When Your Relationship Needs More Than An Hour Couples Therapy Intensives
When weekly therapy feels too slow—or your relationship has reached a critical point—a focused couples therapy intensive gives you the time and structure to go deeper.
Sometimes one hour a week isn't enough.
You may feel painfully disconnected and alone. The more you talk, the less they listen. Perhaps you keep having the same fight without ever reaching the real issue underneath it.
A couples therapy intensive creates protected time to understand what is happening between you and begin changing the pattern while you are together in the room.
- Relationship crisis or growing conflict
- Escalation to reach a stonewalled partner
- Emotional distance and disconnection
- Routine, passionless, or absent sex
- Affair or betrayal recovery
- Couples considering separation or divorce
- Couples traveling from outside Raleigh or North Carolina
More time. More depth. More momentum.
Instead of spending the beginning and end of every weekly session getting settled and stopping just as important work begins, an intensive gives you longer, uninterrupted therapeutic time.
Understand the Pattern
Identify the emotional and relational cycle that keeps pulling the two of you into conflict, distance, or sexual disconnection.
Reach What Is Underneath
Move beyond the argument itself to the fears, longings and needs that are driving it.
Practice Something New
Begin creating new conversations and new experiences of connection while your therapist is there to help.
Choose the level of support your relationship needs.
We'll help determine whether an intensive is appropriate for you and recommend a format based on your relationship and goals.
Couples Therapy Intensive
Extended therapy sessions designed to create more depth and momentum than traditional weekly couples therapy.
Brave Love Couples Therapy Intensive
A focused multi-day intensive for couples facing significant relationship distress, emotional disconnection, conflict, betrayal, or sexual difficulties.
Destination Intensive
Travel to North Carolina for concentrated relationship work away from the distractions and demands of everyday life.
You don't have to decide the format on your own.
Talk With Us
Tell us briefly what is happening and what kind of help you are looking for.
Find the Right Therapist
We match you with a clinician whose experience fits your needs and the intensity of the work.
Begin Your Intensive
Your therapist structures the time so you can focus on the relationship without having to squeeze the work into a standard therapy hour.
Your relationship may need more than another hour of talking.
Talk with Awakenings about whether a couples therapy intensive is the right next step for you.
Schedule a ConsultationMeet the therapists who lead intensives
Your intensive is matched to the clinician whose training and focus fit your relationship. We’ll help you choose the right person and format.
Dr. Laurie Watson, PhD, LMFT Certified EFT Therapist · AASECT Certified Sex Therapist · Host of Brave Love; Great Sex
- Specializes in complex cases, including sexual disconnection and long-term relationships
- Particularly offers Couples Sexual Intensives and Couples Sexual Intensives for Older Couples
- Intensives typically range from 4–16 hours
$600/hour
Tracy Russell, LCSW Senior Clinician · Advanced training in sex therapy and EFT · Former Director of Clinical Interns
- Specializes in helping couples break entrenched pursue/withdraw cycles
- Focuses on emotional reconnection, communication, and de-escalation of conflict
- Uses Emotionally Focused Therapy to help partners feel safer and more responsive to each other
- Intensives typically range from 4–12 hours
$450/hour
Jennifer Foster Cooper, LCSW, LCAS Certified Sex Therapist · Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist · Telehealth intensives
- Specializes in couples impacted by sexual concerns, addiction, and relational trust issues
- Helps partners rebuild emotional safety, intimacy, and accountability after disruption or betrayal
- Integrates sex therapy with a deep understanding of compulsive behaviors and their impact on relationships
- Particularly helpful for couples navigating the impact of addiction on emotional and sexual connection
- Intensives typically range from 4–12 hours
$350/hour · online only
We’ll help you determine the best clinician and format based on your relationship goals, level of distress, and availability.
Couples Therapy Intensive FAQs
What is a couples therapy intensive?
A couples therapy intensive is an extended period of focused couples therapy completed over longer sessions or consecutive days rather than relying only on weekly 50-minute appointments.
Who is couples intensive therapy for?
Intensives may be appropriate for couples experiencing severe conflict, emotional distance, infidelity, sexual disconnection, relationship crisis, or couples who feel stuck and want more concentrated therapeutic work.
Do you offer couples therapy intensives in Raleigh?
Yes. Awakenings Center for Couples & Sex Therapy provides couples therapy intensives in Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as options for couples traveling from elsewhere in North Carolina and beyond.
Can we travel to North Carolina for an intensive?
Yes. Destination couples therapy intensives allow couples to travel to North Carolina for focused relationship work over a concentrated period of time.
Can an intensive help after an affair?
Affair recovery is one reason couples choose intensive therapy. The extended format can provide time to work with the emotional injury, understand what has happened between you, and begin the process of rebuilding safety and trust.