Personalized Intensive Couple Therapy
We offer In-person and online private couples intensive therapy
When your relationship is in crisis, waiting months to make progress can feel overwhelming.
A couples intensive provides focused, expert-guided therapy over two consecutive days, allowing you to accomplish in days what often takes months of weekly therapy. Rather than spending one hour a week revisiting difficult conversations, you and your partner work deeply and continuously with an experienced couples therapist dedicated entirely to your relationship.
At Psychology Specialists of Maine, our couples intensives are led by Andrea Medaris, Psy.D or Jen Taylor Hall, LMFT or Julie Quimby, PhD. Together, our team has conducted more than 30 couples intensives, helping partners reconnect, rebuild trust, improve communication, and strengthen emotional intimacy.
Many couples describe the experience as equivalent to five or six months of weekly couples therapy condensed into two highly productive days.
Whether you're struggling with ongoing conflict, emotional disconnection, recovering from a relationship injury, navigating major life transitions, or simply feeling stuck, a couples intensive offers an opportunity to make meaningful progress quickly.
Why Choose a Couples Intensive?
Couples often choose an intensive because:
Weekly therapy feels too slow
Busy schedules make regular appointments difficult
The relationship is in crisis and needs immediate attention
They want uninterrupted time to focus on their relationship
Previous couples therapy has not produced lasting change
They are seeking expert guidance from therapists who specialize in relationship repair
Unlike traditional therapy, an intensive allows us to maintain momentum, address core issues directly, and create meaningful change without losing progress between sessions.
What Is Included?
Every couples intensive begins with a required 2-hour assessment and consultation to determine whether the intensive format is appropriate for your relationship and goals.
The intensive includes:
2-hour assessment and screening session
Two consecutive days of therapy (approximately 6 hours per day)
Personalized resources and exercises
A structured treatment plan tailored to your relationship
One 60-minute follow-up "tune-up" session approximately six weeks later
Who Benefits from a Couples Intensive?
Couples intensives may be helpful for:
Communication difficulties
Frequent conflict
Emotional disconnection
Trust and relationship injuries
Affair recovery
Parenting and family stress
Life transitions
Sexual intimacy concerns
Trauma impacting the relationship
Growing apart over time
Is a Couples Intensive Right for Us?
Couples intensives are best suited for partners who are motivated to work on their relationship and are willing to engage deeply in the process.
Because the work is concentrated and emotionally focused, a screening assessment is required before scheduling. During this consultation, we will discuss your goals, answer questions, and determine whether an intensive is the best fit for your situation.
Ready to reconnect?
Contact us to schedule your 2-hour couples intensive assessment and learn whether this approach is right for your relationship.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
Describe your experience in a couple intensive
“When we began with Julie it all seemed so dark and hopeless, my husband and I had lost that connection that was so precious to us. With the thoughtful , gentle, loving guidance and insight Julie has we slowly opened up that connection once again. During each intensive session, deep insight and healing took place. We were given the tools to find our way, and tools to use into the future, to hold this bond we so cherish deeply. We are once again connected, loving, laughing, and caring for one another. Thank you Julie for helping us save the most precious gift we have, our love for one another.” -Summer, 2020
“Working with Dr. Quimby was great. I was apprehensive about approaching marriage counseling because it is a tender subject for me. Dr. Quimby provided a guided experience to explore what aspects are tender and why that is. She provides a safe place to advance to places I didn't exactly want to go; when I got there though, with Dr. Quimby's help, I realized I didn't really need to be afraid to begin with. She provides multiple ways of exploring topics individually with each member of the relationship as well as exploring these topics as a group. She does a great job inspiring discussion and then letting the couples discuss. The backbone of the therapy focused on exploring how adult attachment theory applies to your marriage. Dr. Quimby was able to take this theory and apply it to the individual couple. This is really helpful because it provides patterns rather than specifics to address that appear academically/theoretically sound. Dr. Quimby uses studied patterns that helped us realize that our troubles were not unique or unsolvable, but rather relatively common and responsive to the right sort of adjustments and attention.” - Winter, 2020
“My husband and I got so much out of our time with Dr. Quimby. I didn't realize how much we could accomplish in a short duration, and how lasting the work we did in the intensive would be. We continue to return to the things we learned with Dr. Quimby, and look forward to occasional follow-up sessions to continue to learn and grow together.” -Spring, 2020
What would you say to couples who are considering signing up for
a couples intensive?
It may feel too late, that all is lost. It is not!!! My husband and I were at what we seemed like the end, all so hopeless and irrevocably broken. Our therapist helped us break the terrible cycle we were in. -Summer, 2020
“Bottom line up-front: do it. If you or your spouse thinks you need this, chances are you do you just may not be able to articulate why. This is especially true if your spouse thinks you need counseling, but you do not -- you need to hear what they have to say and it's probably better to do that in a structured, safe way. The intensive sessions are great because it is convenient, productive and cumulative. While rigorous, I believe the intensive sessions enabled us to keep momentum that individual sessions may have prohibited. Lastly, I'd suggest taking the leap because I appreciate that her methods are routed in established adult attachment theory, which helped us realize that we are not unique in our struggle and provided reasons why we do what we do.” - Winter, 2020
“Do it! It's definitely worth the investment in time and money. "Regular" sessions (1 hour/week) just can't get as in depth as an intensive can. You don't just touch on the real, uncomfortable stuff. You have time to work through it with your partner, with the support of someone who's caring and professional.” - Spring, 2020
Do you think the intensive was worth the money you invested?
“Worth every penny. We believe that the intensive sessions accomplish what no weekly hour long sessions can, deep work, done consistently with no time lost in between. The cost to save our 20 year marriage was just .67 cents per day of the marriage, and when you add the many years to come the price is even lower.”