Marriage Made Whole™: A Christian Marriage Intensive in Tampa and Bradenton, Florida
Marriage Made Whole™ is a 2–3 day Christian marriage counseling intensive with Dr. Shanon Roberts, PhD, LMHC, for couples who feel stuck, lonely, or hopeless, often after weekly counseling hasn't helped. Intensives are held in person in Tampa or Bradenton, Florida, and are followed by Marriage Momentum, a 6-month follow-up program. Because the intensive is in-person counseling in Florida, couples can seek insurance reimbursement.
Is an intensive right for the two of you?
Most couples who reach out to me have been thinking about getting help for a long time. In fact, couples talk about seeking help for an average of four years before they find it, and many have already tried weekly counseling that did not move them forward. If you feel lonely in your marriage, keep circling back to the same argument, or are not sure how to reach your spouse anymore, an intensive gives the two of you focused time to understand what is happening between you and to start doing something different. Wondering whether a weekend marriage retreat might be enough? Here is how a retreat and an intensive compare.
An intensive may be a good fit if:
Weekly counseling has not given you the results you hoped for
Your schedules make a standing weekly appointment hard to keep
You would rather work with someone outside your own church or community
You want your faith honored in the room, not set aside
Something has shaken your trust, and you both want to rebuild it
What happens during your intensive
Most couples meet with me for two days, and some need a third. Before we begin, each of you completes my Intimacy For Life® Marriage Assessment, and you take it again at the end so we can see what has shifted. In about 16 hours together we cover what would usually take four to six months of traditional weekly sessions, without losing momentum between appointments or spending half of every hour catching up on the week.
The work follows my Intimacy For Life Method®, which brings together Emotionally Focused Therapy and what Scripture teaches about God's design for marriage. Over the two or three days we:
Revisit your love story: how you met, what drew you to each other, and what you hoped your marriage would become.
Look at the hurts each of you carried in from earlier relationships and family, and how they show up between you now.
Talk in plain terms about how the brain's emotional memory center keeps couples locked into the same reactions.
Name each of your attachment patterns and see how they bump into each other.
Map the negative cycle that pulls you apart, so the cycle, not your spouse, becomes the thing you fight together.
Practice a new way of reaching for each other, with words you can actually use at home, such as "Help me understand better what is upsetting you?"
Bring old wounds into that new conversation so they can heal instead of resurfacing.
Using the Intimacy For Life Method®, define what a safe and secure marriage looks like for the two of you, in line with God's design, and how that safety can overflow into physical closeness again.
Why an intensive instead of weekly sessions?
Years ago I nearly stopped working with couples, because so many of them would make progress in my office and then boomerang back into the same patterns between appointments. Weekly counseling often leaves too little time to get past the surface, and life has a way of hijacking the session before the real work starts. The intensive changes that: you are away from the demands of home, you are not watching the clock, and you leave with a plan and your follow-up already in place.
Research on Emotionally Focused Therapy, the foundation of my approach, shows about 90% of couples significantly improve.
Read what other couples have shared
After the intensive: Marriage Momentum
The Marriage Made Whole™ intensive is the first part of my Marriage Momentum Program. For six months afterward you have direct access to me, along with online modules that help you keep practicing what you learned. When those six months end, we set a maintenance schedule of follow-up sessions based on what the two of you need, at least once a year.
If you are not ready for the intensive yet, you can begin with the Marriage Momentum online program and add the intensive whenever you are.
Where intensives take place
You choose the location. I see couples in person at my Tampa office, within walking distance of Hyde Park Village and in Bradenton, a short drive from Sarasota and Anna Maria Island. Couples come from across Tampa Bay and from out of state, and for many, meeting outside their own community makes it easier to come at all.
Coming from out of town? Couples who book a Tampa intensive receive our negotiated rate at Palihouse Hyde Park Village, a short walk from the office, and we share the booking details when you schedule. For intensives in Bradenton, you can stay at our cottage on beautiful Anna Maria Island, a short walk to the Gulf Coast beaches. What a beautiful way to start or end a vacation!
Cost and insurance
Because the intensive is in-person counseling in Florida, couples from any state can seek insurance reimbursement for it. For couples outside Florida, the Marriage Momentum follow-up and a virtual intensive (available for extenuating circumstances) are coaching, so they are not reimbursable. We go over pricing and options during your free 30-minute consultation.
When to wait
Safety comes first. If there is a current affair, abuse, active addiction, or unstable mental health, those need to be addressed before couples work can help, and they all can be. We talk through this in your intake interview. After assessing whether an intensive is appropriate for your marriage right now, I will recommend next steps, whether that is an intensive or another option to consider first.
About Dr. Shanon
I have worked with couples for more than 30 years as a licensed mental health counselor. I am a Board Certified Professional Christian Counselor and an EFT-trained therapist, and I earned my PhD in Professional Counseling from Liberty University. My approach is informed by my doctoral research on bringing faith into this model, which I presented at the AACC World Conference. I also served in pastoral ministry for 34 years, so I understand the particular pressures ministry couples carry. I am the author of Naked and Exposed: Learning to Love Well Using the Intimacy For Life Method® in Your Marriage and the host of The Love Leading Podcast.
Listen to Episode 71: What happens in a two-day Marriage Intensive
Frequently asked questions
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Most couples meet with Dr. Shanon for two days, and some need a third. That is about 16 hours of focused counseling, comparable to four to six months of traditional weekly sessions.
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In person at Dr. Shanon's office in Tampa, within walking distance of Hyde Park Village, or in Bradenton, Florida, with our cottage on Anna Maria Island available for out-of-town couples. A virtual intensive is available for extenuating circumstances. Couples come from across Tampa Bay and from out of state.
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Because the intensive is in-person counseling in Florida, couples from any state can seek insurance reimbursement for it. Pricing and options are covered in the free 30-minute consultation.
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For many couples, yes. The intensive gives you uninterrupted time to get past the surface, and it is followed by six months of support through the Marriage Momentum Program. Research on Emotionally Focused Therapy, the foundation of Dr. Shanon's approach, shows about 90% of couples significantly improve.
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You move into the Marriage Momentum Program: six months of direct access to Dr. Shanon plus online modules, then a maintenance schedule of follow-up sessions at least once a year.
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If there is a current affair, abuse, active addiction, or unstable mental health, those need to be addressed first. During the intake interview, Dr. Shanon assesses whether an intensive is appropriate and recommends next steps, either an intensive or another option to consider first.
Let's talk
If you have been waiting for the right time, this is a good place to start. Book your free 30-minute consultation, and we will look together at whether an intensive is the right next step for your marriage. You will be grateful you did.
“Little children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really love them, and show it by our actions.”
— 1 John 3:18