You’re stuck in the same painful loop—fighting, shutting down, or living like roommates.
Date night and “trying to communicate better” hasn’t changed the pattern. Instead, what you need is:
- More than another 50-minute session.
- Focused help that gets to the root and provides a clear plan.
- Guided momentum—now.
If your marriage is struggling, a marriage intensive can provide you with the tools for achieving relationship success.
I get how you feel. I’ve been there.
Hi, I’m Dr. Jen.
For the past 25 years, I’ve helped couples untangle the complicated web of emotions that keep them stuck in cycles of self-doubt, disconnection, and fear of not being “enough.”
As a mental health counselor, attachment specialist, and founder of I Choose Change, I guide my clients toward a deeper sense of belonging to themselves, their relationships, and the life they aspire to lead.
My expertise in attachment theory allows me to go beyond surface-level solutions. I help people understand why they think, feel, and act the way they do—often tracing those patterns back to early relationships and internal narratives that no longer serve them.

How a Couples Intensive Works:
- Prepare. Once you’ve committed, you’ll take two Gottman and Attachment assessments that will help your mental health provider prepare for your meeting. These take about 1.5 hours.
- Assess. Spend the first three hours learning your family-of-origin and attachment history in a way that helps you understand current thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
- Show. Discuss your specific conflict and issues, allowing the counselor/coach to see how your partnership operates on a micro level.
- Learn. Simple framework like TEA (Thoughts, Emotions, Actions) + CALM (Curiosity, Attune, Listen, Mirror) + CLEAR (Connect, Look, Examine, Assess, Reframe).
- Practice. New ways of listening, responding, and being with your partner.

What this Couples Intensive Will Give you:
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A shared understanding of what’s really driving disconnection
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A step-by-step way to talk that reduces reactivity and repairs faster
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Personalized rituals for daily/weekly connection
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A clear follow-up plan (most couples schedule a 2-hour visit within 2–4 weeks)
Is a Couples Intensive Right For Us?
A good fit if:
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You both want to improve the relationship (even if hope feels low)
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You’re open to coaching and practicing new ways of talking
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You want momentum, not months of first-gear sessions
Not a fit if:
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There is active intimate partner violence or coercive control
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There’s untreated substance dependence or acute psychiatric risk
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One partner has decided to end the relationship and is unwilling to participate
If you’re unsure, reach out to me (Jennifer Ryan) directly, and I’ll guide you to the right level of care.

Frequently Asked Questions
Instead of attending one session per week for 6 to 12 weeks (that’s three months!), you’ll get all your sessions packed into one or two days. Then, ultimately, you’re ready to enter into a maintenance phase of counseling.
Every couple’s therapy process with Dr. Ryan, whether it’s hour-by-hour or in intensive blocks of time, will go through this same essential process:
- Review the completed assessments that you’ve done before our session.
- Complete an in-depth interview that helps your therapist, and each partner, understand the root causes of your current situation.
- Get education on self- and other assessments using Jennifer’s TEA Method.
- Learn how to speak, hear, and be different from your partner by utilizing the CALM Connecting procedure (a process created by Dr. Jen).
- And finally, practice being in a dyadic conversation with your partner where you’ll be coached line-by-line on how to hear and say things differently in a partner in a way that gets your emotional needs met.
Jennifer Slingerland Ryan, Ph.D., LPC-S, developed the couple’s intensive process at I Choose Change. She is Gottman Level III and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) trained. Using these influences alongside her research while completing her doctorate, she developed her attachment-based model to help couples develop better communication, greater intimacy, and better conflict resolution. **Discounted rates are given to couples who agree to allow a therapist to sit in intensives for training purposes.
You may choose to continue seeing Dr. Jen as you continue your maintenance sessions, or you can take all your resources to your current couple’s therapist and let them help you with maintenance. Most couples have 2-hour session check-ins once or twice monthly after their intensive.
Every client enters therapy in a 3-Step process:
- Assessment
- New Learning
- Practice and Maintenance
The Assessment and New Learning phases typically take 4-6 hours. This is when the counselor gets to know you, understands the depth of your concerns, and understands your inner world more profoundly. After 4-6 hours, the counselor will give you new tools unique to your situation to practice in sessions and out in the world.
The 12-hour intensive moves you into Step 3: Practice and Maintenance. The 6- and 8-hour intensives are for Assessment and New Learning.
We firmly believe counseling should last a lifetime, even if that means monthly or quarterly check-ins. You’ll be given resources during and after your couple’s intensive. However, it is recommended that you add the Gottman Relationship Builder to your arsenal of resources. There, you’ll have 365 days 24/7 access to Dr. John Gottman as he takes you through even more communication exercises. You can login anytime to get the help you need! You’ll also have online access to the Couple’s Packet you’ll receive in our session, plus every Gottman exercise available (some we will get to, most we won’t). Other resources are listed below.
Additional Resources:
Using evidence-based counseling techniques, you and your partner will be guided into a more loving, connected space using the work of Dr. John Gottman’s Sound Marital House and Dr. Sue Johnson Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
- John Gottman’s “Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work” – A great book for couples who are having a difficult time talking to one another because words are disrespectful and angry on an almost constant basis. This is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) perspective for couples.
- David Burn’s “Feeling Good Together: The Secret to Making Troubled Relationships Work” – A great book for couples who are having a difficult time talking to one another because words are disrespectful and angry on an almost constant basis. This is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) perspective for couples.
- Sue Johnson’s “Hold Me Tight: A Couples Guide to a Lifetime of Love” – This book examines the reason we have enraged conversations, and why we ultimately withdraw from the ones we love most – our spouse/life partner.
- Sue Johnson’s “Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Love Relationships” – A great book examining the science of love and love relationships.
- Robert Karen’s “Becoming Attached: First Relationships and How They Shape Our Capacity to Love” – A great book about how we attach to parents as young babies and children, and what happens when we don’t. The childhood attachment process is essential in order to have healthy adulthood.
Not Quite Ready? Start here…
Counseling for Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, Coping Skills, ADHD, and Grief.
child counselor, play therapy, grief counseling, teen counselor, counselor in allen, TX, counselor in McKinney, TX, counselor in Plano, TX
CONTACT:
Call or Text: (214) 547-1318
Email: info@ichoosechange.com
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