Benefits of Intensive Couples Therapy in Kansas City Metro
Uninterrupted Time
If you’ve been in any type of couple therapy before, then you’ll know how fast the clinical hour goes by! You check in, give any updates and before you know it, the session is half way over. Then you finally get into the meat of the conflict and before you know it, your therapist is beginning to wrap up. Now you wait for one or two weeks to pick back up again.
Well, in an intensive this does not happen. We get hours of time together in one sitting with short breaks in between…not weeks. This allows us to get more traction and to make more connections and integrate the work you are doing.
Deep Dive into your relationship
Going along with the previous point, we get to deep dive into your relationship in a way that allows us to build on the emotional safety we have created. When you attend weekly therapy sessions, it’s almost like you need to get warmed up again at the start of each session.
When you attend an intensive, you are already warmed up and ready to dive deep into your relationship and develop connection quicker.
Results Faster
Therapists who practice Emotionally Focused Therapy believe that change happens in session, not out of session. So we get more time to take a deep dive, to experience emotion and create new interactions that we get to practice over and over in session. The more times we get to do this, the quicker you move through the steps of the model.
More momentum means more results
Attending a two day intensive is equivalent to 3 months of weekly therapy sessions. Now just think about that. We all want change and we want it now. Doesn’t it just make sense to attend an intensive so that you can get back on track with your relationship?
Therapy Intensives Using Emotionally Focused Therapy
Empathic responsiveness is the essence of EFT
The premise of EFT follows Attachment Theory which says that we are bonding, emotional animals who seek and want to maintain proximity to a secure attachment figure (i.e. spouse, significant other, parent, friend, etc.). We also need a felt sense of safe, secure connection with this person as this is a primary need for all human beings. When we need comfort, we look toward this person for empathetic responsiveness. This makes us feel safe and calms our nervous system.
Emotion is functional and serves a purpose
Emotion is key in attachment relationships. Emotion tells us to move and keeps us safe. When we are walking down a dark alley at night in a big city, our nervous system sends us signals that our body interprets as fear. Fear can make us move in order to get safe again.
Something similar happens in intimate relationships. Our brain actually processes rejection cues in the same place and same way in the brain physical pain. Our body starts to feel the emotion that we are unsafe, that we might lose connection wiht the person who maters most to us. Emotion increases or decreases to protect us. But this emotion needs to be regulated and ordered. If we don’t have it regulated and ordered, it can drive more distance between you and your partner.,
Emotionally Focused Therapy is non~pathological
One of the best things about EFT is that there is no judgement. There is a reason for what we do. We uncover that reason, make sense of it and create empathy for it.
Marriage Counseling Intensive Options
One~Day Therapy Intensive
The One~Day therapy intensive allows us to start off by getting to know each other before diving into our work.
We are also able to create and strengthen some of the foundational elements needed in your relationship.
One downfall of the One~Day therapy intensive is that we only have one day. We are able to progress through a chunk of work but then we are done.
One~Day Schedule: 9am to 5pm
If you have never met with Jessica in the past, you will start here.
9-10 - Intake & Assessment
10-11 Individual Session with One Partner
11-12 Individual Session with the Other Partner
12-1 Lunch Break
1-3 Conjoint Session
3-4 Afternoon Break
4-5 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Fee: $1050
One~Day Follow Up Schedule
After you have attended a previous intensive with Jessica, you will continue here.
10-12 Conjoint Session
12-2 Lunch Break
2-4 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
fee: $1050
Two Day
The two-day intensive is our preferred schedule. In this intensive, we are able to do everything in the one-day intensive plus more!
EFT therapists believe that change happens in the counseling session, not outside of the session. So it would make sense that the more time a couple spends in session, the more opportunity for change.
Schedule: Day 1 ~ 9am to 5pm
9-10 - Intake & Assessment
10-11 Individual Session with One Partner
11-12 Individual Session with the Other Partner
12-1 Lunch Break
1-3 Conjoint Session
3-4 Afternoon Break
4-5 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Day 2 ~ 10am to 4pm
9-11 Conjoint Session
11-12 Lunch Break
12-2 Conjoint Session
2-3 Break
3-5 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Fee: $2100
two~Day Follow Up Schedule
After you have attended a previous intensive with Jessica, you will continue here.
Day 1 ~ 9am to 4pm
9-11 Conjoint Session
11-12 Lunch Break
12-2 Conjoint Session
2-3 Break
3-5 Conjoint Session
Day 2 ~ 9am to 4pm
9-11 Conjoint Session
11-12 Lunch Break
12-2 Conjoint Session
2-3 Break
3-5 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Three Day
The three-day intensive takes the two-day intensive even further. If you struggle to find time for counseling because of your busy schedule, a three-day intensive could be a good fit for you.
Schedule a consolation to speak with Jessica to find the right timeframe for you.
Schedule: Day 1 ~ 9am to 5pm
9-10 - Intake & Assessment
10-11 Individual Session with One Partner
11-12 Individual Session with the Other Partner
12-1 Lunch Break
1-3 Conjoint Session
3-4 Afternoon Break
4-5 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Day 2 & Day 3~ 10am to 4pm
10-12 Conjoint Session
12-2 Lunch Break
2-4 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Fee: $3150
two~Day Follow Up Schedule
After you have attended a previous intensive with Jessica, you will continue here.
Day 1, Day 2 & Day 3~ 10am to 4pm
10-12 Conjoint Session
12-2 Lunch Break
2-4 Conjoint Session & Next Steps
Fee: $3150
Intensive Pre-Marriage Counseling
One and a Half Day Premarital
The Lasting Connection™ workshop is a couple education program co-developed by Dr. Debi Gilmore, Certified EFT Supervisor, and Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen, Certified EFT Supervisor and Trainer.
The Lasting Connection™ workshop is structured around a relationship pyramid that has five sections, including attachment, communication, managing conflict, physical intimacy, and shared goals. Each section builds upon the last, so the couple can conceptualize their relationship as a process of building, growing, evolving, developing, and rising up in a collaborative manner.
This intensive includes a workbook and Lasting Connection™ Mat to take home and have forever.
Schedule: Day 1 ~ 9am to 4pm
9-11 - Introduction & Session I: Attachment
11 - 1 Session II: Communication
1 - 2 Lunch
2 - 4 Session III: Managing Differences & Wrap Up
Day 2 ~ 9am to 3pm
9 - 10 Review of Previous Day
10 - 12 Session IV: Physical Connection
12 - 1 Lunch
1 - 3 Session V: Shared Goals & Next Steps
Fee: $1775
Marriage Intensive Weekends
Two Day Hold Me Tight®
The Hold Me Tight® curriculum helps couples get the best of both relationship education and experiential learning. Hold Me Tight® was developed by Sue Johnson and is based on Emotionally Focused Therapy.
Couples go step-by-step through 8 lessons and then practice having conversation with each other assisted by Jessica.
This intensive includes a workbook to guide couples through the conversations.
Schedule: Day 1 ~ 9am to 4pm
9 -9:30 Welcome and Introduction to the Program
9:30 - 11 Attachment, Emotion and A.R.E.
11 - 12:30 How Love Goes Wrong: The Demon Dialogues
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 - 3:30 Finding the Raw Spots
3:30 - 4 Wrap Up
Day 2 ~ 9am to 4pm
9 - 10 Welcome and Review
10 - 11:30 Hold Me Tight
11:30 - 12:30 Forgiving Injuries
12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
1:30 - 2:30 Bonding Through Sex and Touch
2:20 - 3:30 Keeping Your Love Alive
3:30 - 4 Wrap Up & Next Steps