For any couple who is going through a rough patch in their marriage, they are likely considering what to do next. Although frightening and uncomfortable, realizing that your relationship might be in need of help is the first step towards making positive change. Oftentimes, the next step involves reaching out to a licensed therapist to begin couples counseling. If you’ve been exploring this as a potential means to reinvigorate your marriage, chances are high that you’ve come across terms such as ‘weekly counseling sessions’ and ‘marriage counseling retreats.’ While both are great options to help bring couples back together, one may work better for some couples than the other.
But what exactly is a marriage counseling retreat? How is it different from a weekly counseling session? Is one better than the other to help restore my marriage? If you’re interested in learning more about the key differences between a marriage counseling retreat and weekly counseling sessions, we’re happy to help. Keep reading to discover what makes each option unique and why we’d recommend taking the plunge on a counseling retreat in order to rekindle your marriage.
What is a Marriage Counseling Retreat?
Before we jump into the differences between traditional couples counseling and marriage counseling retreats, it’s important to understand what a retreat actually entails. This counseling option is a more intense version of weekly therapy, often consending months worth of work into a single weekend or week. Couples counseling retreats are often performed on-location in an area away from where the couples actually live, with many opting for exotic locations to give a more relaxed, vacation-like atmosphere to the retreat. Both weekly counseling sessions and marriage counseling retreats involve intense work with a licensed therapist, with weekly sessions lasting about an hour each week and marriage retreats occurring over a four to eight-hour per-day span.
The Key Differences Between Marriage Counseling Retreats and Weekly Counseling
Now that we’ve nailed down what exactly a marriage counseling retreat is, it’s time to start comparing it to the better known occurrence of weekly couples counseling sessions. While both options are great for couples who are interested in restoring a relationship and marriage, there are a few key differences between the two that might make one a better option for your unique situation.
Key Difference #1: The Location
We’ll start things off with one of the easiest to spot differences between weekly counseling and a couples retreat – the location. With a weekly counseling session, you are often attending it in the office of your therapist or at home at the same time each and every week. This can lead to distractions within your space and from things happening around you throughout the day.
When thinking about a marriage counseling retreat, these are often completed away from the home in a new location. Not only does this help to minimize distractions, but it also helps to reset your mind, giving you a clean slate to start focusing and working on your marriage. Many counseling retreats are often located in beautiful, vacation-worthy spots that give you and your partner the opportunity to explore and make new memories while working on your marriage at the same time.
Key Difference #2: The Intensity
One important difference between weekly counseling and a couples therapy retreat is the actual intensity of the sessions. When attending weekly relationship counseling, you are often one of many couples on the therapist’s list that day, and it is often one of many things on your to-do list for the day. This can lead to distractions and a lack of focus on both sides, lowering the intensity of the counseling session overall.
On the other hand, a marriage counseling retreat offers a high intensity within their sessions, with longer sessions that require a lot of focus and one-on-one work with a therapist. While exhausting in the moment, these sessions often yield more success and better long-term results.
Key Difference #3: The Cost
Another crucial difference between weekly counseling sessions and a couples counseling retreat is the all-in cost of each. While the up-front cost of a retreat is much higher than a weekly therapy session, this type of couples counseling condenses months and months of intense work into a single weekend or week, making the cost over time much less. With weekly therapy sessions, you are on the hook for paying each week, whether you feel like you have made any progress or not.
Key Difference #4: The Time Spent
In addition to cost, location and intensity, another key differentiating factor between weekly counseling and counseling retreats is the time commitment. With weekly counseling sessions, you are committed to taking at least one hour per week, often indefinitely, to dedicate to your relationship. Over time, this adds up to a lot of time spent with even more time spent between weekly appointments.
When considering a weekend counseling retreat or couples therapy retreat, it’s an important note that they operate on a condensed timeline, often occurring over just a single weekend or a few days. Even with this shorter timeline, these retreats often offer the same, if not better, results. For busy couples, a weekend retreat may be a better option than committing to long-term weekly therapy sessions in order to really jumpstart rekindling their relationship.
Key Difference #5: The Long-Term Benefits
While we’ve already discussed important tangible considerations like the cost, location and time spent in each, it’s also relevant to think about what comes after the counseling sessions. Both couples therapy retreats and weekly counseling sessions offer long-term benefits that can help support the rekindling of a failing relationship. However, with weekly sessions, it’s often more difficult to keep these benefits long-term, as it requires a longer commitment and is often riddled with ongoing distractions that can limit focus.
For any couple who is considering taking the next step in rekindling their marriage, an amazing option that can help get them on the right track is to pursue couples counseling. Whether this is ongoing weekly counseling with a licensed therapist or a couples retreat, both can offer great long-term benefits that can bring couples back together. However, with a more condensed timeline and higher intensity of work and focus, a couples weekend retreat or marriage retreat might just be the better option to jumpstart your relationship.
Interested in learning more about couples therapy retreats? We’d be happy to help. Contact us to speak to a Marriage Counselor and take the first step towards reinvigorating your marriage.
