Will We Need a Follow-Up Work After Our Marriage Retreat in North Carolina?

Couples I work with in couples counseling Wake Forest NC or those who call to inquire about couples intensives ask, “Will we need a follow-up work after our marriage retreat in North Carolina?”

What is a Marriage Retreat, and What Should You Get from It?

Before answering this question, let’s quickly recap what a marriage retreat is. 

I believe that a marriage retreat is the most beautiful gift you can give to yourself and your significant other. It is a seven-hour day or session that we spend together, whether in person or virtually, doing deep work on your relationship and personal issues.

So, during your marriage retreat, be prepared to seep dive into learning:

·       who you are

·       who your partner is

·       what is your cycle

·       what are your inner dialogues

·       what is keeping you stuck in a repetitive cycle

Marriage retreat in North Carolina can also help you understand what emotions are hiding behind your reactive behavior, such as shutting down, anger, or yelling. It can also help you learn how to communicate your loving feelings, insecurities, and feelings of hurt and betrayal to your partner in a way that feels secure, connected, and effective. 

You will go through a series of incredible, scientifically proven exercises. The experts designed these exercises to help couples deep dive into their relationships. So, marriage retreat in North Carolina is like doing two and a half months of therapy in one day, which jumpstarts your relationships and gets the momentum going.  

A marriage retreat is a one-day, intensive journey to the depths of your personality and relationship in a stress-free setting, away from everyday distractions.  

During your marriage retreat, you will learn valuable skills that will help you deepen and strengthen your relationship, boost your intimacy, and constructively resolve your conflicts.

The structure of your marriage retreat can vary depending on the nature of your relationship problems. 

Some marriage retreats in North Carolina can be more general (for example, focusing on learning how to handle conflicts). In contrast, others are more specific to the problem (e.g., repairing the relationship after the affair). 

Do We Need More than Just One Intensive Day?

This is a question many couples who go through couples counseling Wake Forest NC or couples intensives ask. It is also something many potential clients inquire about. 

The answer is, although marriage retreat is a beautiful opportunity to start exploring the depths of yourself and your relationships, it is not magic. Neither is weekly marriage therapy. Nothing is magical unless you make it that way. 

The way you make it work is by combining a marriage retreat and weekly couples counseling sessions.

So, to rebuild your marriage, restore trust, and rekindle connection, you should start with a marriage retreat in North Carolina. Couples intensive can be a great way to prioritize what is most important to you and understand the core of your relationship problems. 

After that, you should continue with weekly sessions of couples counseling in Wake Forest NC that usually last about a year, depending on your trauma history, the history of your current and past relationships, and the amount of hurts you struggle with.

The success of your marriage therapy depends on your dedication and commitment. It would be best if you were willing to work hard, make changes, and commit to new, healthy patterns. This means working every day on rewiring your nervous system in a way that works for your relationships. 

It means ongoing work on yourself – healing your inner child, optimizing and learning new skills, and implementing them in your behavior. So, you do need follow-up work on top of that one-day intensive to make progress to be completed and sustained over a period of ten to twenty years.  

Summary

Successful couples counseling requires the readiness to open and explore your deepest self and share new knowledge with your partner.

This is not the work that can be done in a one-day marriage intensive or a few sessions of traditional couples counseling Wake Forest NC.

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 min phone consultation online by clicking here.