Couples Therapy Intensives

A couples therapy intensive offers a focused environment where you can explore your relational patterns and reconnect with one another in a held and supportive space.

Relationships evolve through periods of closeness and conflict, intimacy and misunderstanding, growth and repair. When difficulties escalate or feel unmanageable, weekly therapy may not provide the momentum needed for real change.

Whether you are navigating ongoing challenges or a moment of crisis, a 2-day couples therapy intensive helps you stabilise, repair, and strengthen your relationship. Intensives are held in person in Bristol, UK or at select locations within the UK, including London.

What Is a Couples Therapy Intensive?

A couples therapy intensive is a private, immersive therapeutic experience designed to create meaningful relational change in a short period of time. Rather than months of weekly sessions, an intensive offers concentrated time to explore the core issues beneath conflict, distance, or disconnect.

The intensive includes 12 hours of guided therapeutic work over two consecutive days, with 6 hours per day. This focused and dedicated container allows the relational work to build naturally, without losing momentum.

What happens during the intensive:

• Gain clarity about communication and conflict patterns

• Understand how unmet needs trigger reactivity, defensiveness, or withdrawal

• Rebuild emotional and physical intimacy

• Repair attachment injuries and moments of rupture

• Explore relational patterns

• Learn and practise new ways of communicating

• Leave with clear next steps and a plan for ongoing growth

Couples often describe intensives as the moment when old patterns finally loosen, and something new becomes possible.

Is This For You?

A 2-day intensive may be especially supportive if you are:

• Experiencing recurring arguments or escalating conflict

• Recovering from betrayal or working through infidelity

• Feeling emotionally distant, disconnected, or alone in the relationship

• Stuck in a cycle of blame, defence, or withdrawal

• Processing major life transitions (parenthood, relocation, loss, career changes)

• High-conflict partners who struggle to make progress in weekly therapy

• Professionals or parents with limited availability

• Seeking meaningful progress to stabilise the relationship

If you and your partner feel stuck and unable to move forward, an intensive can provide the focused space to understand the impasse and create a new path forward. My 2-day couples intensives are designed for partners who need deep, immersive support beyond traditional weekly sessions.

Intensives are not appropriate where there is:

• Ongoing infidelity

• An untreated mental health issue or addiction

• Active or recent domestic abuse or intimate partner violence

• A separation already underway or finalised

The consultation process will help determine whether an intensive is the right fit or whether another type of support would be safer and more effective.

My Approach

I am a qualified couples therapist and psychotherapeutic counsellor with extensive training in couples and relationship therapy, including Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) and psychodynamic approaches. My work with couples is grounded in attachment theory, differentiation, and trauma-informed practice.

Every couple brings a unique landscape of experiences, attachment histories, and unmet needs. My role is to help you understand what is happening between you and within each of you with compassion and curiosity, not judgment or blame.

My approach balances attachment (safety, closeness, responsiveness) with differentiation (selfhood, boundaries, emotional autonomy). Healthy relationships require both connection and individuality, closeness and independence.

I work with interconnected therapeutic approaches that help us understand the surface issues and the deeper relational dynamics:

• Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT): We work with attachment patterns (how each partner reaches for closeness, safety, and reassurance) and we restructure emotional connection from the inside out.

• Humanistic and Person-Centred Therapy: You and your partner are met with respect, empathy, and acceptance. Your lived experiences matter, and each partner’s internal world is honoured.

• Psychodynamic Therapy: We explore how relational templates from the past shape reactions in the present, particularly the parts that feel confusing, shameful, or overwhelming.

• Systemic Therapy: We look at how you influence each other within the relationship system, and how patterns from families of origin, culture, and wider contexts continue to play out between you.

Over the years, I have supported individuals and couples in navigating communication challenges, emotional disconnection, and intimacy concerns. My training, combined with years of experience, allows me to provide safe, structured, and highly effective in-person couples therapy intensives tailored to each couple’s unique needs.

What to Expect

Consultation Call

Before your couples therapy intensive, each partner is invited to complete a 20-minute consultation call with me. These initial conversations will help me understand your situation and ensure that what I offer fits your needs. We’ll discuss practical matters such as scheduling, fees, and confidentiality, and I can answer questions you may have about working together.

Before the intensive

A pre-intensive questionnaire will be sent to each partner to complete and return one week before the intensive. This helps us understand your relationship history and current concerns, ensuring we can make the most of our time together.

During the intensive

Each intensive is tailored to the couple using a format designed to follow where the therapeutic work needs to go. The schedule will be adapted to your specific needs and may shift based on what emerges during our time together. This flexibility is essential. It allows the therapy to respond to you, rather than the other way around.

Over the two days, we will work through a combination of joint and individual sessions. We’ll work through attachment injuries, intimacy concerns, or ruptures that have created distance between you. This typically includes:

• Couples assessment to explore your current challenges, communication cycles, and relationship history

• Individual assessments for each partner to express their experience and needs

• Guided relational dialogues and therapeutic interventions

• Attachment repair and emotional communication work

• Exploring intimacy, relational, or identity-based issues

• Rehearsing new ways of relating

• Future-planning and stabilisation

Lunch and regular breaks are built into each day to support emotional regulation and integration.

After the intensive

Couples typically book follow-up sessions to maintain momentum and integrate new patterns. In some cases, couples return for an additional intensive day to deepen the work or revisit key themes.

You and your partner will gain a clearer understanding of emotional triggers and relational cycles, along with practical tools for communicating and reducing conflict. You’ll leave with a stronger foundation for connection and concrete next steps for your relationship.

Practical Details

Location

Intensives are held in person at my practice room in Bristol, UK. They can also be arranged at select locations within the UK, including London.

Fees

Fees for couples therapy intensives start at £2,400.

All fees will be discussed transparently during the consultation. Any travel or accommodation costs are the responsibility of the client. More information about fees can be found here.

Preparing for your intensive

Before booking, each partner is invited to a 20-minute consultation call. This allows us to:

• Understand your current situation

• Discuss your goals and concerns

• Explore whether an intensive is appropriate

• Clarify fees, scheduling, and logistics

• Determine suitability and safety

There is no obligation to continue after the consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long are the couples therapy intensives?

Each intensive includes 12 hours of therapy, delivered as 6 hours per day over two consecutive days. The sessions cannot be split across weeks or weekends. After completing the initial 2-day intensive, couples may return for an additional intensive day.

Where are the couples therapy intensives held?

Intensives are held at my practice room in Bristol, UK or at select locations within the UK, including London.

Do you work with same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ partners?

Yes. I provide therapy for relationships regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. I recognise that cultural, religious, and personal values deeply influence how we approach relationships, and I’m committed to honouring your relationship’s specific context while helping you work toward your goals.

Will we receive support after the intensive?

Yes. Most couples find that follow-up sessions help sustain the momentum and deepen the changes begun in the intensive. These can be offered as 80-minute online sessions. Some couples also choose to return for an additional intensive day to revisit core themes or continue the work.

What issues are intensives most effective for?

Intensives are particularly effective for high-conflict relationships, chronic communication breakdowns, emotional disconnection or distance, intimacy challenges, betrayal trauma and infidelity recovery, and major life transitions. They offer momentum and containment that weekly therapy often cannot provide.

Is a couples therapy intensive suitable for us if we are unsure whether to stay together?

Yes, in many cases. An intensive can help you understand whether the relationship is repairable and what each partner truly needs. However, if separation is already underway, legally, logistically or emotionally, an intensive may not be appropriate.

What if we are dealing with infidelity?

Infidelity is a common reason for a couple to seek therapy. Couples dealing with betrayal or broken trust are welcome, as long as the infidelity is no longer ongoing. If a current affair is still active or undisclosed, intensive work is not suitable.

Can we do the intensive online?

No. Couples therapy intensives are held in person only. The immersive nature of the work, 12 hours over two days, requires the physical presence, embodied engagement, and relational containment that can only happen when we’re together in the room. If you’re seeking online support, I offer ongoing couples therapy via Zoom. Learn more about online couples therapy →

Can the days be scheduled separately?

No. The continuous 2-day format is intentional, and the days cannot be scheduled separately. The focused and dedicated container allows the relational work to build naturally, without losing momentum. Once the 2-day intensive is complete, additional intensive days can be scheduled.

Do you offer individual therapy intensives?

No, I don’t currently offer individual intensives. However, I do provide ongoing individual therapy through weekly online sessions. Learn more about individual therapy →

What if an intensive isn’t the right fit for us?

If an intensive doesn’t feel like the right approach, or if it’s not suitable for your situation, I also offer ongoing couples therapy through 80-minute sessions online. This format provides steady, sustained space to work through relationship challenges at a pace that allows for gradual integration and continued support over time. Learn more about ongoing couples therapy →

Begin your journey towards healing, clarity, and renewed connection.

If you’re seeking a UK-based in-person couples therapy intensive, I provide a private, focused environment to help you rebuild communication, restore emotional connection, and address relationship challenges in real time.

Intensives are ideal for couples dealing with high conflict, infidelity repair, emotional disconnection, intimacy concerns, or major life transitions. If you’re seeking intensive couples counselling or a marriage therapy intensive, I offer compassionate, evidence-based support to help you strengthen your bond and move forward together.

Questions? Contact me or email francesca.sciandra.therapy@gmail.com.