Private Couples Therapy • Indianapolis
Couples Therapy Intensive in Indianapolis
When one hour a week is not enough room for everything your relationship is carrying.
Private, focused marriage and relationship counseling for one couple at a time. We meet in person in Indianapolis and spend real, uninterrupted time understanding what keeps going wrong, practicing what needs to change, and creating a plan you can actually use when you go home.
No group sharing. No generic relationship boot camp. No pretending your actual problem fits neatly into somebody else’s worksheet. Just the two of you, one experienced couples therapist, and enough time to do meaningful work.
Schedule a Free 15-Minute Couples Intensive ConsultationIn person in Indianapolis or online in Indiana and Florida.
Same Pattern. Different Tuesday.
You keep having the same fight in different outfits.
One day it is the dishes. The next day it is money, the kids, work, sex, your mother-in-law, or the fact that somebody used a tone. Again.
Underneath the rotating cast of topics, the pattern is often remarkably consistent. One of you pushes for an answer, reassurance, change, or connection. The other feels criticized, overwhelmed, or cornered and starts defending, explaining, fixing, or disappearing. Then the first person pushes harder.
Soon you are both arguing about the argument—and neither of you feels understood.
Or maybe you are not fighting much at all. You run the household, manage the calendar, and function like an impressively efficient small corporation. The relationship itself, however, has quietly wandered off without leaving a forwarding address.
More Room to Do the Work
An intensive gives us enough time to see the whole pattern.
A couples therapy intensive is a longer, concentrated block of clinical couples counseling. Instead of opening a painful conversation, getting somewhere important, and hearing, “We need to stop for today,” we have time to slow the cycle down, understand what each of you is protecting, and practice a different response while the moment is still alive.
That does not make an intensive magic, and it is not therapy speed-dating. It simply gives us more continuity. We can look at the relationship as a system, work with the emotional and practical pieces together, and spend less time reassembling the story at the beginning of every weekly appointment.
Is This You?
A couples therapy intensive may fit if…
- You keep circling the same conflict and cannot find the exit ramp.
- You feel more like roommates, co-parents, coworkers, or mildly irritated project managers than romantic partners.
- Weekly couples therapy has helped, but the stop-and-start rhythm is not giving you enough room.
- You have years of resentment, emotional injuries, or unfinished conversations stacked between you.
- Sex, desire, affection, or emotional intimacy has become painful, confusing, avoidant, or nearly nonexistent.
- A major transition—parenthood, caregiving, a move, retirement, illness, business stress, or loss—has changed the relationship.
- You want focused premarital work before recurring issues become permanent household residents.
- You are stuck despite trying therapy, books, podcasts, date nights, or approximately 4,000 serious talks.
- Both of you are willing to look honestly at your own part—not just bring me a detailed presentation about your partner’s defects.
What We’re Working Toward
Not a perfect relationship. A more connected one.
The goal is not to turn the two of you into people who never disagree. That sounds suspicious—and exhausting.
The goal is to help you recognize the pattern sooner, understand what is happening underneath it, speak more clearly, listen with less armor, and find your way back to each other without spending three days arguing about how the argument began.
Your Couples Intensive Therapist
Hi, I’m Jill.
I’m a straight shooter with a soft place to land.
Direct does not mean harsh. It means I care enough about you and your relationship to get down to business.
I am not interested in having you sit on the couch with me for years while all three of us become extremely familiar with the same fight. I want you to jump all in, do the hard work, heal well, and get on with your life.
I am warm, curious, caring, and compassionate. I am also willing to say the thing that is happening in the room—kindly, clearly, and without pretending the elephant is a decorative ottoman.
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist. My training includes Gottman Method couples therapy, Prepare/Enrich, EMDR, experiential therapy, and IFS-informed work. That mix matters because relationship problems rarely stay in one tidy lane. Communication can be tangled up with trauma. Resentment can show up in the bedroom. Sex can become the battleground for grief, rejection, power, shame, exhaustion, or years of things nobody quite knew how to say.
I can help you work with the whole relationship—the conflict, the history, the nervous systems, the practical agreements, and yes, the sex—without getting flustered or changing the subject.
Before We Meet
The work starts before you arrive.
A useful couples intensive is not two people walking into a room while I dramatically ask, “So, what brings you in?” We prepare.
By the time you sit down in my office, I already know quite a bit about the terrain. We can spend our time working instead of performing administrative archaeology.
Consultation + Fit
We talk briefly about what is happening, what you hope will change, timing, and whether an intensive makes sense.
Safety Screening
We make sure concentrated couples work is appropriate and safe for both partners.
Assessment
You complete the Gottman Relationship Checkup and thoughtful open-ended questionnaires.
I Prepare
I review your answers, strengths, pressure points, cycles, and the concerns needing our attention.
Your Plan
We organize the intensive around your relationship—not a generic worksheet parade.
What Actually Happens
What the intensive days can look like.
Every couple gets a customized plan. Your intensive may include:
- Relationship history, strengths, assessment results, and current pressure points.
- Slowing down a real conflict to see its triggers, meanings, and protective moves.
- Individual check-ins when clinically appropriate.
- Focused work on emotional injuries, trust, boundaries, intimacy, sex, or family stress.
- Communication practice using an actual issue—not a suspiciously easy pretend problem.
- Planned breaks and lunch so your brains remain attached to your bodies.
- A practical plan for the next week, next month, and patterns most likely to sneak back in.
Built Around Your Relationship
What we may work on.
- The pursue, withdraw, defend, fix, freeze, or explode cycle.
- Communication that sounds fine in your head and lands like a small appliance being thrown across the room.
- Emotional disconnection, loneliness, friendship, fondness, and the loss of “us.”
- Sexual desire differences, initiation, rejection, avoidance, performance concerns, and affection.
- Trust injuries, secrecy, resentment, accountability, and repair.
- Division of labor, mental load, parenting, blended families, in-laws, money, work, and business stress.
- Grief, trauma, health changes, caregiving, menopause, aging, and life transitions.
- Clear requests, boundaries, follow-through, decision-making, and what happens after somebody says, “Fine.”
Honesty Over Hype
An intensive is not a magic bullet—and that is actually good news.
I will bring my absolute A-game. I will prepare, pay attention, interrupt unhelpful patterns, teach, challenge, translate, and help you practice.
I will not promise that a relationship with two histories, two nervous systems, and years of habits will become perfect in a weekend. That would be nonsense in nice shoes.
Your part is willingness. You do not have to agree on everything. You do need to participate without using therapy as a courtroom, an ambush, or a professionally supervised way to win.
We’re Straight Shooters
Sometimes another kind of support needs to come first.
A consultation and screening help us decide whether a couples intensive is appropriate now. I may recommend a different service or a higher level of care when there is:
- Current intimate partner violence, coercive control, stalking, or another situation in which honest couples work may increase danger.
- Acute suicidal risk, psychiatric instability, or another urgent concern requiring crisis or specialized care.
- Alcohol or substance use that is uncontrolled or needs a dedicated level of support.
- An active affair or ongoing secret contact that prevents meaningful shared work.
- One partner who feels forced to attend, has essentially decided to leave, or primarily wants help deciding whether to stay.
“Not right now” does not necessarily mean “not ever.” This is not about labeling anyone as too much for therapy. It is about providing the right care in the right order and making sure the format is safe and useful for both people.
If the central question is whether to remain in the relationship, discernment counseling may be the better next step.
After the Intensive
You will not leave wondering, “Well…now what?”
You will leave with a clearer understanding of the cycle we identified, the skills and agreements you practiced, and the unfinished work that still matters.
At the end, I will give you a clear breakdown of everything we discussed and the practical steps for implementing the changes we identified. You will not have to reconstruct two or three emotionally full days from memory once you get home.
The plan may include follow-up sessions, continued weekly couples counseling in Indianapolis, individual support, referrals, or structured practice at home.
The goal is not to make you dependent on me. The goal is to help the two of you recognize the pattern, use what you practiced, and know what to do when the old moves start trying to sneak back into the house.
Broad Ripple + Central Indiana
Coming to Indianapolis for your couples intensive.
High Thrive Counseling is located in a warm, private office in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis. Couples travel from Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers, Brownsburg, Nora, other parts of Indiana, and beyond for focused intensive couples counseling.
If you are coming from out of town, plan for some emotional breathing room before and after each day. This is probably not the weekend to schedule a complicated family dinner, tour six museums, or finally address your shared Costco strategy.
Get Directions to Our Indianapolis OfficeFrequently Asked Questions
A few things people usually want to know.
What is a couples therapy intensive?
It is an extended block of private clinical therapy for one couple. Instead of meeting for 60 or 90 minutes and stopping just as the important conversation gets going, you meet for a half day or for one to three days. That gives us time for assessment, deeper pattern work, guided practice, and a concrete plan.
Is this the same as a marriage retreat?
Not exactly. “Marriage retreat” can describe group programs, workshops, coaching, faith-based events, or destination packages. High Thrive offers private, clinician-led couples therapy for one couple at a time. Lodging and travel are not included.
Are the intensives private?
Yes. It is just the two of you and Jill. You will not share personal information with a group or complete exercises in front of other couples. The work is built around your goals, history, assessment, and relationship patterns.
How much does a couples intensive cost?
A three-hour half day is $900. A one-day intensive is $1,800, a two-day intensive is $3,600, and a three-day intensive is $5,400. Payment is due in full when the dates are reserved.
How many days should we choose?
A half day or one day may fit a focused concern, premarital work, preventive care, or a solid relationship that needs help with one recurring pattern. Two or three days often make more sense when conflict is entrenched, disconnection has lasted a long time, intimacy concerns are layered, or several problems affect one another. We will talk about the best fit during the consultation.
Can we do a couples intensive online?
Yes. Online couples therapy intensives are available in Indiana and Florida.
Can an intensive help with sex and intimacy?
Yes. Jill is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist and can help couples address desire differences, avoidance, initiation and rejection cycles, performance concerns, affection, shame, and the emotional meaning sex has taken on. Sometimes sex is the primary concern. Sometimes it is the smoke alarm for everything else. Often it is both.
What if an affair or betrayal is our main concern?
Start with the Affair Recovery Intensive. That service uses a more specific structure for stabilization, accountability, disclosure-related decisions, trauma responses, and rebuilding trust.
Will insurance cover a marriage counseling intensive?
High Thrive Counseling is out of network. A superbill or invoice may be available for you to submit, but insurance companies often limit reimbursement for couples therapy and extended sessions. Coverage is never guaranteed, so contact your plan directly before booking if reimbursement will affect your decision.
Will a couples intensive fix everything?
No ethical therapist can promise that. An intensive provides focused time, careful assessment, real-time practice, and a clearer path forward. What happens next also depends on safety, honesty, follow-through, and both partners’ willingness to keep using the work.
Ready When You Are
Ready to stop having the same miserable meeting?
You do not have to arrive perfectly prepared, perfectly calm, or perfectly certain. You just need enough willingness to be honest about what is happening and curious about what could change.
During the free 15-minute consultation, we will talk briefly about your concerns, timing, location, and whether a half-day, one-day, two-day, or three-day intensive may fit. If another service makes more sense, I will tell you that too. Straight shooter, remember?
Schedule a Free 15-Minute Couples Intensive Consultation