Couples Retreats in California

Most of our couples therapy retreats happen at our office in Murrieta California. We also have an office that can accommodate couples therapy retreats in Riverside California.

The Ontario (ONT) airport is the closest major airport. Without traffic, it’s a 50 minute drive to our offices in Murrieta.

The John Wayne Airport (SNA) is 1 hour and 10 minutes from our offices in Murrieta.

Palm Springs (PSP) and San Diego (SAN) Airports are each 1 hour and 30 minutes drive from our office in Murrieta.

Unfortunately, Southern California does not have great public transit options. You would need to rent a car or use a ride share to get to our Murrieta office.

Our Riverside office is situation between two MetroLink stops. So if you love public transit and would like to use that option, you could request to have your retreat at the Riverside office.

When you book your retreat, we will send you a guide with recommended hotels in the area. You may also decide to book a vacation rental if that suits you.

Absolutely! We are here to help care for your needs and we would love to book your hotel room for you. Inquire about current pricing when you do your consultation call.

This is a great question! And it might depend on the state of your relationship.

If the focus of your retreat is to deepen connection, rekindle romance, or come back to each other after stressful life events, extending your stay in California is a great idea. You could spend a few days exploring Temecula wine country, enjoying a spa in Palm Springs, hitting some theme parks, or relaxing on the beach.

If you are booking a retreat to help recover from infidelity or to help you decide whether you want to stay married to not, you might not find it relaxing and rejuvenating to spend extra time together. You two might be better served by doing your couples therapy retreat and then scheduling a solo day to reflect, relax, and take care of yourselves.

Our therapists will be happy to talk through the options with you and make a recommendation based on your situation.

A couples therapy retreat is intensive, personal, and focuses on the deep work needed to repair old wounds, turn around a troubled relationship, and reestablish meaningful connection. Marriage retreats are often done in groups and have a more educational, relationship enrichment focus.

Yes. At Inland Empire Couples Counseling a couples therapy intensive and couples therapy retreat are the same thing.

Couples therapy retreats are ideal for certain types of relationship problems and certain types of couples.

Couples therapy retreats help with:

• feeling stale or stuck, like roommates

• complicated histories or extended family dynamics (issues with in-laws or blended families)

• processing effects of infidelity

• sexual concerns or effects of past trauma

• preventing divorce

• deciding whether to stay together or separate

• any problem where you’ve tried weekly therapy sessions and you’re not making progress

• busy couples who don’t have time for weekly therapy

• couples who simply prefer to work intensely over a short period to a little bit week by week

In the intensive format of a retreat, we can get deeper into the root causes of problems in the relationship. We can take our time to really understand what’s happening so that our solutions can be more targeted and effective. You can take your time to connect with each other, explain yourselves, and to really listen to one another. In weekly therapy sessions, a lot of time is spent starting the session, catching up, and then ending and getting ready for next time. A 50 minute therapy session may only have 30-35 minutes of actual therapy time. For some situations and some couples, this is great; they need to take things in small chunks. And other couples find the weekly format frustrating and would be better served by a couples therapy retreat.

Not at all. We have worked with couples who are in couples therapy already and come to us for specific help with a particularly difficult issue. And many of the couples who join us for a retreat aren’t in couples therapy. We can work with you either way. And we’re happy to collaborate and consult with your therapist if you already have one.

Yes, if this is what you and your partner both want and are willing to work for it. Couples therapists aren’t mystical; just sitting in our presence won’t save your relationship. And we can’t live your lives for you, doing all the hard work of relationship change and repair. We can walk beside you, coaching you, teaching you, and helping you heal old hurts so that you and your partner can find your way back to each other. If you want to do the work to save your relationship, a couples therapy retreat can help jumpstart that progress.

Yes. We are bound by laws and professional ethics codes to keep our relationship with you confidential. Except in legally mandated situations that have to do with safety (reporting child abuse, for example). we can’t even confirm that we know you without your written permission. Our couples therapy retreats include a relationship enriching activity, usually with an outside vendor. During the planning phase of the retreat, we will discuss the specifics of how we book those activities while maintaining your confidentiality.

We recommend booking your couples therapy retreat 4-8 weeks in advance. A rush fee may apply to retreats booked less than 2 weeks in advance. Booking dates are subject to therapist availability, and we do our best to accommodate your busy schedules.