Couples Therapy Intensive in Indianapolis
When one hour a week is not enough room for everything your relationship is carrying.
Same pattern, different Tuesday
You keep having the same fight in different outfits.
One day it’s the dishes. The next it’s money, the kids, 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 or connection. The other feels criticized or cornered and defends, fixes, explains, or disappears. Then the first person pushes harder, and soon you’re both arguing about the argument.
Or maybe you barely fight at all. You run the household like an impressively efficient small corporation, and the relationship itself has quietly wandered off without leaving a forwarding address.
An intensive is one, two or three full days of private couples therapy with Jill, with a written plan afterward.
More room to do the work
Enough time to see the whole pattern.
Weekly therapy often stops just as the important conversation gets going. In an intensive there is time to slow the cycle down, understand what each of you is protecting, and practice a different response while the moment is still alive. It isn’t magic, and it isn’t therapy speed-dating. It’s more continuity, and less time reassembling the story at the start of every session.
9 a.m. to noon
Morning session: your history, strengths, the pattern, and a real conflict slowed down.
Lunch out
An hour away from the office to eat, breathe and walk before the afternoon.
1 to 4 p.m.
Afternoon session, straight through: practice, repair and a plan for home.
That’s six clinical hours a day, for one, two or three full days. This is private, personalized clinical therapy. It isn’t a group workshop, a faith-based program, a coaching package or a resort retreat. It’s serious relationship work in a comfortable office.
Is this you?
A couples therapy intensive may fit if…
- You keep circling the same conflict and can’t find the exit ramp.
- You feel more like roommates, co-parents or mildly irritated project managers than partners.
- Weekly therapy has helped, but the stop-and-start rhythm isn’t giving you enough room.
- Years of resentment, emotional injuries or unfinished conversations are stacked between you.
- Sex, desire or affection has become painful, confusing, avoided or nearly nonexistent.
- A major transition, such as parenthood, caregiving, a move, illness or loss, has changed the relationship.
- You’re stuck despite therapy, books, podcasts, date nights and approximately 4,000 serious talks.
- Both of you are willing to look honestly at your own part, not just bring a detailed presentation about your partner’s defects.
Your couples intensive therapist
Hi, I’m Jill.
A straight shooter with a soft place to land.
Direct doesn’t mean harsh. It means I care enough about you and your relationship to get down to business. I’m warm, curious and compassionate, and I’m also willing to say the thing that’s happening in the room, kindly and clearly, without pretending the elephant is a decorative ottoman.
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, trained in Gottman Method couples therapy, Prepare/Enrich, EMDR and IFS-informed work. That mix matters because relationship problems rarely stay in one tidy lane. Communication gets tangled up with trauma, and resentment shows up in the bedroom. I can work with the whole relationship, the conflict, the history, the nervous systems and yes, the sex, without getting flustered or changing the subject.
- LMFT
- AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
- Gottman trained
- Prepare/Enrich certified
- EMDR trained
Before we meet
The work starts before you arrive.
By the time you sit down in my office, I already know the terrain, so we spend the days working instead of performing administrative archaeology.
A free 15-minute call
We talk briefly about what’s happening, what you hope will change, timing and whether an intensive makes sense. One of you can make the call.
Screening and intake
We make sure concentrated couples work is safe and appropriate for both of you. Then you each complete a detailed intake and the Gottman Relationship Checkup.
Jill prepares
I read your answers for strengths, pressure points and cycles, so the days are built around your relationship, not a generic worksheet parade.
Your intensive days
One, two or three full days in Broad Ripple or online, with planned breaks and lunch so your brains stay attached to your bodies.
Built around your relationship
What the intensive days can look like.
Every couple gets a customized plan, so these are possibilities, not a script.
In the room
- Your history, strengths, assessment results and current pressure points.
- A real conflict slowed down so you can see its triggers, meanings and protective moves.
- Individual check-ins when clinically appropriate.
- Communication practice on an actual issue, not a suspiciously easy pretend problem.
- Planned breaks and lunch.
- A practical plan for the next week, the next month, and the patterns most likely to sneak back in.
What we may work on
- The pursue, withdraw, defend, fix, freeze or explode cycle.
- Disconnection, loneliness and the loss of “us.”
- Desire differences, initiation, rejection, avoidance and affection. Sex therapy →
- Trust injuries, secrecy, resentment, accountability and repair.
- The mental load, parenting, in-laws, money, work and business stress.
- Grief, trauma, health changes, caregiving, menopause and life transitions.
Honesty over hype
An intensive is not a magic bullet, and that’s good news.
What I bring, and what you bring
I’ll bring my A-game: I prepare, pay attention, interrupt unhelpful patterns, teach, challenge and help you practice. I won’t promise that two histories, two nervous systems and years of habits become perfect in a weekend. That would be nonsense in nice shoes. Your part is willingness. You don’t have to agree on everything, but you can’t use therapy as a courtroom or a supervised way to win.
When something else comes first
Screening decides whether an intensive is right for you now. I may recommend a different service or level of care when there is current partner violence or coercive control, acute risk or psychiatric instability, substance use that needs its own support, an affair partner still in contact, or one partner who feels forced to attend. “Not right now” doesn’t mean “not ever.” It means the right care in the right order.
If betrayal or a big decision is central
When infidelity is the central crisis, the work needs a more specific structure for stabilization, accountability, disclosure and rebuilding trust. When one of you is deciding whether to stay, discernment counseling is built for that.
After the intensive
You won’t leave wondering, “Well… now what?”
You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of the cycle we found, the skills and agreements you practiced, and the unfinished work that still matters.
Within a few days, I send a written synopsis: 8 to 10 pages of what we discussed, plus a 7-day plan and a one-month plan. You won’t have to reconstruct two or three emotionally full days from memory once you’re home.
I recommend a follow-up session, though it isn’t required and we don’t schedule it in advance, and you can message me between the intensive and that session. You can continue with weekly couples counseling or your own therapist, and with your permission I’ll coordinate. The goal isn’t to make you dependent on me. It’s to help you recognize the pattern and know what to do when the old moves try to sneak back into the house.
Couples intensives in Indianapolis, Indiana
In person in Broad Ripple
6229 Indianola Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46220Couples travel from Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers, Brownsburg and beyond. Coming from out of town? Leave some breathing room before and after each day, and skip the museum tour.
Get directions →Online in Indiana and Florida
For people located in Indiana or Florida, with both partners on one screen or two. Same work, same full days, and the same written plan afterward.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation →Frequently asked questions
A few things people usually want to know.
What is a couples therapy intensive?
It’s an extended block of private clinical therapy for one couple. Instead of meeting for 55 minutes and stopping just as the important conversation gets going, you meet for one to three full days, with six clinical hours each day. 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, so it’s just the two of you and Jill, and nothing is shared with a group. Lodging and travel aren’t included.
How much does a couples intensive cost?
Fees for one-, two- and three-day intensives are on the Fees and FAQ page, along with our current policies. We’re happy to talk through timing and fit on the free consultation call.
How many days should we choose?
One day may fit a focused concern, 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’ll 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 with desire differences, avoidance, initiation and rejection cycles, performance concerns, affection, shame, and the emotional meaning sex has taken on. Sometimes sex is the main concern. Sometimes it’s the smoke alarm for everything else. Often it’s both. LGBTQ+ couples are welcome.
What if an affair or betrayal is our main concern?
Start with the affair recovery intensive. It uses a more specific structure for stabilization, accountability, disclosure-related decisions, trauma responses and rebuilding trust.
Will insurance cover a couples intensive?
Jill is out-of-network, and intensives are self-pay. We can provide a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement, many people use HSA or FSA funds, and reimbursement depends on your plan. Coverage is never guaranteed, so contact your plan before booking if reimbursement will affect your decision.
Ready when you are
Ready to stop having the same miserable meeting?
You don’t have to arrive perfectly prepared, calm or certain. You just need enough willingness to be honest about what’s happening and curious about what could change.
On the free 15-minute call we’ll talk about your concerns, timing, location and whether a one-, two- or three-day intensive fits. If another service makes more sense, I’ll tell you that too. Straight shooter, remember?
Schedule a free 15-minute consultationIn person in Broad Ripple · Online in Indiana + Florida
