It may be good to have some time for yourselves, some time to focus on your relationship, perhaps you would like a rest, or maybe you want some help with more serious concerns. This residential retreat provides both time out to rest and reflect as well as experienced professional support. The programme involves learning about relationship matters. It includes private, individual counselling regarding personal couple issues, and has periods of both activity and rest for participants.
The location is in the stunning Wairarapa, one of New Zealand’s premier wine growing provinces, where the retreat programme runs over four days. Accommodation and breakfast are fully catered for in the very comfortable Westwood Country House. This is the venue for the “learning” periods, and the base from where ventures into the surroundings can begin.
The Diamond Relationship Retreat may help you to save your relationship or just enable you to understand and enjoy it more, either way it will be informing, encouraging, productive and restful.
The Retreat at the Westwood Country House takes you away from “all that.” The city, your work, the family, the pressures and the “never enough time” scenario that exists for most of us. It puts you into a charming relaxing environment that eases stress and engenders feelings of warmth, compatibility and companionship. Westwood Country House is nestled in Greytown in the heart of the Wairarapa and just a few minutes drive from the renown Martinbourgh wine country with almost 20 vineyards within a few kilometres radius. Westwood Country House is exquisitely comfortable, with large rooms, luxury bathrooms, swimming pool, extensive grounds and within an easy walk of the cafes and artistic quarter of Greytown itself.
It is not unusual for this retreat experience to bring healthy life changing growth to your relationship or marriage, experience suggests that it will always be enabling and rewarding.
The programme provides a mixture of a “couples boot camp” approach, interspersed with times of intimate reflection and concentrated, focussed strategising. This, followed with periods of relaxation in the beautiful and luxurious surroundings, supports couples to more fully integrate the learnings and realisations at a deep emotional level, which then enables them to become part of how you relate to each other.
The Diamond Relationship Retreat Programme begins on the first evening, with arrival and settle-in expected approximately 4-6pm. You will be greeted by Jill Kemp who will be your host for during your stay. Hal Kennedy, who leads the retreat, will join you at about 7pm and the programme commences from there.. The first evening looks closely at the concept of loving, what it means, how do we do it, what is it’s impact.
The next morning begins with Hal meeting with you as a couple. This is followed by a private, individual session for each of you where you are able to share a little more detail about your background and life experiences that have brought you to this point. The afternoon is a period of learning, focussed on the way in which couples develop and provides an overview of many of the ways we can understand human relating with all its problems and wonders. This can be quite an intense day of interpersonal work which concentrates on providing knowledge and insight into the emotional and intellectual drivers which influence us to behave the way we do in our relationship. Most of our learnings throughout life are helpful, but some of what we’ve learnt as we grew up, gets in the way of experiencing the fulfilling relationship that we yearn for.
In the evening we review the days experience and consolidate the learnings.
This morning we grow our awareness of our sometimes frustrating differences and provides resources that are remarkably helpful but not usually easily found, the sort of stuff we should all have had long before we married, and really need now.
Again this is a kind of hard work bit, so we follow that with a half day out. The afternoon provides an opportunity for you to spend some time out together, a walk down to the cafes and arts quarter or a visit to a vineyard/restaurant or to see the seals at Castlepoint.
This day is quite different. Structured so that there is significant time to go over what has been learnt, and to discuss and develop further, the continuing strategies that will be the core of you living together in a way that strengthens, grows and nourishes your relationship. The evening is yours to relax in or dine out before you enjoy your fourth luxurious night at Westwood. It is usual for this retreat experience to bring healthy life changing growth to your relationship or marriage, hopefully it will always be enabling and rewarding.
Hal is a full time professional relationship therapist with more than thirty years experience and with the skills to work with people who are prepared to recognise the issues that may get in the way of them growing closer.
Clinical Leader of Relationship Services for many years, Hal has a wide range of experience as a trainer, supervisor, family dispute resolution mediator, court mandated counsellor, relationship counsellor, executive coach, educator and facilitator.
This is underscored by more than twenty four thousand hours of interpersonal clinical counselling practice, and a life time of practice and experience.
In Hal’s words, “It doesn’t matter if you think it’s all over bar the shouting. Getting it wrong, even badly wrong, is not the issue, it is what you do now that matters. Screwing up is human, it’s ‘giving up’ that is the tragedy. We do not do much growing when it is easy, it can be the crisis that is the start of vital change. Being tired or hurt is an opportunity not to be lost or squandered. It can be the turning point for real healing. None of us ever knows everything, however decades of experience can enable the intuitive guidance that ensures a successful outcome to evolve freely.”
So take this opportunity now, talk to your partner and discuss the possibilities that this programme provides, then email below for more information and a list of possible dates.
The Diamond Relationship Programme fee is $3,200.00 per couple. It includes four nights accommodation and breakfast at Westwood Country House. Provision of The Diamond Relationship Programme and all interpersonal counselling and coaching provided during your stay.
Alternatively, you can contact us via phone 0800 488 499 or +6421353554 or email us at: [email protected].