What can I Expect?

Three-Day Intensives are psychotherapy sessions that are designed to get to the heart of the issues at hand quickly, receive concentrated focus, and push for resolution that is both achievable and lasting.  You can expect an intensive to be—well—intensive!  As the name implies, intensives are designed to dig deeply into issues that have contributed to your present situation.  Revelations of additional sexual behavior, long-held secrets, trauma from childhood, and other issues are common during intensives.  Strong emotions are often the result.

For this reason, you can expect to experience a wide range of emotions during the intensive.  You may find yourself reconnecting with past wounds and trauma that bring a flood of emotion to the present.  When couples are doing work together, they sometimes become aware of deep-seated emotions that make it very difficult to be in the same room with their partner during the three days. 

Our goal is to help you to process the pain and emotions in a safe and healthy way.  

Preparing for an Intensive

As client get ready to come to an intensive, they are encouraged to make adaquate preparations to help ensure the success of their concentrated work.  First, clients are encouraged to spend time thinking about the events that have contributed to the need for the intensive.  In the case of someone who is a sex addict, it is important to make a complete, detailed, but confidential list of all acting out behaviors. The more detailed and complete this list, the more effective the intensive.

Clients who participate in a Three-Day Intensive are encouraged to take care of all business and family matters before coming to the intensive and then not conduct any business during the intensive.  Frankly, we have found that clients who conduct “business as usual” during an intensive get only limited benefit from the experience.  For this reason, we strongly encourage clients to wait and schedule an intensive when they are able to devote their full concentration to therapy for three days.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of this time, we make the following suggestions.

• Leave cell phones, pagers, Blackberries, PDAs, iPods, laptops, and other electronic devices at home.
• Refrain from conducting business during the duration of the intensive.
• Limit phone calls to one per day to check in with family.
• Do not drink alcohol for the thirty days preceding the intensive.
• Refrain from all alcohol use during the intens
• Do not watch television during the intensive.  Some clients even request the hotel to remove their television set during their stay in Houston.

We have also found it beneficial for clients to stay an extra day or so after the intensive to process with their partner what they have learned and accomplished during the preceding three days.  This is a good time to spend a few days sightseeing or just walking in the many parks in Houston.  This time can be important as couples make plans to reenter life and consider how their relationship may be different in the future.

We will be glad to discuss the many Houston area attractions and entertainment options for you to enjoy after your intensive.