SERVICES

Caring & Committed

Intensive Couple Therapy Weekend (ICTW)

Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. ~Socrates

Why Intensive Couple Therapy Weekend (ICTW): Here are the top 4 reasons why someone may want to attend an ICTW with their partner: 
  1. You and your partner cannot attend regularly in traditional couple therapy because of time constraint.
  2. Your relationship maybe in a crisis (maybe you are thinking of separating or divorce).
  3. Your relationship maybe doing ok but would like to spend some concentrated time to increase your intimacy.
  4. You are already in couple therapy but would like to get a booster shot and speed up your recovery in this relationship.
 
Therapy used in ICTW: Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) will be use in ICTW. If you and your partner are stuck in your relationship and are in need of an effective couple therapy, EFT is the best and most effective model around. EFT is an evidenced based model created by Dr. Sue Johnson with an 70% success rate for couple therapy. I am a Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor. Read more about EFT to see whether it is a right fit for you.
 
ICTW as a supplement to regular couple therapy: ICTW does not replace your regular meeting with your therapist. It takes time and corrective emotional experience to rebuild your relationship. The goal for the weekend is not to fix all your issues. The goal of the weekend is to help you and your partner to make better connection. Ideally you would want to engage with EFT on a regular basis (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly), but sometimes because of time constraint, the severity of the problem, or simply want to speed up the process, you may want to do an Intensive Couple Therapy Weekend (ICTW) to supplement your regular couple therapy. ICTW is offered a few times through out the year. Please contact Herman Chow Counselling for more info.
 
Format of ICTW: ICTW consists of a 3-day weekend: 4 hrs on Friday, 5 hrs on Saturday, and 5 hrs on Sunday. There will be short breaks and refreshment during the sessions. There are also 2 hrs of phone call or Zoom – one before the weekend and one after. 
 
Process of ICTW: Before we meet, there will be 2 screening process: 
  1. The first screening process is a one-page questionnaire complete by each of you in order to determine whether you and your partner will benefit from ICTW. There is no charge for the first screening process. Once we determine it is a good fit, we will begin a second screening process. 
  2. The second screening process is much more of an elaborate process for me to get to know you before we even meet in person. There is a charge for the second screening process ($900 Cdn). This comprised of at least 7-8 questionnaires about your background, relationship, attachment history, attachment style, relationship status, etc. The screening questions need to be filled out by each of you - this will help me focus on the right things when you come to therapy - making our time more productive. Each of you will probably spend about 1-1.5 hr completing the questions before you come. These questionnaires need to be completed 1 week before the scheduled weekend. Usually it will take me about 10-12 hours to analyze your data and manage administrative issues even before you arrive for the weekend. If you don’t complete the questionnaires, it will hinder our work during the weekend. 
 
Fee for second Screening Process: In order for you to book and secure a therapy weekend, you must pay a $900 fee for the second screening process. The $900 screening fee is non-refundable even if you decide not to continue with therapy. The $900 screening fee is also not transferable to therapy fee (e.g.  if you decide not to engage the weekend therapy and just attend weekly sessions, you cannot transfer the screening fee to the weekly therapy session fee). Please make sure both of you can commit to the whole process – it is a big investment for the three of us. 
 
Therapy Fee: The therapy fee (TBA) is received in 2 equal payments – the first payment is received 1 day before the first day of the weekend therapy and the second payment is received 1 day before the second day of the weekend therapy. Alternatively, you can send the full therapy fee 1 day before the weekend therapy. Typically, e-transfer is preferred as a form of payment. Only if e-transfer is not possible (e.g. clients who are from outside of Canada), money order or certified cheque is also acceptable. You are responsible for any banking administrative fee incurred. 
 
Cancellation and Postponement Policy: Once you booked the weekend and the screening fee has been received, there is no refund if you want to cancel the weekend. You may choose to postpone to another weekend, there is a $150 administrative fee. However, you may not postpone to another weekend when you give less than 7 days notice, it will be treated like a cancellation. You have up to one year (from the original weekend booking) to postpone to another weekend, otherwise you will forfeit the $900 screening fee.
Intensive Couple Therapy Weekend is a big investment but it is well worth your time, money, and effort!!! Divorce and separation are much more costly (financially and emotionally).