3-Day Intensive Couples Therapy
Dive deep and make significant progress in your relationship.
Intensive Couples Therapy sessions in Bellingham, WA
3-Day Intensive Couples Therapy
Dive deep into what's keeping you from the happy, healthy relationship you long for.
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Why Choose Intensive Couples Therapy?
Are you looking to deepen your connection with your partner, address unresolved issues, or simply invest in the future of your relationship?
Our 3-Day Intensive Couples Therapy is a retreat experience scheduled with one couple at a time. It offers a transformative experience designed to help couples reconnect, heal, and grow together in a supportive and immersive environment.
Evolving from more than 20 years of clinical practice, hundreds of hours of specialized training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) and Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and thousands of hours helping couples successfully reach their goals, our 3-day Couples Counseling Intensive provides an impactful approach with transformative results. Whether you are a committed couple looking to improve your relationship or a highly distressed couple feeling hopeless and on the brink of divorce, Inside Passage Counseling can help.
We’ve helped hundreds of couples navigate:
- Frequent Conflicts
- Poor Communication
- Emotional Distance
- Life Transitions
- Trust Issues
- Sexual Intimacy
- Betrayal and Infidelity
- Co-Parenting
- Non-Traditional Relationships
- Relationship Uncertainty
“We were really in crisis mode when we found Inside Passage Counseling and they helped us get back on the same team. I don’t know that our marriage would have survived without their expert guidance.”
-Anonymous
Meet your Therapist
Meet Your Therapist
Hi, I’m Heather Varnau, Licensed Mental Health Counselor and founder of Inside Passage Counseling.
I specialize in 3-Day Intensive Couples Counseling, providing deep, focused work in a short amount of time.
Intensive counseling allows couples to immerse themselves fully in the therapeutic process over a condensed period, typically spanning a few days. This concentrated effort can lead to significant breakthroughs and deeper understanding that might take months to achieve in standard weekly sessions.
I have extensive training and experience helping couples move from distress and disconnection to security and reconnection. I am a Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist and one of the few Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Supervisors in WA State. Additionally, I am Level 3 Gottman trained, and a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist and Approved IFS Clinical Consultant.
I’d be honored to help you repair and strengthen your relationship so you can experience deep and lasting connection.
90% of couples who work with me report:
- More happiness in their marriage
- Stronger connection
- Overall better communication
How I Work
We’ll start by creating a safe space to address your relationship distress. Using a collaborative approach rooted in Attachment Theory, I’ll help you set personalized goals for the retreat, ensuring each partner’s needs are met.
Then, using Mindfulness-based interventions to help you slow down, become aware of your own and each other’s feelings, I will help you communicate more constructively. You will learn and practice new skills for safe, secure connection and compassionate understanding. After our deep dive into your relationship, we’ll prepare for the future to ensure that you can continue growing when you go home.
What to expect in our
3-Day Couples Therapy Retreat
Day 1
Assessment
We’ll begin with a couple’s session where I’ll ask questions to understand what brings you to therapy, exploring your goals, desires, and any challenges in your relationship, along with your shared history.
After lunch, each of you will have an individual session to clarify your personal experiences and the specific support you need, touching on family background and other key relationships. We’ll close the day together, reviewing our focus and setting the stage for the next steps of the retreat.
Day 2
Intervention
We’ll start by reviewing my understanding of your individual experiences and interaction patterns based on Day 1’s assessment, ensuring it resonates with both of you and addressing any questions.
I’ll then guide key conversations to help you explore and share these experiences openly, fostering understanding and empathy. Together, we’ll identify common ground, connection, and hope as a foundation for a satisfying, mutually supportive relationship going forward.
Day 3
Application & Tools
After two days of meaningful work, the morning of the third day often feels transformative, with couples gaining new awareness, clarity, and a positive outlook on their relationship.
We’ll open by integrating this new understanding and connectedness, setting a plan for next steps. Then, we’ll shift focus to life back home, discussing practical ways to maintain connection, communication, and growth, anticipating challenges, and exploring additional support options. By the end of the day, couples typically feel uplifted, hopeful, and empowered, understanding that ongoing effort and collaboration is essential.
FAQ’s for 3-Day Intensive Couples Therapy
Get Started Today!
First, we will schedule a free 30-minute phone consultation to explore whether a couples retreat is right for your relationship. I’ll speak with both members of the couple together to make sure that our goals are compatible and that working together is a good fit.
In the beginning of therapy, I spend time gathering information to help me understand each of your realities, perspectives, and unmet needs in the relationship. I’ll ask you about the history of your relationship and any experiences that significantly impacted you. We’ll decide on goals for our time together, and I will use these goals as guideposts for the remainder of the session.
I will also have an individual session with each of you to clarify your experiences, and how you most need my support during our session. I’ll ask you about your personal background and the significant relationships in your life before your current marriage or partner.
On the second day, we will get to work dismantling the issue(s) standing in the way of having the safety and connection that you want. I will help you create or rebuild the safety that has been missing. This sets the stage for new, positive interactions, and having meaningful conversations and connections with each other. I’ll guide you toward your goals and help you engage with important issues and come to new understanding.
On the third day, we will consolidate the new awareness, growth, and experiences that you had during the first two days. We will switch gears toward going home and talk about how to apply your new learning in your life together. I will give you practical tools to use at home to keep your relationship on a positive track. We will also decide on a plan for maintaining the progress that is made with follow-up sessions.
Almost everyone feels nervous about beginning couples therapy. It can be hard to try again and risk putting faith in a new therapist when you’ve had a previous negative experience in individual or couples therapy. I take great care to create a therapeutic environment where all three of us are respected and understood. I believe that awareness, healing, and connection happen when you feel safe to explore and communicate your genuine experiences.
I also take my work as a couples therapist very seriously.
I see my practice as a specialized form of therapy that requires a high level of skill and training. Sometimes, partners who have had a negative experience in couples therapy either didn’t have the right fit with their previous therapist, or the therapist had an individual approach without specialized, scientifically-based training specifically in couples therapy.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT)
EFT is a short-term structured approach to couples therapy formulated by Dr. Sue Johnson. EFT has been validated by 35 years of empirical research and is approved by the American Psychological Association as an evidence-based therapy. Several meta-analyses have shown that EFT is the most successful approach to couples therapy. These research studies find that 75% of couples move from distress to secure emotional connection, and approximately 90% show significant improvement by the end of treatment. The results are stable two years later. These are excellent statistics!
Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Combining the knowledge and wisdom of nearly 40 years of studies and clinical practice, Gottman Method Couples Therapy helps couples break through barriers to achieve greater understanding, connection, and intimacy in their relationships. Through research-based interventions and exercises, it is a structured, goal-oriented, scientifically-based therapy. Intervention strategies are based upon empirical data from Dr. Gottman’s study of more than 3,000 couples. This research shows what actually works to help couples achieve a long-term healthy relationship.
If you think that working together may be right for you or your relationship, contact us and we will respond by email within 24 hours.
Meghan, Chris and Molly: our extraordinary scheduling team.
Call
Today
Our professional client care team will answer your questions and help you find the right therapist.
Initial
Session
We’ll schedule an initial session with your therapist so you can discuss your goals and how the therapist can help.
Recurring
Sessions
If it’s a good fit, we’ll schedule recurring sessions weekly or biweekly to help you meet your goals.
Why Inside Passage?
When you choose Inside Passage Counseling, you’re choosing more than just therapy services – you’re choosing a partner on your path to healing and wholeness.
- Expertise: Our therapists are highly trained professionals specializing in relationship counseling to help individuals, couples and families overcome obstacles and thrive.
- Compassion: We approach each client with empathy, understanding and non-judgement, creating a safe space for healing and growth.
- Personalization: We recognize that every individual is unique, which is why we tailor our approach to meet your specific needs and goals.
- Customer Service: We pride ourselves in providing the highest quality of customer service every step of the way.
- Results: 90% of couples who work with us report more happiness in their marriage, stronger connection and overall better communication.
Rates and Insurance
We’re sorry to inform that intensive couples therapy is not covered by insurance.
Take the First Step to a happier, healthier relationship.
If you are ready to improve your emotional well-being and quality of life, contact Inside Passage Counseling today.
Take the first step to a happier, healthier relationship.
If you are ready to improve your emotional well-being and quality of life, contact Inside Passage Counseling today.