Three-Day Training
The Couples Intensive is an exciting new resource for couples
who want to create a solid foundation, reignite a spark, or repair their
bond...as quickly as possible. As you explore the possibilities the Intensive has to offer you, we hope you will find renewed hope for your future and your relationship.
Our Three-Day training is focused on you and your relationship alone. There is no group, therefore, no time is wasted for general education or another couple's issues and every minute is spent addressing your specific needs and goals. |
It's Not Weekly Couples Counseling |
Life is busy, we know. Getting off to work on time, remembering those odd appointments, stopping for groceries while hoping you remembered the list, and ensuring everyone has clean laundry appropriate for their daily obligations; it all takes quite a bit of mental effort, but these are the tasks of life, the activities we're happy to do when they are woven into interactions with the people we love.
While our relationships with family and friends often motivate our day-to-day habits and shape our external presentations in the world, it's our romantic relationship that we hold most dear, that person with who we can share our inner-most hopes and dreams and gather the inspiration to fulfill them. Accordingly, that person with whom we confide our deepest heart's desires also offers a relationship we plan to keep for the rest of our lives. Often, we make that commitment publicly known with a wedding ceremony and vows promising life-long loyalty to this dear person. Why then, with such strong reason and emotion binding us together, does our romantic relationship sometimes start to feel like our biggest life challenge? Many have asked how conversations with the one they love used to leave them feeling understood, important, and uplifted, but now leave them feeling misunderstood, hurt, and even less capable of managing mundane, everyday tasks. Some think, "Maybe life would be better if neither of us had to have these kinds of interactions anymore," or "Are the positives we've shared worth the effort necessary to manage these negatives?" The specific details involved are unique to every couple, but as anyone who has ever been through a break-up knows, the loss of your romantic relationship, so entwined in the most significant aspects of your life, often means many other losses. Family and friends often feel they must choose a side, credibility may take a dive among certain social or professional groups, attorney's fees and the division of assets can create financial burdens, but these downsides pale in comparison to the loss of the person whom you felt so intimately connected at one point in time. This is why we created the three-day Couples Intensive. Your romantic relationship is incredibly important and it is worth saving. As a marriage counselor for the past forty years, I have seen many couples revive their relationship by working through challenges on a weekly basis, over a period of six months to a year, but what if everything they accomplished in that time could be achieved in just three, very focused days? Have you had the thought you could use a lot more help than you would get from weekly counseling? The Couples Intensive gives you the opportunity to step away from everyday life, with jobs, children, and all the other demands and distractions that fill the day. Couples get the chance to work on developing the skills needed to have a successful relationship. This is customized approach. When specific individual issues arise, one-on-one work can provide important resolutions that allow the relationship to grow beyond previous emotional connections. Couples will receive specific training in communication skills for intimate relationships. The communication style for a loving relationships is very different from the communication skills taught in school which often focus on arguing, debating, and sales. Learn more functional assumptions for intimate relationships. Learn effective listening skills and develop the ability to give real feedback on real issues from the relationship, in complete privacy. You will focus on relationship building skills for loving relationships. Identify and clarify personal roles, rules, family beliefs, as well as religious and cultural beliefs, and negotiate change in the relationship. A Couples Intensive is appropriate for couples in all stages of relationship, in the early stage when getting started, as well as in times of transition. This training offers a quiet setting, lodging, food and three days to focus on making your relationship the best it can be . Dr. Wade has 40 years of counseling experience in 25 cultures and is trained in various belief systems and approaches to life. Your unique belief system is honored. This weekend is all about you! Intensive Couple's Training Our three-day couples intensive is designed for a couple wanting individual training that is more focused and comprehensive than what they may have experienced. The couple’s intensive is offered regularly throughout the year in Portland, Oregon. Unlike most marriage encounters, seminars, workshops, and retreats, this is NOT a group experience. Dr. Wade meets with just one couple at a time for the full three days, allowing for concentration exclusively on you and your unique relationship issues. You meet together in our comfortable training room, and when individual issues arise we meet one-on-one for a short period of time to explore a specific individual issue. Couples come to learn, rekindle, revitalize and even to rescue their relationships. For those who want Dr. Wade and Georgianna to come to you, ask Georgianna for the details about that program. The Couple's Intensive 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 intimate 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 marriage and personal happiness. •Depending on the problems that you have, we may together discuss and learn what you saw in each other in the first place, stages of marriage and where you are today, problems of non-communication or mis-communication, how to identify misconceptions and change your reactions, stereotypes, and prejudices, and changing self-defeating behaviors. Couples stay in our spacious suite while meeting for three days of intensive couples training. Couples come to us in many phases of relationship (including pre-marital), to build better communication skills and a structure for a healthy long term relationship. (Hey Mom and Dad, a great gift for your adult children having couple issues!) Many younger couples have never been married, but have had several live-together relationships that are very similar to marriages. Our 3-day intensive program allows for a concentrated amount of training that would take about 8 months to achieve in traditional weekly formats. The intensive format is a satisfying, comfortable, private, cost effective, and time-efficient way to nourish or enhance your relationship. The nonstop stresses of today’s busy world can knock the wind out of any relationship. Smart couples know that a getaway can do wonders to restore the spark of love. But first you might need a little nudge to confront the issues that have been building up inside – that’s when a personalized couples training can help both of you get to the heart of your relationship and rediscover the love that brought you together in the first place. An Intensive can rejuvenate your relationship, we are located in the beautiful Portland, OR area. This may be the a perfect choice for you. Traditionally couples retreats and marriage retreats are built around a group workshop. In most of these weekend retreats, you are with many other participants, and locked into the group schedule. The presentations must be generalized to meet a wide variety of needs. Our intensive is all about your relationship. At our Intensive, we put together a personalized retreat for just the two of you. Our couple’s retreat ensures that you’ll meet one-on-one with Doctor Michael. As you relax in a peaceful environment, you’ll feel the tensions and resentments melt away. When time is limited, pull out all the stops on your relationship. Get the most for your precious time and money. Make sure that your weekend gets to the heart of what’s going on for you and your partner, so that when you step back into your busy life, the love fire keeps on flaming. Fees The three day intensive includes our spacious suite, all food and beverages (non-alcoholic), transportation from train, bus, or plane, and three days of intensive individual and couples work tailored to your relationship. Call and talk to Georgianna to discuss fees and available times. If you are local, Dr. Michael will meet with you at his South East Portland office to see if this program is right for you. If you are out of the area this will be done by E-Mail and phone. The intensive format is not for every couple. Dr. Michael will interview you to see if the intensive format is right for you. |
Our History |
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