In this FAQ video, our counselors answer common questions about our intensives and about why they are so effective. We are here to help you answer, “Is an intensive right for us?” If you need more help, give us a call today.
In this video, our counselors explain why they think a group intensive format is so powerful and an alumni couple of Hope Restored share how a group intensive saved their marriage. Watch this video to see if a group intensive is right for you. Still have questions? Call us today for more information.
Focus on the Family’s Hope Restored intensives offer marriage counseling for couples who are facing a crisis in their marriage, and who may even feel they are headed for divorce. Hope Restored Intensives are all-inclusive, extended periods of counseling over multiple days that allow our team of marriage counselors to get to the root of the problem. The Focus Marital Therapy™ method is grounded in biblical principles that inform Focus on the Family’s understanding of God’s design for marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant between a man and a woman. Hope Restored counseling tools and aftercare coaching were created to help couples who align with His intention for marriage and family.
A Hope Restored Intensive includes:
The 4-Day Group Intensive structure has proven to be the most powerful format for helping couples move past the barriers that keep them from experiencing the marriage of their dreams. While it’s common initially for many couples to be reluctant to discuss their relationship in front of others, our participants repeatedly offer high praise for the group format on post-Intensive surveys.
The 4-day format includes:
The 5-Day Couple’s Intensive is our premier intensive experience, providing the most focused care of any Hope Restored Intensive. While all of our individual programs are tailored to couples’ specific needs, this longer format allows for much more flexibility as you determine, with the counselors, the direction of each day’s sessions.
The five-day format includes:
The 3-Day Couple’s Intensive utilizes the same powerful principles as the 4-Day Group Intensive, yet is perfectly designed to provide additional privacy during marriage counseling, enhanced individual care, and greater scheduling flexibility.
The three-day format includes:
Call us to learn more about our intensive programs.
The couples seeking help
Most programs are “enrichment” focused— they are meant to facilitate growth or rekindle romance in a relationship that is generally healthy or has a solid foundation. By contrast, Hope Restored Intensives are for couples who are in a marriage crisis (separated, divorcing, hopeless). These couples feel “stuck” and discouraged, and often say they have tried everything else without having a breakthrough or seeing any positive results. Couples often take part in a Hope Restored Intensive as a last ditch effort to save their marriage. Frustration and additional harm can be experienced by couples who take part in programs that are not designed to offer what they really need. Some of these programs can open emotional wounds and stir things up, but they are often not designed to help find resolution or navigate emotionally charged areas. Our Focus Marital Therapy™ method is grounded in biblical principles that inform Focus on the Family’s understanding of God’s design for marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant between a man and a woman. Hope Restored counseling tools and aftercare coaching were created to help couples who align with God’s intention for marriage and family.
Leadership
Leaders in some programs are kind people with a heart for marriages, but are not trained professionals. One key distinction of our program is that all of our counseling staff members are trained counselors/therapists or psychologists (requiring either a Masters Degree or a Ph.D., licensure requirements by the state, thousands of hours of experience and supervision, etc). While pastors, lay helpers, and marriage mentors can be wonderful facilitators offering compassion, life experience, and testimonies, that is very different from the type of assistance provided by a trained professional equipped with the knowledge, skills, and experience to address more complex dynamics and deeper needs. Meet our counseling staff here.
Format
This is the most significant distinction. Hope Restored Intensives are NOT a typical seminar, workshop, or marriage retreat. There is not a fixed schedule of specific lectures and presentations. We do not offer a cookie-cutter approach to the situations and problems you are experiencing. Our team of clinical professionals has collaborated very closely over the years to develop a personalized approach along with specific techniques that best meet the needs of each couple and encourage change in their relationship. We gather detailed information from each spouse prior to your arrival so that our counselors can get a sense of the unique concerns to consider for each person. Our therapeutic counseling approach and tools are based on biblical principles that inform Focus on the Family’s understanding of God’s design for marriage as a sacred, lifelong covenant between a man and a woman.
A Focus on the Family Hope Restored Intensive addresses a variety of topics including communication, infidelity, intimacy and sexual issues, financial strains, blended families, children, and career conflicts. It offers a unique, holistic, and scripturally-based counseling approach that combines the heart, the mind, and a couple’s faith. This approach has proven amazingly effective. In fact, we routinely survey Intensive participants about their experience. Responses to the survey show that roughly 80 percent are still married two years later, with significantly increased marital satisfaction.
We do offer pre-marital Intensives in a limited capacity. For further information, we encourage you to call us and speak with a Hope Restored representative.
We do offer private intensives for couples who are seeking reconciliation after divorce. For further information, we encourage you to call us and speak with a Hope Restored representative.
Just like a physical doctor can’t call his patients and say, “I think you have a cold–please come in for an appointment”, our ethics don’t allow us to pursue your spouse on your behalf. We have a few recommendations to begin the conversation with your spouse:
Additionally, in the Intensive programs we emphasize the importance of “self-care.” If your spouse is unwilling to attend an Intensive, we still want to help your heart walk this journey in a healthy way. While the majority of our programs are designed for couples in crisis, we do have a program that is designed to help individuals get to a healthy place personally and be an encouragement toward positive change relationally. Call us for personalized information on our 3-Day Spouse’s Intensive.
We hear this concern quite often. For many, it sounds intimidating to think of sharing in a group setting. Many couples arrive dreading the group marriage counseling format, and yet our group format has a 99% satisfaction rate! The group setting does not use a cookie-cutter format, and is very customized and practical.
Benefits of a Group Intensive:
Our trained consultants are just a call away to answer your questions about the group setting.
There are three circumstances when we may suggest that a couple seek an alternative route:
We realize that rooming arrangements might be a concern for some couples because they are currently separated or they simply don’t feel comfortable staying in the same room together. We are committed to making sure each couple’s stay is as safe and comfortable as possible. If additional rooms are needed, our team is happy to provide you with the needed information to make these arrangements (the additional room cost will be the couple’s responsibility).
Focus on the Family recommends that all clients contact their insurance company or human resources department prior to coming to an Intensive to clarify what benefits may apply. When requested by the client, we will provide a detailed receipt with a diagnosis and CPT code for your insurance purposes. This receipt will show the marriage counselor and clinic information, EIN, License number and the amount the client has paid. However, Focus on the Family currently does not submit to insurance companies on behalf of participants of Hope Restored Intensives.
For Intensives in Branson, we recommend:
Springfield-Branson Regional (1 hour drive)
North Arkansas Regional airport (2.5 hour drive)
Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO (all about 3.5-4 hour drive)
For Intensives in Greenville, we recommend:
Grand Rapids Airport (45 minute drive)
Detroit Airport (2.5 hour drive)
Chicago O’Hare Airport (4 hour drive)
For Intensives in Rome, we recommend:
Atlanta airports (1.5 hour drive)
Chattanooga airports (1.5 hour drive)
For Intensives in Wimberley, we recommend:
San Antonio International Airport (1 hour drive)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (1.5 hour drive)
For Arizona intensives, we recommend
A Hope Restored Marriage Intensive is a one-time service, but our goal is the long-term health of your marriage. With this in mind, we have several resources for our alumni:
Our Statement of Faith reads as follows:
The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself — as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of humanity — is the sole and final source of all that we believe. The therapeutic counseling approach and tools used at Hope Restored are based on biblical principles that inform Focus on the Family’s understanding of God’s design for marriage and family. For purposes of Focus on the Family’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Board of Directors is Focus’ final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.
Contact us to speak to a Focus on the Family adviser who is ready to confidentially and sensitively answer any questions about our Hope Restored marriage intensives.