Online Virtual Retreats during COVID-19

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are conducting online virtual retreats using Zoom rather than meeting in person. This is because an in-person retreat is a super-spreader for the Coronavirus. See how in-person retreats spread COVID-19.

In the first few months of the lockdown, we conducted virtual retreats with more than a dozen couples. All of these intensives were highly successful, as stated in the couples’ own words. Read testimonials from virtual retreat clients.

We’ve been doing intensive marriage retreats for three decades. We know what you can accomplish in a short period of time, and we know how to help you do it.

And we have used online video for years with great results, both for follow-up sessions and when couples couldn’t see us in person.

The help you’ll get from us in a virtual retreat is every bit as effective as you’d receive in person. It may be even better! Surprised by that? We were too, until we figured out why. Learn how virtual retreats can be even more effective than meeting in person.

What Couples Say About Our Virtual Retreats

Having used online video for years, we effectively deliver best-in-class relationship help. Couples find our online intensive program to be equal in effectiveness to our in-person work. Here’s what recent couples said about our online work:

“We didn’t want to do our retreat remotely, but decided to go ahead with it. We’re surprised by how well we improved our communication. Our barriers let down and we’re no longer defensive. We can repair upsets like we never could before. And now we sit down together every day and express our appreciation for each other.”

“During this stay-at-home period the online intensive we did with you has literally saved our marriage. We are so glad we found you, and thank you for the security we have found with each other through working with you.”

“This has been awesome to do during the Coronavirus time. We’re really grateful for you. We really weren’t doing very well. The emotional repair process you gave us has been huge. This all has been really effective. It finally feels like we are really a team and we own our relationship as real partners.”

“I first thought ‘I don’t want to do it virtually. I need the person right in front of me.’ I thought I wouldn’t get as much out of it doing it online. But now I can say that it was life-changing. Just the couple of days have really opened our eyes and our hearts. Doing it online was actually much better for us.”

“We were initially quite apprehensive about doing an intensive retreat online vs. in person. But John coached us the same as if we were together. In hindsight, there are no negatives to doing this online, and there are some real positives.”

See more feedback from couples who have taken our virtual retreats →

Best-in-Class Help When You Need It

We know that part of the attraction of a retreat is to get away from home and stay in a beautiful travel destination. Of course, you can still do this for a virtual retreat. Many of our clients do go away to stay at special places for their Zoom retreats.

Yet most couples seek a retreat because their marriage is in serious trouble. And feeling the distress of that, they realize they need an intensive approach that provides competent help that makes a real difference.

That’s what we deliver, in-person, or via Zoom. We’ve been successfully working with couples for decades. Our approach is top-rated.

If your relationship is at a critical juncture, know that we offer best-in-class help. And we can give this help to you using Zoom just as effectively as meeting in person.

Working virtually over the last several months, we have consistently helped partners heal major issues with effectiveness equal to our in-person work. And they were not dealing with light-weight problems, either. On the contrary.

We helped some partners heal severe matters like infidelity, betrayal, and lying. Others were stuck in long term conflicts and fighting. Yet others were disconnected emotionally, avoiding each other, or living like room-mates. A few had filed for divorce.

We helped these couples successfully, every bit equal in effectiveness to the in-person work we have delivered for decades in our intensive retreats. Some of our virtual work was even more effective than our in-person work!

See why some couples said a virtual retreat was actually better →

Virtual Retreats Offer Flexible Scheduling

Conducting virtual retreats has shown us how we can now offer a good deal of flexibility in how you schedule your sessions. Our standard in-person intensive retreat concentrated the work by doing two 3-hour sessions per day for three or four days in a row.

With a virtual retreat, you can schedule your sessions as you like. Do concentrated 6-hour days and/or have one 3-hour session per day and spread your retreat out over the period of a week or more.

And we offer a few types of virtual retreat programs. See our retreat details page for our different programs, costs, and logistics.

We’d be happy to discuss how any of our virtual retreat programs can help you. Reach us by using our contact page or by giving John a call at (707) 536-5781.

When Will We Offer In-Person Retreats?

Currently, an in-person retreat center like ours is a super-spreading venue for COVID-19. It’s just a matter of time before the virus would arrive at our center. While asymptomatic, we could catch it from one client and then unknowingly spread it to the next.

Many of our clients have a high vulnerability to succumbing to this disease. But even beyond that, playing any role in spreading COVID-19 goes against the oath of the healing professional: “First, do no harm.”

Thus, since we’re informed by science and honor the healer’s oath, to us there appears to be no other choice…

So as much as we love to work with couples in person, it looks like it will be quite a while before the pandemic ends and we can again conduct in-person retreats.

Meanwhile, based on the experiences we’ve gained since we started doing them in early March, we have consistently found that our Zoom retreats are equal to or even more effective than meeting in person.