COUPLES INTENSIVES
COUPLES INTENSIVES
Couples Intensives offer an immersive space for partners to deepen intimacy, heal and grow together. Over several focused days, Cory helps couples clarify their desires around their relationship, and identify the recurrent patterns that keep them from experiencing the kind of relationship, sex and loving connection they most desire. Cory then supports each partner to explore and integrate the underlying trauma and relational adaptations that drive these patterns. Doing trauma work with your partner present creates a depth of intimacy, empathy and understanding which is missing from an individualized model of trauma healing. As the partners heal together, they are able to show up for themselves and one another to co-create a truly conscious, intimate relationship.
There’s an old saying in couple’s therapy - it’s the process, not the content. While you may be fighting about the dishes or what your partner said at that family gathering, the content of your fight is not the true source of discord between you. The real struggle is the process - the relationship pattern that the two of you play out over and over again. It happens in different settings, with different content, but feels so nauseatingly familiar. Without proper support, this pattern can eat up all the love, all the intimacy, all the playful fun and romance in your relationship, leaving you wondering whether the relationship is worth the pain.
While weekly couples work can be effective, an Intensive allows both partners to drop in fully without the interruptions of daily life. The concentrated time together creates momentum, clarity, and depth that often exceeds months of weekly sessions. Couples gain an understanding of their “process”, which they take with them and can continue to utilize to support growth, healing and intimacy for years to come.
Why a Couples Intensive?
Incredible relationships help us to realize our greatest potential. They bring a depth of love and intimacy our souls long for. They bring unimaginable pleasure and meaning to the day-to-day. Truly epic relationships provide stability, satisfaction, and joy at every stage of life.
As modern humans, we expect more from our partners than our ancestors ever did. We want stability, collaboration and accountability, yet we also want playful adventure, great sex, romance, and unconditional love. To complicate matters, the relationship we most desire often wasn’t modeled to us as children.
What we long for might be clear in our mind and yet evasive in reality.
Like anything in life, you get out of it what you put into it. Want to pass the test? You need to pay attention and study. Want a successful career? You need to gain the skills, seek out the opportunities to succeed, and put in the hours. This also holds true in developing an intimate relationship. Good relationships require support, intention, and inner work. We often pick the partner who perfectly pushes our most sensitive and challenging buttons, making it easy to think that they aren’t the right one for us. However, they might be the ideal catalyst for our most profound growth, healing and development. This process is complex and requires much more than just skill-building or knowledge. It requires opening up to the deeper process emerging in our relationship, and allowing ourselves to grow and heal into becoming the person the relationship is nudging us toward.
An intensive provides:
uninterrupted time to focus on your relationship
space to slow down and deeply connect to one another
attuned facilitation that helps illuminate your process: what is happening underneath conflict, and how to shift this toward reconnection, healing and intimacy
tools that support emotional regulation and co-regulation
opportunities to rebuild trust and intimacy
a clear understanding of the patterns affecting the relationship
Couples often leave with renewed connection, open-hearted communication, and a more grounded, inspired experience of love, sex and intimacy.
A Sample Day
This is an example only. Actual pacing and times may vary.
9:00am-12pm: First session of the day (with breaks as needed)
12:00pm-1:30pm: Break for lunch
1:30pm-4:30pm: Second session of the day (with breaks as needed)
This rhythm repeats each day, adjusting to your needs, capacity, and the material that arises.
Who Couples Intensives are for
This format is supportive for couples who are:
Ready for more love and intimacy in their relationship
stuck in repeating conflict cycles
navigating resentment or emotional distance
seeking to rebuild emotional or sexual intimacy
healing together after trauma or loss
needing a reset in how they communicate
repairing after betrayal or rupture
desiring a deeper experience of connection and understanding
Couples Intensives are appropriate for partners of all orientations and relationship structures.
Daily Structure
Intensives typically include up to six hours of structured work per day, with intentional breaks for rest and integration.
A day may include:
joint sessions with both partners
individual sessions as needed
structured exercises
guided practices
time outdoors when suitable
grounding and regulation work
Every intensive is tailored to the couple’s goals and current needs.
What the Process Includes
Cory draws from a blend of modalities, including:
Relational Life Therapy (RLT)
Attachment-focused work
Somatic and body-based relational practices
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Experiential exercises
Guided dialogues
Practical tools for daily communication and repair
The intention is to help both partners understand what drives their patterns, and to support them in developing new ways of relating that feel authentic, intimate, and supportive.
Costs & Logistics
4-Day Couples Intensive (including 5 nights of lodging): $9,000
5-Day Couples Intensive (including 6 nights of lodging): $11,000
(Travel, transportation, and meals not included.)
Couples may request to book additional nights to account for jetlag, and to support grounding and integration. Additional lodging fees apply. Subject to availability.
Required Couples Consultation
All couples must complete a 45-minute video consultation before scheduling to determine appropriateness, clarify goals, and discuss timing.
Cost: $100 (applied toward Intensive if booked)
Travel &
Lodging
Couples Intensives take place on an 76-acre property along the North Fork of the Holston River outside of Abingdon, Virginia, approximately 40 miles from Tri-Cities Airport (TRI). Lodging is arranged on behalf of the couple and includes a private, standalone cottage with:
living room
full kitchen
queen bedroom
private bathroom
dedicated session room
Weather permitting, parts of the work may occur outdoors. For more details, see the Location & Lodging page.
Next Steps
If you and your partner are considering an Intensive, a consultation call is the best starting point. Cory will help you determine whether this format is the right match for your relationship.