A couples intensive is a one- or two-day therapeutic experience, designed specifically around you, your relationship and what you need to work on. It gives you dedicated time and space to focus on an issue, conversation or area of your relationship that needs attention.

It isn't six hours of therapy. The day is made up of therapeutic sessions, structured breaks and time to reflect. We move in and out of the conversation, allowing things to slow down when they need to, and giving you time to pause, regulate and come back.

This is important because difficult conversations don't always happen in one sitting. At home, a conversation can become overwhelming, one of you may shut down or become over-aroused, and once you stop, it can be difficult to know how to start again.

During an intensive, you don't have to navigate that on your own. I can help you recognise when you need to pause, guide you out of the conversation safely, and help you find your way back in when you're ready. The aim isn't to force you through a difficult conversation, but to help you experience what it is like to stay connected while having one.

The structure gives you a contained space to talk, pause, reflect and return to the conversation — with someone there to help you find a way through it together.

The day is designed to feel relaxed and spacious, giving you time to talk, think and reflect without having to rush the work.

We start with some time to settle in and look at what you both want from the day. From there, we'll move between focused therapeutic conversations, reflection and breaks, allowing the work to unfold at a pace that feels right for you.

There will be time away from the room too — to pause, take a walk, have a coffee, reflect together or have some space on your own. Where helpful, I'll introduce ideas, exercises or psychoeducation that help you understand what's happening between you and give you something practical to work with.

The exact shape of the day will depend on you. I'll guide the process and adjust the pace and focus as we go.

You may already have a sense that weekly therapy isn't quite right for you. Perhaps there's something pressing that you want to address, you need dedicated time away from everyday life, or you'd simply rather give yourselves the space to work through something in one go rather than spread it over several weeks.

But you don't have to know.

That's what the initial session is for. We'll talk about what's happening in your relationship, what you both want from the work, and what might give you the best chance of making progress.

An intensive may be the right starting point — or a personalised programme, a workshop, or a combination of different approaches may suit you better. I'll help you work that out.

Before we decide whether an intensive is right for you, we'll meet for an initial session.

This gives me the opportunity to get to know you both, understand what's happening in your relationship and hear what you would like from the work. From there, we'll decide together which pathway is likely to be most helpful for you.

If we decide an intensive is the right fit, I'll then send you both a series of questions to work through individually, in your own time. This gives you the opportunity to share what's important to you, including anything that may be difficult to say when you're together.

I'll bring your individual responses together with what we've explored in our initial session to identify the key areas I think will be most useful to focus on during your intensive. I'll have a plan for how we might use the time, but it isn't set in stone.

The day is yours. We can change the focus, slow things down or take a different direction depending on what you need in the moment.

My role is to guide the process while making sure there is enough time to talk, regulate and reflect. All three are an important part of the work.

Some of the things we talk about may be difficult. That's often why couples choose an intensive, there are conversations that feel too important, too complicated or too difficult to have at home.

But the aim isn't to talk about difficult things all day, or simply to get through as many issues as possible.

Part of the work is learning how to have difficult conversations without becoming overwhelmed or falling back into the same familiar patterns.

I'll help you notice when things are becoming too much, when you might need to slow down, take a break or have some time to reflect. We may pause, regulate, explore something more deeply or approach the conversation differently before coming back to it.

The aim is not just to talk about the difficult things. It's to learn how to stay in the conversation while they're difficult.

You'll have the opportunity to practise noticing what happens between you, finding ways to regulate, and coming back to each other rather than being pulled back into the same pattern.

Item descriAn intensive can be an opportunity to create dedicated time and space for your relationship, even when things are going well. You might be preparing for marriage, starting a family, navigating a life transition, or simply have something important you want to talk about but haven't quite found the space to explore together.

Because intensives are bespoke, we can shape the time around what matters to you. It might be a single focused conversation, an opportunity to explore patterns or expectations, or simply some dedicated time to reconnect and think about what you want from your relationship as you move forward.

You don't need to be in crisis to invest in your relationship. Sometimes it's about giving something important your full attention before it becomes a problem.ption

Item descriptionSometimes. It depends on what you need.

An intensive isn't simply a condensed version of weekly therapy. Sometimes I may recommend an intensive because I feel that what you're bringing needs more time, space and containment than a weekly hour can offer. There may be something you've been unable to talk about, an issue that needs room to breathe, or a conversation that needs careful guidance.

Weekly therapy offers something different — time between sessions to reflect, practise and see what happens in everyday life.

Your initial session is where we'll work out together which approach is likely to be most helpful for you.