Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy is a research-based method of helping couples overcome negative communication patterns, create new ways of interacting, and developing deep and lasting bonds. Read more about Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) here!

• Your schedule doesn’t allow time to make room for weekly therapy appointments
• One of you travels for work extensively
• You have a long-distance relationship
• You live in a small or very rural community and there are no highly trained couples counselors near you
• You want to try to make a lot of progress in a short amount of time.
• You need a high level of privacy
• You want to create a tailored intensive that suits your schedule & life
• You want to give each other the gift of two days of focused attention on your relationship

The fee for an intensive couples experience is $2000 with Emma Loach, LMFT and Amy Stambuk, LCSW. The fee with Jessica Sepulveda, LPC is $1800. Additional hours may be added onto the traditional schedule if desired or needed at a rate of $180-200 per sixty minutes, depending on which therapist you are seeing. The fee must be paid in full upon booking the intensive.  

What is included in the fee?

A Couples Therapy Intensive experience is designed to condense 2-3 months of regular couples therapy sessions into 2 days. You receive the full attention of a highly trained Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist for a private experience with just the two of you. This intensive experience is meant to bring awareness to your everyday relationship dynamics, bring about shifts in how you relate and interact with one another, increase feelings of connection and emotional safety. 

Fee includes the actual time in session, preparation work by the therapist, between-session review and planning, consultation calls, and collaboration with the ongoing couples therapist. 

How often do any of us really take the needed time to devote to our most important relationship? What a beautiful gift to create an intentional 2 day space for you and your partner to re-connect and bring about lasting change in your relationship! Don’t wait until it is too late, your relationship deserves to THRIVE.

Couple intensives at Thrive Family Services are fee-for-service. While receipts can be provided upon request, it is important to understand that insurance reimbursement will not be likely as I will be considered out of network with any insurance providers.  

The gift of an intensive is that you and your therapist are freed from the time constraints inherent in a regular counseling session. The exact schedule is mutually determined as you go along. If you decide together to stay in an important spot for a bit longer, you can do so. If you finish a segment early and feel complete or need a break, you can discuss together. That said, here is a typical schedule outline for a couples counseling intensive.

Typical Intensive Schedule Day One
9am to 3pm (4.5 hours of time in session)

9am-10:30am: Couples session

Introducing EFT concepts, beginning to understand the cycle or negative pattern that is interrupting feelings of connection. Starting to explore underlying emotions and needs that are often left unnoticed or unattended.

10:30-10:45am Break

10:45-11:30am: Individual session with Partner 1

Exploring emotional experience you are currently having within your relationship and obtaining past relational history.  Partner 2, please bring something to read or write to help keep you relaxed and connected to the process. It is best to avoid checking in with work or social media.  

11:30-12:15: Individual session with Partner 2

12:15-1:30 pm: Lunch break

You will have the opportunity to eat at one of the local restaurants and explore the Denver Tech Center area. 

1:30-3pm: Couples session

We will use our understanding of the cycle to navigate current relationship struggles and develop an alternate way of interaction in order to feel more secure with your partner. We will continue to process your current relationship struggle using cycle framework and attachment focus. We will review relational goals and consolidate session progress and accomplishments.

Typical Intensive Schedule Day Two
9am to 12:30 (3.25 hours of time in session)

9-10:30: Couples session

We will check in on your intensive experience, review your progress and process your attachment journey thus far, while continuing to hone your growing edges. We will continue to process your attachment cycle and work to increase your comfortability with vulnerable communication in order to deepen your connection.

10:30-10:45: Break

10:45-12:15: Couples session

We will continue to expand your understanding and hone your ability to disrupt your negative attachment cycle and connect on a deeper more intimate level.

We will consolidate and review all that you have explored and accomplished during our intensive as a couple.

*More time can be added if needed or desired on second day

It is recommended that you take the rest of the afternoon to relax together. Your body and emotions just went through a lot. It makes sense to be tired and in need of some TLC. Go for a walk together, out to coffee, get a massage, snuggle on the couch … Take this time to really feel the amazing work you both have done. Feel that wonderful connection, allow yourselves to linger in this place without re-engaging into work or the realities of life for a little while longer.   

It is very important to have a plan in place to initiate or continue with an EFT couples therapist after the intensive. This is meant to be a boost for your relationship needs, but more ongoing contact with a couples therapist will be needed to ensure lasting results. It is normal for new habits to take time to solidify. It is also normal for life to get complicated or hard and for the negative cycle to reappear and new vulnerable experiences to surface. We want to help you practice connecting in these new ways until we know you can connect and repair as needed when life intensifies. The length of the needed couples therapy after an intensive varies by couple and circumstance.

If you will continue to see your Intensive Therapist for follow up care, you will roll seamlessly into a regular session pattern. If you are seeing someone else for couples therapy after care, your intensive therapist will collaborate with your couples therapist to ensure a smooth transition and that all relevant information/insights are passed on with careful consideration. Collaboration requires the couple’s written consent.

Intensives may be a good fit if you and your partner are…

• Trying to recover from infidelity
• Needing shifts in your relationship
• Consistently arguing or stuck in constant disconnect
• Thinking about separation/divorce but desire to work it through
• Desiring a shift as soon as possible
• Wanting an intentional relationship retreat for you and your partner

Intensives may NOT be a good fit at this time in your relationship if:

• Domestic violence is present in the relationship
• A partner engages in active substance abuse with NO plan for treatment/recovery
• An affair was just revealed as emotions may be too raw
• One of you is sure you wish to end the relationship

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy Intensives at Thrive are provided by:

Emma Loach,M.Ed, Ed.S., LMFT, Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist

Amy Stambuk, LCSW, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist

Jessica Sepulveda, LPC, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist

Charlaine Thet, MFTC, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapist

68 Inverness Lane East, Ste 106, Englewood, CO 80112

There are multiple restaurants within short driving distance of our office.

• • Allow yourself to disengage as much as possible from work and other everyday realities during these two days – make this a Relationship Retreat!  

• • Have a couples therapist already scheduled for AFTER the intensive experience

• • Read Hold Me Tight by Dr. Sue Johnson PRIOR to intensive experience
• • Come with an open heart ready to engage fully in the experience

• • Allow time PRIOR to the intensive to reflect, honestly with yourself, about you feel in the current relationship cycle, what your partner might think/feel and what you desire from your partner and the relationship

• • Remember to give you and your partner grace throughout the process – this is new and can be really difficult. You both are coming in because you want something better – you are trying, that is an amazing first step.

• • Let me know how you are feeling with the process – I want to ensure that it is a meaningful and safe experience for you both. It is truly my honor to hold both of your hearts with love and care during this experience.