You and your partner will have a private
retreat with John. For a typical three-day retreat, you will work for a total
of about 21 hours. This is usually spread over two full days, which could be on
a weekend, or two days during the week, as well as a half day follow-up session.
There are also a couple of hours of preparatory work that is recommended for
both of you and I to do before we get to the retreat. Partners who have the
need, time, resources or interest may arrange for longer retreats of four or
five days in duration. The added length of time helps you achieve deeper
results in acquiring new, positive communication tools.
The added time can also help you more
deeply heal old emotional wounds and shift into a place of trust and joy. At the conclusion of the retreat you will have identified
critical success actions and inhibitors, their order of importance, teams that
should address each one, progress metrics, measurements for successful
execution, and estimated time for completion.
You will leave the retreat tasked with roles and responsibilities for
designing implementation plans that the entire organization can execute. You will hold each other accountable through
calendared meetings and conference calls.
Finally, you will both leave the retreat with a stake in the generation,
execution, and ultimately, the success of the organizational strategic vision,
mission, and plan.
The cost is normally $2,900 for the
preparation, interview, and facilitation of the two & ½ day retreat. Longer retreats cost proportionally more. Travel, meals and accommodations are
extra. This retreat is available and can
be set up on relatively short notice. Our three-day weekend or midweek couples retreat has been designed for
the couple wanting a private counseling experience that is deeper and more
comprehensive than that which they may have experienced in regular weekly
counseling sessions. The private retreat is offered by request throughout the
year at local conference/retreat center.
Unlike most
marriage encounters, seminars, workshops, and retreats this is not a group
experience. Meeting with you, one couple at a time allows me to deal
exclusively with your personal relationship issues. The three of us usually
meet together in our comfortable counseling space, but often we meet one-on-one
for a short period of time to explore a specific issue. Many couples come to me
to get in touch with their deeper truth: whether it is to rekindle and rescue
their relationship, explore the choice of a separation, or to work towards a
friendly divorce and healthy co-parenting (if applicable).
The retreat will
include:
- Opportunities to discuss what you each see as the problems, as well
as strengths, in your relationship.
- An in-depth discussion of your personal backgrounds and experiences,
including your history as a couple together.
- Understanding your feelings, building your emotional awareness, and
enhancing your skills in problem solving through effective communication.
- An opportunity to learn and experience how love and forgiveness can
build through increased tolerance and through the recognition that
personality and character differences can actually enhance your relationship and personal happiness.
Depending on the
problems that brought you to the Private Couple Retreat, we may together
discuss and learn what you saw in each other in the first place, stages of
relationship conflict and where you are today, problems of non-communication or
mis-communication, how to identify misconceptions and change your reactions,
stereotypes and prejudices and how to change them, and changing self-defeating
behaviors.
Couples have
come from many faraway places...They stay at a local B&B, motel, or hotel while
meeting for three days of intensive communication and conflict resolution
activity.
Couples have
come to me for many phases of relationship (including pre-marital) counseling
to build better communication skills and a structure for a healthy relationship. I
have often heard from clients, many of whom themselves are skilled in
communications and counseling, that our 3 day program is worth more than six
months to a year of 45 minute weekly therapy sessions. Come experience what
many other couples have found to be a more satisfying, comfortable, private,
cost effective, and time-efficient way to nourish or heal your
marriage/relationship.
