Couples Therapy Intensives

Focused Relationship Therapy Over a Shorter Period

Some couples want or need more time than a standard weekly therapy session allows.

You may be facing a significant relationship crisis, trying to recover from betrayal, feeling increasingly disconnected, or finding that the same painful patterns continue despite your efforts to change them.

A Couples Therapy Intensive offers an opportunity to devote concentrated time to your relationship over a shorter period.

At The Relational Practices, our intensives use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to help couples better understand the patterns affecting their relationship, address important relationship injuries, and begin developing greater emotional safety and connection.

What Is a Couples Therapy Intensive?

A Couples Therapy Intensive is an extended form of couples therapy that allows you to complete a substantial amount of therapeutic work within a concentrated period.

Our standard intensive involves 15 hours of therapy.

This includes:

An initial couple assessment
Two hours of individual attachment-history assessment with each partner
Extended couples therapy sessions
Time to identify and work with the negative cycle affecting the relationship
Opportunities to address significant relationship injuries and emotional disconnection
A closing review and discussion of next steps

The individual attachment-history sessions form part of the 15-hour intensive. They help the therapist better understand the experiences, relationships, and vulnerabilities that each partner brings into the couple relationship.

Why Consider an Intensive?

Weekly couples therapy works well for many couples.

However, a 50-minute session can sometimes feel too short when you are working through longstanding conflict, betrayal, significant emotional injuries, or a relationship crisis.

An intensive provides more uninterrupted time to slow down difficult interactions and work more deeply.

Couples may consider an intensive when they:

Feel stuck in repeated arguments or patterns
Have become emotionally disconnected
Are recovering from an affair or other betrayal
Are facing a major relationship crisis
Are considering separation or divorce
Want focused time to work on their relationship
Have struggled to make progress in previous couples therapy
Live outside Barbados and want concentrated access to EFT couples therapy
Have schedules that make weekly therapy difficult

An intensive is not a guarantee that every relationship problem will be resolved within 15 hours. It does, however, provide a concentrated opportunity to better understand what is happening and begin meaningful therapeutic work.

Our Approach: Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

Our Couples Therapy Intensives are grounded in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT).

EFT helps couples understand the negative interactional cycle that develops between them and the emotions and attachment needs that often sit underneath conflict, withdrawal, criticism, or disconnection.

The aim is not to decide who is right or wrong.

We work to help both partners understand the pattern they have become caught in and develop safer ways of reaching for and responding to each other.

During an intensive, you may work on:

Identifying your negative relationship cycle
Understanding what triggers conflict or withdrawal
Recognising the deeper emotions underneath your reactions
Understanding how past relationship experiences affect the present
Expressing difficult emotions in safer ways
Responding differently to your partner
Addressing significant relationship injuries
Rebuilding emotional safety and trust
Strengthening connection and intimacy

Individual Attachment-History Assessment

An important part of the intensive is understanding what each partner brings into the relationship.

Each partner receives two hours individually with the therapist as part of the assessment process.

These sessions allow us to explore significant relationships, attachment experiences, previous relationship injuries, trauma, and other experiences that may influence how you respond to closeness, conflict, vulnerability, and disconnection in your current relationship.

These individual sessions are not separate individual therapy. They are part of the assessment and preparation for the couple work.

Healing After Betrayal

An intensive may be particularly useful for couples trying to recover from a significant breach of trust.

This can include:

Affairs
Emotional infidelity
Financial betrayal
Secretive behaviour
Gambling
Substance misuse
Compulsive sexual behaviour
Other major relationship injuries

Healing from betrayal usually requires more than simply deciding to forgive or move forward.

The intensive creates time to explore the impact of what happened, understand the injury to the relationship, and begin the difficult work of rebuilding emotional safety and trust.

Couples at a Crossroads

Some couples seek an intensive because they are unsure whether their relationship can continue.

You may love each other but feel exhausted by repeated conflict. One or both of you may be considering separation, or you may feel that you have reached a point where something has to change.

An intensive provides protected time to slow things down and better understand what is happening between you.

The purpose is not to pressure you to remain together. It is to help you understand your relationship more clearly and engage in focused therapeutic work before making major decisions.

Is an Intensive Right for Every Couple?

No.

An intensive requires enough emotional and physical safety for both partners to participate openly.

An intensive may not be appropriate when there is:

Ongoing physical violence
Coercive control
Significant concerns about one partner's safety
Active and unmanaged substance misuse
An untreated mental health crisis that would interfere with participation
A situation in which one partner is being forced to attend

We assess suitability before confirming an intensive.

In some circumstances, individual treatment or other specialised support may be needed before couples therapy can begin safely.

Online and Bespoke Intensive Options

Couples Therapy Intensives are available virtually to couples in Barbados and across the Caribbean region.

For couples who prefer an in-person experience, bespoke in-home intensives are also available in Barbados.

Depending on the circumstances, bespoke arrangements may also be possible for couples elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Who Provides the Intensive?

Couples Therapy Intensives are facilitated by Jomo Phillips, MSSW, RMFT Canada, Founder and Clinical Director of The Relational Practices.

Jomo is an ICEEFT Certified Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist and Certified EFT Supervisor, a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada.

He has more than 25 years of clinical experience and works extensively with couples in Barbados and across the Caribbean.

What Happens Before the Intensive?

Before confirming an intensive, we first determine whether this format is appropriate for you and your partner.

The process begins with a consultation to learn more about your relationship, what you hope to address, and any concerns that may affect the suitability or safety of intensive couples therapy.

If the intensive is appropriate, we will explain the structure, scheduling, preparation, and next steps.

Ready to explore a Couples Therapy Intensive?

Contact The Relational Practices to schedule a complimentary consultation and learn whether an intensive may be right for you and your partner.

Book a Free Consultation

Frequently asked questions

A Couples Therapy Intensive is an extended form of couples therapy that provides more therapeutic time over a shorter period than standard weekly sessions.
Our intensive consists of 15 hours of therapy, including couple sessions and individual attachment-history assessments with each partner.
Our standard Couples Therapy Intensive is 15 hours in total.
The time is divided between couple assessment, individual attachment-history sessions, extended couples therapy, and a closing review.
The exact schedule is discussed with you before the intensive begins.
Some couples prefer an intensive because they want concentrated time to work on significant relationship concerns.
It may be particularly useful if you are dealing with longstanding conflict, betrayal, emotional disconnection, a relationship crisis, or difficulty finding time for weekly sessions.
The longer sessions also allow the therapist to slow down difficult interactions and work more deeply than may be possible within a standard 50-minute session.
An intensive provides significantly more therapy time within a short period, but couples progress at different rates.
We therefore do not promise that 15 hours will produce the same outcome as a specific number of months of weekly therapy.
The benefit of the intensive is the ability to work with greater continuity and fewer interruptions.
Each partner receives two hours individually with the therapist as part of the intensive.
These sessions explore important relationship and attachment experiences, previous injuries or trauma, and other factors that may influence how you respond to conflict, closeness, vulnerability, and disconnection.
These sessions are part of the couples therapy assessment. They are not separate individual therapy.
Our Couples Therapy Intensives use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, or EFT.
EFT helps couples understand the negative cycle affecting their relationship and develop safer and more emotionally connected ways of responding to each other.
The intensive is facilitated by Jomo Phillips, Founder and Clinical Director of The Relational Practices.
Jomo is an ICEEFT Certified Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist and Certified EFT Supervisor, a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist in Canada.
Yes.
Couples Therapy Intensives may be helpful for couples dealing with affairs, emotional infidelity, financial betrayal, secretive behaviour, gambling, substance-related relationship injuries, or other significant breaches of trust.
The extended format gives couples time to begin addressing the impact of the betrayal and the work required to rebuild safety and trust.
An intensive cannot guarantee that a relationship will stay together.
It can provide focused time to better understand what is happening between you, work on the difficulties affecting the relationship, and explore whether greater safety and connection can be developed.
For couples at a crossroads, this work can also help you make more informed decisions about the future of the relationship.
You can still be considered for an intensive.
Some couples seek intensive therapy precisely because they have reached a crossroads.
However, both partners need to be willing to participate meaningfully in the process.
Both partners do not need to feel equally hopeful when therapy begins.
It is common for one partner to feel more uncertain or discouraged than the other.
However, both partners need to be willing to participate honestly in the assessment and therapeutic process.
Not always.
Couples Therapy Intensives may not be appropriate when there is ongoing violence, coercive control, intimidation, or significant concerns about a partner's safety.
Safety is assessed before an intensive is confirmed.
Active and unmanaged substance misuse may make an intensive unsuitable.
We will assess the situation and may recommend that substance-use treatment or other support occur before intensive couples therapy begins.
Yes.
Extended therapy requires breaks. The schedule is structured to allow time for rest, meals, and emotional recovery.
The exact structure will be discussed with you before the intensive.
Yes.
We provide virtual Couples Therapy Intensives for couples in Barbados and across the Caribbean region.
Both partners will need access to a private and appropriate space where they can participate safely without interruption.
Yes.
Bespoke in-home Couples Therapy Intensives are available in Barbados.
Depending on circumstances, we may also arrange intensives elsewhere in the Caribbean.
At the end of the intensive, we review the work you have completed, the changes you have begun to make, and areas that may still need attention.
We will discuss recommendations for next steps. Depending on your needs, this may include follow-up couples therapy, returning to your existing therapist, or other support
Potentially, yes.
An intensive can sometimes be used as a focused addition to ongoing therapy.
With your consent, there may also be opportunities to coordinate with your existing therapist so that the intensive supports rather than disrupts your ongoing treatment.
Yes. Couples Therapy Intensives are confidential within the ethical and legal limits that apply to mental health professionals.
Because the intensive includes both couple and individual assessment sessions, the therapist will explain how confidentiality and individually shared information are handled before the intensive begins.
The first step is a consultation.
We will learn more about your relationship, what you hope to address, any safety or clinical concerns, and whether an intensive is likely to be an appropriate format for you.
You can begin by scheduling a complimentary consultation with our Client Care Coordinator.
We will explain the intensive, learn more about your relationship and goals, and discuss whether this format is appropriate for you.