FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What happens at a Clearing Marriage Intensive Retreat?
What is the success rate and how do you define success?
What can we expect to get out of a Marriage Intesive Retreat?
Who should come to the Clearing?
Will I be forced to do anything I don't want to do?
What happens after the Intensive?
In what way is this a faith-based approach?

Answers

What happens at a Clearing Marriage Intensive Retreat?
The Clearing Experience is a life-changing process that moves couples from feeling hopeless and helpless to having clear understanding, clear direction and renewed hope. Over the course of four days the skilled Clearing team works with a couple in a group setting along side four other couples. The focus is on helping the couple understand how they have arrived at this state in their marriage, what barriers are keeping them stuck and blocking them from the marriage they’ve always wanted and finally on how they can practically create a great marriage for themselves. No couple ever intends to end up in crisis, but through life’s circumstances and difficult choices couples end up feeling trapped having tried their best to succeed over many years. While going through the Clearing Experience couples encounter warmth and Texas hospitality with all the distractions of life cleared away. Although the experience is aptly called an “intensive”, the challenging work translates into genuine fulfillment, hope, and direction

What is the success rate and how do you define success?
Upon completion over 98% of the couples, who have participated in intensives using our format, report that they would recommend the experience to family and friends who were going through similar circumstances. An intensive success is measured by helping couples get “out of the ditch” and “on the road” to the marriage they want. We are successful because couples leave with a clear sense of what got them to this place in their marriage, how to get unstuck and stay free from their past unhealthy patterns and what skills and insights they will need to have a great marriage. 

What can we expect to get out of a Marriage Intensive Retreat?
Worst case scenario: I will feel understood and will see that my spouse understands. I see what it will take for us to have a great marriage and I choose NOT to walk it out.

Who should come to the Clearing?
People who are in a marriage crisis are the most typical couples. However, also often couples come who are generally succeeding in their marriages but who have a long-standing issue that they cannot seem to resolve. Also, couples that are at a major transition in their lives, benefit greatly from intensives as they reset their course as “empty-nesters” or at retirement.

Will I be forced to do anything I don’t want to do?
No. The intensive team is highly skilled at meeting people where they are and not expecting them to be somewhere they are not (based on their personality and emotional set). A spirit of openness and emotional safety is fostered from the moment couples arrive and couples find their own comfort level and level of participation within the first few hours of the experience.

What happens after the Intensive?
Formal recommendations are made to each couple for their specific next steps. Each scenario is highly customized to the couple and is a major component of the couples’ success over time. Some couples may even decide to come back for a “refresher” one year to 18 months after their initial experience.

In what way is this a faith-based approach?
One of the questions for potential participants for Marriage Intensives of The Clearing is this:  Would you accept a miracle of healing in your marriage if it were given to you?  
 
The therapists for The Clearing approach marriage not as a contract but a covenant, an eternal promise between a man, a woman, and God.   The therapists have studied theology as well as psychology and their approach is rooted in an understanding of both.
 
Participants of all faiths are welcome at The Clearing.  The therapists all come from a Christian background.  Their job is to meet participants where they are spiritually, whatever their faith, and show them the roadmap to move from a troubled marriage to the vibrant, lasting marriage they always hoped for.