Your relationship doesn't seem to improve even after some couples counseling, reading books, and listening to podcasts.
Click the image to book a free consult
It is exhausting to you to keep having the same fights over and over again. You are having less sex and you miss the intimacy you felt at the start of your relationship. You long to go back to that time when you felt the most connection with each other. But things have changed and you are so busy, how can you even find the time to work on your relationship? And that is when your hopelessness comes.
You may have even tried couples counseling for several months and feel like you both failed at that. You could never seem to sustain any momentum. Whenever you went into therapy, it was reliving the fight of the week. The therapist would give you some thoughts about it, but you never learned how to deal with the tension created by your differences. You realize that you need more time to practice these skills with a trained, experienced eye.
You need help! And you need it now!
You both want to understand what happens during your fights that take you from feeling a little irritated to "I need to call my divorce attorney tomorrow!" Why do you both get so mad and hurt each other with your words over and over again?
You might be so burned out that you don’t even fight anymore. You avoid. You seem to avoid every hard conversation and every intense feeling instead of dealing with those difficult emotions. You or your partner do other things like working harder at your job, investing more time with your children, or turning to alcohol to escape the loneliness you feel.
Both of you have super busy schedules, so how can you fit in counseling every week? You know you're both distant and busy, but you're still committed to your relationship and family. Right now, you need help! You feel worn out by life and want some customized help for both of you to improve your connection.
This is the beauty of marriage counseling intensives! I can help!
I am Sara Hadgraft. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Licensed Professional Counselor. I opened my private practice in 2016, Sparrow Counseling, and have worked with hundreds of couples and families. I am so excited to provide this service to couples because I really believe in the results!
I believe a couple’s retreat will rekindle the spark in your relationship and help you get back on track and back to the people you used to be. When you leave the intensive, you will leave feeling energized, connected, and hopeful.
Couples counseling retreats aim to teach you the skills necessary for building a successful relationship and allow you to practice those skills together. The best part is instead of this taking a year it is a customized, focused approach that takes only 2 days.
Couples learn how to talk to each other better, listen better, and find ways to solve problems without cyclical fights. Couples learn the skills needed to do this and are able to build momentum with their skills during the intensive. The retreat sessions help them work through tough stuff they've been avoiding and make their bond even stronger. In the end, couples come out of the intensive with a fresh sense of purpose and hope, a better understanding of themselves, and a shared vision for their future.
If you are ready to make changes in your relationship. Click the button below to schedule a consult to see if you are a good fit.
FAQs about Marriage Counseling Retreat
What is a couple’s counseling retreat or intensive?
A couple’s counseling intensive is a time to work directly with a trained, experienced professional and let them in your relationship. This focused time is spent educating you about tried and tested skills you need to build a successful relationship. The magic happens when you really start practicing these skills with each other. You have the luxury of time to build on this skill set. You build momentum over several hours for hope to begin to emerge.
You can find your way back to each other and fall in love again…only this time your skill set has the maturity and depth to create more intimacy with each other.
How does a couple’s counseling retreat work?
Our Couples Counseling retreats offer various levels, catering to your specific needs, such as mini intensives (4-5 hours), 1-day intensives, and 2-day intensives. We work together to find dates that suit your schedule. Before the intensive, both partners complete detailed questionnaires to help us understand your relationship better, ensuring the intensive is tailored to your unique needs. This helps me prepare so that when we sit down together, we can fit months of therapy into 2 days.
A basic schedule for a 2-day retreat:
Day 1
9 am - 5:30 pm
Review the questionnaires
Educate both of you through my proven methods and strategies to help build intimacy
*A couple of breaks and a full 90-minute lunch on this day are built-in
Day 2
9 am - 4:30 pm
Begin practicing these methods by doing role-plays with each other
*Breaks built-in with a 60-minute lunch break
This is the day when the magic happens and things start to fall into place!
How can we learn these skills so fast?
Because I implement all your learning styles- visual, auditory, kinesthetic, reading, and writing. As a former high school teacher, I know you have to engage all of these learning styles to really understand the material. And then…we practice. We tweak. We discover. We encourage. We inspire!
Do we just sit there and talk the whole time?
First, you will be surprised how quickly the time will go! I always am! While we do spend some time talking, I engage you by using lots of different strategies to help you learn and practice this material- videos, role-playing, writing, and reading out lead to each other.
Click the image to book a free consult
Do we get to take any resources you give us home?
Yes, of course! I am so excited about this part for my couples. I love the proven methods I have put together and the binder of resources you will use during the intensive. Afterward, you will find yourself referring to it over and over again as time goes on. These resources will help you to continue to practice outside of my office. By doing so, both of you will become better at communicating with each other and more intimate with each other.
Do I have to live in Birmingham, Alabama to do a couples counseling intensive?
No. But you will need to travel to Birmingham, Alabama to do your couples counseling intensive because I only do intensives in person. I encourage my couples to get a hotel room (even if they live in AL) so they can really get away and feel this time as a break from their normal schedule, routines, and distractions.
OK, so why would I even choose to do a couples counseling Retreat?
Your Time Matters - if you have a hard time scheduling and regularly coming to therapy to help your communication skills and intimacy grow you will have a very hard time building momentum. Couples therapy ends up talking about the fight of the week. In an intensive, we have the luxury of time! This allows us to go much deeper than we can in 55 minutes week-to-week and the ability to build on the momentum we create. It also allows us time to practice these skills so you understand better what you can work on when you go home.
Your Money Matters- Couples counseling intensives are not cheap. They are an investment in each of you, your relationship, and your family. When you know that you have both agreed to spend money on an intensive, both of you are much more likely to show up ready to work and to take the work seriously.
What is the investment for a marriage counseling retreat?
Intensives are a significant investment but so worth it! Prices can vary based on the needs of the couple in that mini intensives or 1-day intensives are also available. A mini-intensive (4 hours) is $1500. A 1-day intensive (7-8 hours) is $3000. For 2-day couples intensives, the investment is $6000.
Do you provide a guarantee that my relationship will get better?
Yes and No. Yes, I believe the skills and education I provide you have been proven through research to help couples with communication and intimacy. No, I cannot give a guarantee, because I am unsure how hard you and your partner are committed to working on yourselves. If you both work on yourselves (like A LOT!) and where you individually get tripped up in your relationship then you will change the dysfunctional patterns you created. Remember there is no magic pill I can give you both to change your relationship. It will require a lot of hard work and practice from both of you.
What if I work harder than my partner? Will things change?
Absolutely! If you change how you interact within any dysfunctional pattern, it changes the system you have created. And you grow and learn more about yourself!
What if it turns into a blame session and I am the one getting all the blame!?
A good couples therapist knows how to be a leader in the room, so time together does not turn into a “bitch session”. The couples therapist should be able to redirect and help slow down what is being said for both of you to get a deeper understanding of any resentment or pain underneath the anger and blame.
What is your training?
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Licensed Professional Counselor. I opened my private practice in 2016 and worked with couples and families since I opened. I am also trained in the Developmental couple's model. Using the Developmental model in my couples therapy has changed how I intervene with couples. This model is a tried and true model that helps the couple learn more about their individual dynamics and how they influence the relational patterns they create as individuals. By understanding and learning this, you can grow and mature and change your relational dynamics.
Do you do 1-day couples counseling retreats?
I do! If you choose to only sign up for a 1 day intensive that day is mostly educational with very little time to practice the skills I taught in Day 1. This is why I usually recommend couples do 2 days as I believe it will bring the best, long-lasting results.
What will we learn during the couples counseling intensive?
A lot!
Click the image to schedule a free consult
Clarifying and understanding any unresolved disillusionment in your relationship. This can often operate underneath the surfaces of the relationship and cause both of you to keep hurting each other without any idea of how to truly repair it.
Clarify and listen to your partner's thoughts, feelings, and desires
Unlock how to begin to not only tolerate your differences and tensions but also how to celebrate them- this skill can create sustained intimacy and maturity in your relationship
Explore your own individual contributions and understand how you both individually impact your relationship in healthy and unhealthy ways
Determine anything that has been a betrayal in the relationship and begin to build trust again
Understand how we have developed as a couple in healthy and unhealthy ways
Exploring how to create more of a vision and mission for our relationship
Are you looking to strengthen your relationship and create a deeper connection with your partner?
Take action and invest in your future together now! Enroll in our transformative couples counseling intensive and unlock incredible growth and connection. Don't let unresolved issues and communication gaps hold you back any longer. Discover the power of our couples counseling intensive, where you'll gain invaluable tools to enhance communication, solve problems together, and understand each other's feelings. Embark on this journey of self-discovery and mutual understanding. Your relationship deserves it, and you deserve it too. Don't wait any longer – start your transformative couples counseling intensive today and pave the way for a lifetime of love, trust, and intimacy.
To get started with your couples intensive follow these simple steps:
Invest in the future of your relationship
Read Sara’s latest blogs about couples counseling intensives
How a Couples Retreat Can Transform Your Relationship
Finding the Perfect Couples Counseling Intensive Therapist: Your Path to a Stronger Relationship
Finding the best in AL: 5 Must-Ask Questions for a Couples Counseling Intensive
Other Services Sparrow Counseling Offers
At Sparrow Counseling we offer in-person and online therapy in the state of Alabama. We specialize in co-parenting counseling, reunification therapy, blended family counseling, divorce & family mediation, discernment counseling, individual counseling, teen counseling, grief counseling, and anxiety therapy in Birmingham, Alabama. Let us aid you in healing broken relationship patterns that keep you from finding, creating, and keeping healthy relationships with partners, friends, and family. Learn more by checking out our FAQs and Blog!