We have been working together for awhile, but we need more time….

We have been working together in our weekly sessions but it seems like we can’t move fast enough because we run out of time to really go in-depth. You have learned tools in counseling that have helped but you need more practice. At times during couples counseling, you have felt a connection with your partner, but you find it doesn’t last. You have begun to understand that you both are very different, but you can’t seem to figure out how to deal with the tension created by your differences. Sometimes you had those sessions that you hate. The ones where you leave feeling more frustrated, stuck, and misunderstood than when you walked in, because you did not have enough time to finish well. And you wonder if counseling is really helping or does it just keep reopening wounds that will never heal. You long to go back to that time when you felt the most connection with each other. And that is when your hopelessness comes.

You need help!  And you need it now!

You both want to understand what happens during the 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, and going to counseling every week seems more like a burden than a relief. You wonder if you had more time to practice the skills given during counseling with a trained, experienced eye, would that help?

This is the beauty of couples intensives! I can help!

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 the model of weekly couples counseling can be effective for some couples, but often just as we begin to gain momentum the session is up and we have to wait a week or two to find the momentum again! This is where spending some intentional time together (longer than 55 minutes!), I believe can help us build the momentum in your relationship skills that you have been longing for.

Couples counseling intensives 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 months, it is a customized, focused approach that can take a 1/2 day, a full day or 2 days (depending on the package). That’s it!

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 intensive 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 Couples Counseling Intensives

What is a couple’s counseling intensive?

A couple’s 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 couples counseling intensive work?

First, decide the level of intensive that is best for your unique situation. I offer several different packages. We can do a mini-intensive for 4 hours, a 1 day (7 hour intensive), or a 2-day intensive. Next, we find a time that fits our schedules best. We book intensives on Thursdays- Mondays excluding Sundays. A few weeks before your appointment, both you and your partner will complete detailed questionnaires. These questionaries give me more of an in-depth perspective on your family of origin as well as your relationship. This helps me prepare so that when we sit down together, we can fit months of therapy into a few hours or days, depending on the package we choose.

A basic schedule for a 2-day intensive:

Day 1

9 am - 5:30 pm

Review the questionnaires

Educate both of you through 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

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. 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 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.

OK, so why would I even choose to do a couples counseling intensive?

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.

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.  

WHAT IS THE INVESTMENT FOR A COUPLES COUNSELING INTENSIVE?

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 $1200. A 1-day intensive (8 hours) is $2200. For 2-day couples intensives, the investment is $4500. You will also walk out with a binder full of resources. The longer the intensive you do the more resources you will receive.

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 if we need help after the Couples Counseling intensive?

If you need follow-up sessions, they can be scheduled with me or the other clinicians in my office. Often couples need much less support after an intensive because they have learned practical skills that work at home!

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 intensives?

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!

• 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 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:

1. Schedule a consultation

2. Invest in the future of your relationship