Marathon Couples Therapy Australia

Relationship Institute Australasia is proud to be the leading organisation that offers Gottman Relationship Therapy - and is lead by Australia's only Gottman Therapists, Master Trainers & Consultants in Australia - Trish Purnell-Webb and John Flanagan.

Marathon Couples’ Therapy has become one of the most popular and successful approaches to helping couples through a relationship crisis. It is an approach that we would recommend for any couple presenting with significant relationship distress.

Marathon Couples' Therapy is a specific type of therapy that is short-term and intensive. Its purpose is to move couples quickly through your current crisis or specific perpetual issue. It is not meant as an on-going, long-term time commitment. The process consists of 2 consecutive days of intense, structured, evidence-based couples therapy. It can either be done face to face in Burleigh Heads or can be adapted to be undertaken via ZOOM online.

We currently have John Flanagan who is conducting face to face Marathon Therapy here on the Gold Coast - and Trish Purnell-Webb who offers Online Progressive Intensive Couples Therapy via ZOOM. They are both Certified Gottman Therapists, Master Trainers & Consultants and are the founding partners and co-facilitators of Relationship Institute Australia.. John and Trish are only 2 of 26 Certified Master Consultants and Trainers in the world - in addition to being the only 2 for that skill level in Australia.

Between them they have undertaken 100’s of hours of advanced training with the Gottman Institute to hone their skills and are the only Certified Gottman Therapists in Australia who are trained and approved to utilise the the entire Gottman Love Lab process with couples. They are also trained in Emotion Focussed Therapy for Couples and have collectively had over 10,000 hours experience working with couples that have identified challenges within their relationship. John & Trish both cite Marathon Therapy as their preferred way to work with couples as they know from experience that this is the model that gets the best outcome for couples moving forward.

Gottman Marital Therapy is the gold standard when it comes to successful couple recovery. It is a process oriented, phenomenological, cognitive, emotionally based approach to assisting couples gain better understanding of each other and to develop a range of new skills and behaviours that foster closer, more intimate relationships where conflict is managed in a functional manner.

Marathon Therapy is a dynamic alternative to traditional weekly sessions as it is a condensed and focused approach to relationship counselling that will provide you with the time you need to address specific issues and get your relationship back on track QUICKLY. In this powerful approach to relieving couple distress, you and your partner will meet with your highly trained and experienced therapist for two consecutive days and engage in intensive couples therapy for up to 7.5 hours per day face to face - or for ZOOM sessions - we meet you for a 4 hour assessment session - and then extended sessions over the next 2 - 4 weeks.

Your therapy will include 3 broad phases.

Phase 1 is the assessment phase. Prior to your Marathon, we will email you and your partner a number of questionnaires for each of you to complete. Sometimes these can feel onerous to finish but, these questionnaires help your therapist to understand both your individual histories and the history of your relationship as well as some of the main issues that have developed over time and bring you to couples counselling now. At the conclusion of your marathon therapy, you will receive a written scientific evaluation of your relationship powered by Gottman Connect. This comprehensive relationship assessment will pinpoint the areas in which you can achieve the greatest growth so you can move forward to a place of strength, reconnection, and hope.

Phase 2 is the treatment phase. This is what we do during your two days. Based on all of the above information, along with your responses to our comprehensive relationship questionnaires, we will conduct an analysis of your interaction patterns, strengths and challenges. These findings will be shared with you so that we can collaboratively identify specific outcome goals for your relationship. After that you will begin working on your most problematic concerns. Your therapists role is to assist you and your partner to have constructive conversations so that you can reach greater understanding and a closer more connected relationship. The focus will be both on addressing issues and on assisting you to develop better skills for managing your relationship - to become ‘Masters' of your relationship.

During your marathon, you work together to learn new skills to:

- Transform inevitable relationship conflicts so you can build solid bridges between the two of you

- Deepen your understanding of one another

- Repair old hurts and resentments

- Unearth the values and life purpose you share

- Strengthen your friendship

- Spice up your intimacy

Phase 3 is the relapse prevention phase. From here, your therapist will recommend a follow-up program designed to suit your particular situation and needs. We will pop in 2 x follow up sessions of 1 hour each approx. 3 weeks and 6 weeks after your marathon. They can be either in person or via ZOOM as needed - these are charged at $250 per hour.

Once you have made a decision to engage in Marathon Therapy it is very important that you try to ‘call a truce’ on any on-going issues in your relationship for the time being. Marathon Therapy is a commitment to re-build your relationship and the process begins right now. Whatever issues you are currently struggling with will be addressed over our two days together in a way that allows both of you to feel heard, understood and validated. Effectively, what this means is that until we get started, you can ‘shelve’ your problems knowing that they will be addressed then, and now is an opportunity for you to have a break from working on those concerns and instead focus on what you would like to build once we have effectively dealt with them together.

Whilst we understand every situation is different - we find that our past couples who have engaged in this process have reported that while the 2 days could be a little tiring, they were able to process a range of their unresolved issues, ‘leave their baggage behind’ and return home with a renewed sense of commitment, closeness and hope for building a closer, more satisfying and intimate relationship together.

The cost of your marathon includes the thorough pre-marathon assessment process, 2 full intensive days working on your relationship in a safe, calm, professional and private environment with John, a toolkit full of resources and information to take home that assists you to continue to deepen your emotional connection and master the skills for constructively managing conflict.

Marathons are usually conducted on a Wednesday / Thursday and the fee is $5,000. Marathons may be organised on selected weekends by prior arrangement and the professional fee is $6,500. Marathon Couples Therapy offers practical benefits as well. It’s a good fit for couples who want a more intensive experience of therapy and for couples whose schedules do not allow for them to go to weekly therapy sessions. And finally, it’s a great fit for couples who need to get help immediately.

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