A 2-day Intensive Couples Restorative Weekend in a small group where you will come together with your partner to repair, enhance, and learn to continually grow in your relationship.
Committed partners, engaged, newly married, and seasoned marriages welcome.
Experience Hold Me Tight | Learn how to
- Communicate in a way that pulls your partner closer
- Build trust by reducing conflict and distance
- Rekindle passion and intimacy by shaping your relationship into a more secure loving bond
All relationships experience moments or even stretches of disconnection. This is normal but can still feel very distressing. Sometimes it is also difficult to find your way back to one another and revisiting the conflict may seem unmanageable and get swept away instead.
Have you or your partner expressed or thought any of the following during or after a disagreement?
“Sometimes I feel like you don’t hear me. I try and try but it is like I can’t get through.”
“It feels like whatever I do it is not enough. You are unhappy with me about something.”
“I feel overwhelmed, like it is all on me. I wish we felt more like partners.”
“Because of all the household and family responsibilities we feel more like roommates than lovers.”
“You are always on your phone. I want to know I am important to you too.”
“I always have to come to you for closeness and affection. I wish I felt more wanted by you.”
If any of these sound familiar please know you are not alone. During the retreat we will walk through 7 conversations which will help make sense of why these and other feelings come up in a conflict. You will better understand where you and your partner loose each other when trying to get the other to understand.
What to expect at our Couple’s Retreat
Seven Intimate Conversations You’ll Experience Privately with Your Partner
Recognizing Disconnecting Dialogue
Finding Raw Spots
Revisiting a Rocky Moment
Hold Me Tight – Engaging & Connecting
Forgiving Injuries
Bonding Through Sex & Touch
Keeping Your Love Alive
Facilitators will give an overview of each conversation and you will then have an opportunity to walk through the conversation privately with your partner. Facilitators will provide one on one support and guidance during break out conversations with your partner.
Unsure if the Retreat is right for you? Call us or send a message we are glad to answer any questions or address concerns.
Check back for next couple’s retreat dates
Testimonials
“I feel so grateful my partner and I were a part of the Hold Me Tight Retreat! I felt that I was able to connect with my partner in ways I thought would not have been possible in a 2-day period. Though there were moments it got tough in the “swamp” my partner and I felt a sense of relief and support. I believe and hope that the information, tools, and experiences my partner and I shared this weekend has provided us with hope and momentum to repair our hurts, catch / be aware of our “dumb & dumber” cycle or dance, and open our hearts to one another. Truly grateful and would recommend to couples who feel stuck or desire to understand each other more fully.”
“This intensive weekend helps you completely submerge yourself into your relationship. With no distractions and guided talks. You are able to efficiently address raw spots in your relationship in a judgment free setting. The breakout sessions allow you to have intimate dialogue with the help of 3 amazing therapists. You also benefit from the group discussions because you are able to witness multiple perspectives. I feel like anybody in a relationship can benefit from this workshop.”
“I feel like the structure of the program is absolutely perfect. The combination of individual responses, couples work, group sessions, and working with a therapist meets everyone’s needs on sensitive and often difficult topics. I feel like a lot of the “why” questions were answered. I better understand why my husband does what he does, acts how he acts, says what he says, thinks what he thinks, and feels how he feels. Not only were we able to identify what was happening, we were able to go deeper and discover why – together.”
“This has been an instrumental weekend for me. It has been huge to getting that sense of security. Having tools to take home can be plentiful in this day in age of instant gratification but these tools have given me dialogues to engage in and build. Sessions were great. They enabled me to express issues about me that helped with insight for me and (my partner). Hate to say I didn’t dislike anything, but truly benefitted from all.”
“After 13 years together, this workshop helped us find new discoveries and understandings that will contribute to our positive growth as a couple. I really enjoyed a weekend focusing on our relationship and experiencing emotions that were necessary for growth.”
“This workshop was awesome. So glad we attended. The workshop is ideal so couples don’t get overwhelmed. The weekend was very difficult and very powerful, a game changer for our relationship. I feel more connected than ever before. Thank you!”
What’s different about Hold Me Tight®
Hold Me Tight is an educational program based on the therapy model and practice of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). EFT is an empirically tested model of couple’s therapy that has shown excellent outcomes with many different kinds of couples. Numerous clinical research studies show that 70-75% of couples in EFT therapy move from distress into to recovery. About 90% show significant improvements and evidence shows that these positive effects last over time. In the Hold Me Tight program couples are taught and have the opportunity to learn and practice the key change conversations which make EFT as a therapy so successful. Learn more about EFT at ICEEFT and its developer Dr. Sue Johnson.
All couples, including myself, face or have faced times when communication with their partner was frustrating, overwhelming, or upsetting. Couples often describe getting stuck in fights they did not plan to have. Once the disagreement is going, it is a challenge to slow it down, much less hear each other’s perspective.
The Hold Me Tight program is based on 25 years of research in which couples taught the creator of Hold Me Tight, Dr. Sue Johnson, about patterns where couples get stuck in communication and how each person’s move in their communication dance exacerbates the other person’s stance leaving both partner’s frustrated and stuck.
Walk through 7 Hold Me Tight Conversations with your partner to better understand your communication patterns, your needs and longings, and then begin to share those with each other, coming close again.
Premarital Couples
The Hold Me Tight workshop provides a wonderful atmosphere for engaged couples to learn more about each other, their relationship, and communication patterns, as well as strengthen the bond that already exists.
- Learn about your partner on a deeper level
- Understand your communication patterns
- Communicate needs and feelings in a way your partner can hear and respond
Escape away to beautiful Houston, Texas on a weekend retreat with your partner.
Is Hold Me Tight Right for Us?
If you and your partner answer yes to the following questions, Hold Me Tight may be a good fit for you:
- Are you seeking more closeness with your spouse?
- Less friction or tension in your relationship?
- Do you find yourselves getting stuck when trying to communicate, then feeling distant as a result?
Learn how to break old patterns that leave you distant and frustrated. Discover new ways of coming close again.
Committed partners, engaged, newly married, and lifelong partners welcome.
Your Hold Me Tight facilitators
John Dietrich LCSW, LCDC
John holds a master’s degree from the University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work. He is especially passionate about Emotionally Focused Therapy as a model for helping couples recognize, understand, and overcome painful cycles of interaction between each other, as well as helping rebuild and increase emotional and physical intimacy. John has seen the benefit of incorporating EFT principles in his own relationship of 17 years and is committed to assisting couples develop deeper, more meaningful partnerships while also honoring each person’s authentic self.
Laura C. Spiller, Ph. D.
Laura is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice for over 15 years. Throughout her career, she has studied how to make families more resilient in the face of stressors and life challenges, such as physical and emotional health problems. Her passion is helping couples reconnect and develop a strong foundation from which they can take on any challenge. She specializes in using emotionally focused couples therapy to provide proven tools to help couples stop hurting each other and become a team again. She is the co-owner of Wellness Collaborative and owner of Heights Couples Therapy.
Michelle Puster M. Ed., LPC
Michelle gained her Master of Education in Counseling from the University of Houston. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist, Michelle, specialized in marriage and couples counseling. Owner of Katy Couples and Wellness counseling, Michelle provides marriage and couples therapy and has extensive training and experience in the area of couple’s therapy. Michelle is passionate about Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy because she has experienced and been witness to the powerful changes it makes in couples’ relationships and lives as a whole.
Hold Me Tight® is a registered trademark to Sue Johnson.


