mental health THERAPY SERVICES in atlanta, ga and online across georgia, florida, and colorado
Couples Therapy Intensives
More time, fewer interruptions.
A couples intensive is an extended session where you can work through patterns, communication, and shared challenges without the pressure of a 50-minute clock.
Instead of starting and stopping, you’re able to stay with the conversation long enough for something to shift, for both of you.
Couples Therapy Intensives might be a good fit if…
You're having the same conversation on a loop about canceled plans, the division of labor, and help that doesn't land right… and it never actually resolves, just pauses until next time
Illness has reassigned your roles: one of you has become the caregiver, one of you the patient, and neither of you chose those job titles or knows how to talk about them (especially when they keep changing or feel ambigious)
One of you feels unbelieved; the other feels unable to fix it… and both of you feel alone inside the same relationship
Intimacy, plans, and the future you imagined have all changed, and you've been grieving separately instead of together
You're both still in it. You’re not necessarily in crisis or halfway out the door, you’re just… stuck, and willing to do real work with guidance
An intensive is probably not the right format if there's an ongoing affair, active substance use that hasn't been addressed, fear of how your partner reacts to conflict, or one of you has already decided to leave. Those situations deserve care too, but a different kind, and I'll help you find it on a consultation call.
You don’t have to be in crisis to benefit from a couples therapy intensive, just open to showing up and working through it.
Our Approach to Relationship Therapy
Destiny works with couples using the same foundation as her individual work, because when illness lives in a relationship, both people are carrying it, just differently.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you stop fighting battles that can't be won (against the illness, against each other's reactions to it) and redirect that energy toward the relationship you actually want to build, in the life you actually have.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) works with what your bodies are doing during conflict, not just what your mouths are saying. Most couples' worst fights aren't overt disagreements… they're usually two activated nervous systems trying to feel safe at the same time. We slow that down enough to make some real change.
I also draw on principles from Emotionally Focused Therapy. The attachment-based question underneath most recurring fights is rarely about the dishes or the canceled trip; it's are you still here with me in this?… though ACT and SE remain the core of how I work.
The goal isn't to get back to who you were before the diagnosis. It's to help you stop grieving separately, advocate for the relationship as a team, and build something honest with the bodies and the life you have now.
What actually happens in a chronic illness-focused relationship therapy intensive?
BEFORE:
We meet for a consultation call to confirm fit, then you complete intake paperwork and a (short) pre-intensive questionnaire so we're not spending your intensive on history-gathering. In the same vain, I won’t ask you to write everything all out before we’ve even met, because I believe that trust is built inside the room, not on a piece of paper. We'll also plan around your body’s needs: seating, lighting, food, medication timing, whatever pacing needs you have. I’ll also meet with each individual person in the relationship for 45-minutes.
DURING
A typical intensive runs 3 hours a day for 1-3 days. We work in blocks with real breaks built in — not as a courtesy, but as part of the clinical work. Pacing is the intervention for a lot clients, and the intensive is structured to practice it, not override it. The work itself draws from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Somatic Experiencing: we're not just talking about what happened to your body, we're working with how your nervous system is holding it now.
AFTER
You'll leave with a written summary of what we worked on and what to practice, and we will schedule a 45-minute follow-up meeting later to integrate.
You might also be wondering…
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Weekly couples therapy gives you 50 minutes… and for couples navigating chronic illness, the first 20 often go to catching up on the week's appointments, flares, and logistics before you get anywhere near the actual work. An intensive removes that ceiling. We have enough time to get underneath the recurring argument to what it's actually about (i.e. fear, grief, and the roles that neither of you chose.
The format also works with illness instead of against it. We build the schedule around the partner whose body needs pacing — real breaks, room to lie down, no pushing through. And because the work happens in a condensed window, you're not trying to hold momentum across weeks of appointments, school pickups, and symptom days.
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Both. Online intensives work well when travel itself is a barrier. Which, for many couples dealing with chronic illness, it is. But you do need to be located in the state of GA, FL, or CO at the time of your appointments.
For in-person intensives, we can meet at my office in downtown Atlanta, or — if you want a true retreat feel — at an Airbnb or private home/short-term rental that you book for your stay. Atlanta has several wonderful treehouse Airbnbs that lend themselves to this kind of work.
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Yes, and honestly, I'd be surprised if you didn't bring some. Sometimes the trauma and the relationship struggles came first, and illness landed on top of patterns that were already there. Sometimes the relationship looked fine until illness arrived and illuminated everything underneath: the fault lines, the childhood wounds, the ways you each learned to protect yourselves long before you met.
And sometimes the medical system itself was the trauma, including the dismissals, the procedures, and the years of not being believed. Either way, you don't have to untangle which came first before you're allowed to work on it.
Both modalities I work from (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Somatic Experiencing) are genuine trauma treatments, not just "trauma-informed" approaches, and both have research supporting their use for chronic pain and trauma alike.
As mentioned above, an intensive is not the right format if there's active fear of how your partner responds to conflict, an ongoing affair, or unaddressed substance use. Those situations deserve care too, just a different kind than what I can offer here.
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A typical 3-day intensive looks like this (all times Eastern):
A 45-minute assessment session via Zoom before we begin
Thursday: 12–3pm, with scheduled breaks plus as-needed breaks
Friday: 12–3pm, with scheduled breaks plus as-needed breaks
Saturday: 10am–12pm or 12–2pm
A 45-minute follow-up session one week later
The breaks are an intentional part of the work. Pacing is one of the skills we're practicing, so the schedule is built to honor it rather than push through it.
This schedule can be modified based on your needs and my availability. Half-day and full-day formats are also available.
For in-person intensives: We can meet at my office in Atlanta. Or if you'd like a true retreat feel at an Airbnb or private home/short-term rental that you book for your stay. Atlanta has several wonderful treehouse Airbnbs that lend themselves to this kind of work.
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$3,200 for the complete relationship therapy
That includes:
10 hours of focused one-on-one therapy (Thursday and Friday afternoons, plus Saturday morning)
A 45-minute pre-intensive assessment session (with each partner)
A 45-minute follow-up session one week later (with each partner)
A written summary of our work, your pacing plan, and your flare plan to take with you
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These are some shifts I've watched happen for clients in this work:
Concrete family agreements about help: how it's asked for, how it's offered, what to do when it doesn't land right
A shared understanding of the actual fight underneath the recurring one… usually fear, grief, or silent (or loud) resentment
Language for the caregiver/patient roles illness assigned you, and a plan for redistributing what can be redistributed
A way to grieve the future you'd imagined together, instead of separately in the same house
A written plan for flare days, hard appointments, and the moments you'd normally fall back into the loop
Your version of this work will be your own. These aren't a checklist… they're a sample of what becomes possible when fear stops running the conversations.
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Then we work with the body that shows up. That might mean shorter blocks and more breaks, working lying down, or shifting that day's focus toward what's most useful mid-flare. Which, honestly, can be some of the most valuable work we do. Practicing pacing and regulation during a flare, with support, is the live version of everything this work is about.
If you're too unwell to participate meaningfully, we can reschedule that day's hours rather than forfeit them. Flares are a feature of chronic illness, not a failure of commitment, and my policies are built to reflect that.
What I'd ask is communication: tell me what's happening as early as you can, and we'll decide together whether to adapt the day or move it.
Start the conversation, together.
If you’re ready for a different way of working through things, we’re here. Let’s talk about what you both need and how to move forward.
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