able to take time off work, it will be a nice break from that. You’ll get a wonderful break from cooking, cleaning, laundry, and just all of the nuances of everyday life at home. You and your partner can be totally focused on one another.

4. Difference Between Traditional Counseling and a Weekend Therapy Retreat?

There are obviously some notable differences between traditional couples counseling sessions and a couples therapy retreat. First and foremost, traditional counseling can take up to months or even years to see positive results that last.

Dragging out treatment can leave a lot of lingering issues left unsolved over a period of time. Several intensive days give much more opportunity to tackle many issues in a relatively short amount of time and provides couples with a large amount of skills they can take home with them.

A setting away from home can be a bit more drastic and impactful on people, as well. Have you ever had a vacation that was life-changing or at least gave you a whole new perspective on a place, idea, or person? This is what an intensive marriage counseling retreat can do for you and your spouse!

Another aspect that many people find true is that traditional counseling can tend to put the therapist in a spot of “refereeing” you and your partner.

Therapists, counselors, pastors, life coaches, and the like tend to take a different approach with couples at intensive retreats. They strive to create an atmosphere of guidance, openness, and understanding. You’re not there to be psychoanalyzed.

You’re there to identify the root causes of your specific relationship problems, find the best ways to constructively communicate and overcome them, and, of course, to deepen your love, affection, bond, and trust in one another.

Many people who seek out traditional counseling also complain that there are too many breaks between sessions and that these breaks are too long.

Some issues can’t be fully identified and addressed in just one or sometimes even two or more sessions. This can also get very costly.

Not all marriage retreats are “cheap,” per se, but you can actually stand to save a lot of money versus traditional counseling or therapy if you want it to be effective. And you also get that combined vacation, so not many people would complain about that!

One aspect you can/should pay attention to when choosing your weekend retreat is whether or not lodging is included and if it is all-inclusive.

You can find some reasonably priced weekend counseling getaways that include all of your lodging, meals, and even other activities and tourist attraction opportunities.

Intensive couples therapy retreats also offer you a plethora of new skills that you can take home with you. You will practice these skills during your time away and start getting into the routine of enacting them.

As you travel home (which can be stressful enough in itself) you’ll be able to get into the groove of better communication and keep with it throughout your arrival home and in the following days, weeks, months, and years.