Christian Marriage Retreats Rebuild bonding, deal with a marital crisis, understand your relationship  Your Christian marriage retreat focuses on your relationship giving priority to bonding and intimacy.  I will work with you to resolve issues and rebuild closeness and communication.
Christian Marraige Retreats  "This was an experience that will forever help to shape the future of our marriage" client testimonies     a new love for life Home   For individual therapy retreats see:: Christian individual therapeutic retreats.                    enjoy a retreat!	George Hartwell M.Sc. (Masters of Science, School and Community Psychology, University of Calgary): - Sensitive, caring and skilled therapist with - 30 years of counseling experience - More about George and his Board of Reference Christian marriage retreat In my experience marital retreats are a most effective forms of marriage counseling. Intensive therapeutic work provided allows couple and therapist to focus without distraction.  You gain deeper insight and faster results. Your sessions have as their primary focus emotional bonding (love) issues.  You will learn to identify what is interfering with closer attachment - the vicious cycles of communication.  You will understand that these cycles are propelled by drives and fears established in childhood. You will be challenged to listen to your partner and to acknowledge their soft emotions and support their need for closeness - to encourage closer connection.  This work of bonding is enhanced at a therapeutic retreat because there is less time for the vicious cycle to tear down the bridges of connection that you are building. As trust and connection deepen then George will show you how to repair relationship wounds - those traumas from the past that always undermine trust. You will learn and practice bringing healing to one another's broken hearts and wounded spirits.  You will learn how to be a source of comfort for one another. Each session helps heal bruises in your relationship and work toward understanding and empathy for one another and deeper bonding.  One couple wrote: “Our weekend with George proved to be a great springboard to learning more about each other, and how to then use what we learned to better communicate and appreciate each other’s point of view.  It’s amazing how much our history shapes us – and then again, how much we forget to share our history with each other. It’s the seemingly insignificant points that actually become like a spot light shedding vision on how to better become one.  George pushed us, but never too much. He prodded, but only choosing to prod where needed.  George was able to adjust his style based on ours – something truly important when you’ve committed so much time to this retreat!  And with the entire weekend blanketed by faith, this was an experience that will forever help to shape the future of our marriage.” As an experienced counsellor I understand complex individual and couple problems at the root of marriage breakdown.  Many couples turn to George's therapeutic retreats when regular marriage counselling is not enough to avoid alienation and separation. Given that some couples are in distress, even crisis, George will make every effort to set up the retreat as soon as possible - within 4 to 8 weeks or even sooner! Before anythng is established and booked you should consult with George, sharing some details of your marriage situations, to make sure this is a wise and appropriate direction to take.  (Expect no charge for a 20 minute consultation of this sort.) Remember that there can be follow-up of your retreat with sessions by phone after the retreat. Contact George: (416) 234-1850 or 1 (877) 854-3990 Email George Hartwell About George Hartwell  George's Articles   Fees: My professional counselling fee is a consistent $100.00 per therapy hour.  Full retreats involve six hours per day so that makes for a fee of $600 per full retreat day.  (Often there is more contact than 6 hours when we share informal time together in coffee breaks and meals.) DISCOUNT: When you make a cash form payment (not credit card or PayPal) there is a discount of $100 off $600 (so that $500 covers 6 hours of therapy.) See Fees for the full outline of services and policies. Retreat Location Full retreat (six hours per day) is usually at my office. The more expensive alternative is to shift operations to a suitable (retreat) facility, for example, a cottage at Niagara-on-the Lake, near Niagara Falls. Office location. Hotel Options See Hotel Options. Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada is reached by air travel to Pearson International Airport.  Airport code is YYZ.  If you don't have passports to enter Canada a location near Buffalo, New York can be arranged. Toronto is less that two hours drive from Niagara Falls and full retreats can be held in beautiful Niagara on the Lake Note: Toronto is one of the most comopolitan cities in the world. Churches are commonly and casually mixed racial and national groups. George is experienced in counselling couples of various races and nations. (Ask for a reference if necessary.) Recent Report on two days of intensive marriage therapy "We decided to join George Hartwell for 12 hours marriage intensive therapy after a particularly difficult crisis in our marriage. We truly believe George was brought to us through divine intervention! George has such a spirit of gentleness and kindness, which made both of us immediately able to share openly and honestly with him. It was evident soon after we met George that he was a highly educated man with years of experience. He knew when to let us talk, when to press in with questions. He knew when we needed to cry and when a laugh would be a good break. George brought us through our sharp pain and hurt, and took us to a place that allowed us to heal, to forgive each other and most importantly, to let Jesus Christ in to the center of our marriage. At the end of our intensive 2 days with George, we knew things about each other we never dreamed of knowing. After our sessions, we felt we had forgiveness, peace and a direction for the future. We are so truly thankful to George and the journey he has started us on and so grateful that George was so willing to listen and obey the Holy Spirit's guidance in each session." Emily and Mark (April 2010)	Client Testimonies "George was able to adjust his style based on ours" "The benefits of this retreat far exceeded my expectations." "an extremely insightful counsellor" renew bonding "We feel much better about ourselves and our relationship." Thank you for your kind and gentle touch in dealing with such delicate heart and soul matters. You have brought hope and life to us See testimonies.       get away! Professional Observations of George's Life Transformation couple work (prayerful inner healing): "This has been quite amazing. It has seemed to short-circuit stuff quite immensely. It has been very powerful, useful and exciting to see." See professional observations         time to soar, to find emotional freedom!                               new freedom