Why Intensive Couples Therapy Might Be the Reset Your Relationship Needs
“We love each other, but we can’t seem to find each other anymore.”
“Everything we say turns into a fight—or worse, we don’t talk at all.”
“I feel alone, even when we’re in the same room.”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many couples reach a place where love still exists—but connection feels distant, or even broken. That’s where intensive couples therapy can help. It’s not just a longer therapy session. It’s a deeper experience. It’s a reset. A chance to slow down, heal, and reconnect—with guidance, compassion, and focused time.
What Is An Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive?
An Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive is is a concentrated, immersive experience that condenses months of therapy into a focused, action-oriented time frame. It is a block of time—often several hours in one day, or across a weekend—designed to help couples go deeper, faster. Rather than squeezing therapy into a 75-minute weekly session, intensives give you the time and space to truly feel, reflect, and repair.
Using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), we focus on your emotional bond, the repeating patterns that keep you stuck, and the core longings underneath your conflicts. It’s not about who's right. It's about understanding what's really happening between you—and helping you turn toward each other instead of away.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through what an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive is, how it works, and why it could be the perfect fit for your relationship.
Why Choose an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive?
You’re Caught in Painful, Repeating Patterns
You fight about the same things, or avoid each other to keep the peace. One of you pursues, the other withdraws. You get stuck in the same loop, over and over. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) calls these negative cycles. An Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive helps you identify that pattern and begin shifting it—together.
You’re Ready for Real, Lasting Change
You don’t just want to “manage conflict.” You want to feel safe again. Close again. An Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive helps you access the deeper emotions underneath the surface—and share them in a way that brings healing, not more hurt.
You’re in a Relationship Crisis
Infidelity, separation, betrayal, or a threat to the relationship—these moments require more than weekly sessions. You need focused support, fast. An intensive provides the space to process and begin repairing the rupture.
You’re Not Fighting—But You Feel Far Apart
Some couples aren’t in crisis… but they feel like roommates. There’s no spark. No depth. An intensive can help you rediscover connection, intimacy, and the emotional glue that holds your relationship together.
When an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive Fits Your Life
While traditional weekly therapy is effective for many couples, life doesn’t always make it easy to maintain consistency with therapy. There are numerous reasons why couples might struggle to make weekly appointments, and this is where an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive can be a game-changer.
Busy Schedules or Shift Work
In today’s fast-paced world, couples often find it difficult to carve out regular time for therapy. If one or both partners work in jobs with irregular hours or travel frequently, it can feel almost impossible to coordinate weekly appointments. An intensive, on the other hand, allows couples to take time off work or adjust their schedules for a single, focused experience. This makes it easier to prioritize your relationship without the burden of scheduling conflicts.
Long-Distance or Travel-Based Relationships
Some couples find themselves in long-distance relationships, whether due to work commitments, family obligations, or other factors. Travel, distance, and time zones can complicate weekly therapy sessions. An intensive allows you to focus your emotional energy on one another for an extended period, helping you address the unique challenges of maintaining a relationship over long distances.
Lack of Access to Qualified Therapists
For couples living in rural or isolated areas, it can be difficult to find a highly trained EFT therapist nearby. Travel for therapy can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if it requires multiple sessions each month. An intensive provides the opportunity for you to work with an expert over a short period, without the logistical difficulties of regular sessions.
Privacy Concerns
Sometimes, couples prefer a higher level of privacy when seeking therapy. Whether you’re a high-profile couple or simply prefer a more secluded, personalized experience, an intensive allows you to work in a private setting, weekend intensives mean you have the entire practice space to yourself, you can be assured that your emotional work is protected.
Deep Emotional Reconnection in a Short Timeframe
Some couples feel they’ve been stuck in patterns for too long and need a deep emotional shift to get back on track. Rather than dragging things out over many months of therapy, an intensive provides you the opportunity to make real, meaningful progress in just one or two days. This focused effort allows you to address underlying issues faster and more effectively.
Creating Time for Each Other
Life can be chaotic. Between work, children, social obligations, and personal commitments, many couples simply don't have the bandwidth to prioritize their relationship. An intensive is like a gift you give to each other, carving out sacred time to focus solely on your relationship without distractions. For two days, you’ll be able to leave the rest of the world behind and dedicate your attention to rebuilding the emotional connection that might have faded.
How Does an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive Work?
An Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive typically follows a structured format, but each session is tailored to meet the unique needs of the couple involved. The therapist will guide you and your partner through the following stages:
Understanding Your Cycle
The first step in any Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) session is identifying the emotional patterns and “cycles” that are contributing to the emotional disconnection. This cycle often involves one partner withdrawing emotionally, while the other pursues, which only reinforces the emotional distance.
During the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) intensive, your therapist will help you identify these patterns in your relationship and understand how they affect the way you both respond to one another. The goal is to break this cycle by fostering greater emotional understanding and learning to engage with each other more effectively.
Deepening Emotional Understanding
Once the cycle is identified, the next step is to deepen your emotional understanding of each other. This involves creating a safe space where both partners can express vulnerable emotions—emotions that are often masked by anger, frustration, or fear.
Your therapist will help guide you both to articulate your deepest fears, unmet needs, and desires. This is often the most powerful part of the process—being able to speak from your heart and share what’s really going on inside.
Repairing Past Hurts
Emotional injuries can accumulate over time, and these wounds can cause long-lasting damage to the relationship. During an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensive, your therapist will help you work through these past hurts, creating a safe space for healing. Repairing past wounds often involves apology, forgiveness, and learning how to empathize with one another’s pain.
Creating New Emotional Responses
One of the key aspects of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT), is learning how to respond to each other in new ways. Often, couples get stuck in reactive patterns of behaviour, such as criticizing or withdrawing, which perpetuate the emotional distance. Your therapist will guide you in expressing your emotions more constructively, fostering a deeper sense of emotional responsiveness and connection.
Building Lasting Change
Finally, an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensive focuses on creating lasting change by establishing new patterns of communication, trust, and intimacy.
Couples Therapy Intensive Schedule Options
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensives can be booked either in:
2-hour and 3-hour (120-180 minute) intensives.
4-hour and 8-hour intensives. They are split into 1 hour and 50 minutes sessions with 10 minutes in between and 1 hour break between two sessions.
Sample schedule for the one-day-plus weekend intensive:
Introductory Couples Session:
Thursday Evening 75 minute Couple Session 7-8:15pmFull Day: Friday
9:30am-12pm Two-75 minute Individual Sessions
12-1pm Lunch
1-5pm 4-hour Couple Therapy Session
Sample schedule for the two-day-plus weekend intensive:
Introductory Couple Session:
Thursday Evening 7-8:15pmFirst Full Day: Friday
9:30am-12pm Two-75 minute Individual Sessions
12-1:00pm Lunch
1:00-5pm 4-hour Couple Therapy Session
Second Full Day: Saturday
9:30am-12:30pm 3-hour Couple Therapy Session
1:30-4:30pm Final 3-hour Couple Therapy Session
Follow-Up Session 2-4 weeks later, 75-minutes scheduled at couple’s convenience in person or via teleconference (this time can alternatively be used to follow up with an ongoing couple therapist)
Do We Meet In Person or Online?
Our Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensive is designed to be an immersive, in-person experience held in Olds, Alberta. We believe that stepping away from the everyday routine and entering a new, focused space is part of what makes the intensive so powerful.
For out-of-town couples, we recommend finding local lodging to minimize commute time and to fully embrace this time as a retreat—a space to focus solely on your relationship without the usual distractions of work, family, or home responsibilities.
That said, we understand that life doesn’t always make it easy to disappear for two full days. If childcare, work, or travel logistics are a barrier, we offer a flexible option: the initial couples session and the two individual meetings can be held online earlier in the week. Then, you would travel to Olds, Alberta for the heart of the intensive—the in-person couples sessions beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through all day Saturday.
This hybrid model helps maintain the depth and connection of the intensive while offering a bit more flexibility for busy couples.
Couples Counselling Intensive Fees
75-minutes $375
2-hours (120 minutes) $600
3-hours (180 minutes) $900
4-hours (240 minutes) $1200
8-hours (480 minutes) $2400
Additional hours may be added to the traditional schedule at $250.00 per fifty minutes if desired or needed. The fee must be paid in full upon booking the intensive.
Are We a Good Fit for a Couples Therapy Intensive?
A relationship therapy intensive might be right for you if:
You both want to work on the relationship, even if it’s hard right now.
You feel stuck or disconnected, and weekly therapy hasn’t been enough.
You’re facing a major decision—like staying together, separating, or rebuilding trust after betrayal.
You want to invest time, focus, and emotional energy into reconnecting.
You want a more private, focused, and immersive therapeutic experience.
You’re both willing to show up, do the emotional work, and make lasting changes in your relationship.
You don’t have to be in crisis. You just have to be ready to turn toward each other—and take the first step back.
When Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensives May Not Be The Right Fit
While Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensives are transformative, they aren’t the right fit for every situation. You may need to consider other options first if:
There is active abuse or violence in the relationship.
One or both partners are unwilling to participate in therapy.
There is a current, undisclosed affair or betrayal still happening.
There are untreated addiction or severe mental health concerns that need immediate attention.
These situations may require individual therapy or other supports before engaging in an intensive.
What Makes EFT Intensives So Effective?
Couples intensives using Emotionally Focused Therapy work because they create:
Dedicated Time – Free from daily distractions, kids, or work emails.
Deep Emotional Access – You get to the root of the pain—not just the surface-level issues.
Guided Repair – With a therapist trained to slow down reactive moments and help you both feel safe.
Immediate Progress – Many couples leave with real emotional shifts after just one or two days.
Will We Still Need to Do Couples Therapy After the Intensive?
A common question couples ask after completing an intensive is: "Do we still need ongoing therapy?" The short answer is—yes, most likely. And that’s not a bad thing.
Think of the intensive as a powerful jumpstart to your relationship. It gives you clarity, connection, and momentum. But like any meaningful change, new patterns need time and consistency to take root. It’s completely normal for life to throw challenges your way after the intensive—old negative cycles can resurface, and new vulnerable moments can emerge. That’s why having a plan for follow-up care is so important.
We recommend continuing with an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) couples therapist after your intensive. Whether that means staying with your intensive therapist or transitioning to someone new, ongoing support helps ensure the work you've done continues to grow and deepen.
If you stay with your intensive therapist, you’ll naturally move into a more traditional session rhythm. If you begin working with a different EFT therapist, we’ll coordinate a smooth handoff—with your consent—so nothing gets lost in translation. This collaboration helps your new therapist pick up right where we left off.
Every couple’s journey is unique, so the length and frequency of post-intensive therapy will vary. Our goal is to support you until you're confident navigating challenges together and reconnecting when things get hard.
In a World That Pulls Us Apart, This Is a Way to Come Closer
Relationships don’t break down overnight—and they don’t heal overnight, either. But they can heal. With guidance. With compassion. With time that is sacred and uninterrupted.
Whether you’re on the edge of separation or just quietly longing for more, an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Couples Counselling Intensive can offer what so many couples need: space to slow down, feel deeply.
You Deserve to Reconnect and Heal
Imagine taking hours or days away from the noise of life to be fully present with each other. To feel heard, to soften, to understand and be understood. That’s what a couples intensive can offer—a reset for your relationship, and a path back to each other.
This isn’t just therapy. It’s a gift. A choice to say:
“I still care. I want us to find our way home.”
If you’re reading this and feeling a spark of hope that your relationship could be healed, you’re already taking the first step. An Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensive offers a unique opportunity to fast-track your way back to each other, address deep-rooted issues, and rebuild trust and connection in your relationship.
If you’re ready to explore how an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Intensive could work for you, I invite you to schedule a consultation. Together, we’ll discuss your unique needs and determine if this powerful approach is right for your relationship.
Take the first step toward lasting change today. Your relationship deserves it.
You don’t have to do this alone. And it’s not too late.
Want to learn more or book a couples intensive?
Let’s talk. We’d be honoured to support you both.