What is the Difference?

A Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat can be great for your relationship. But, some people confuse a couples retreat with couples therapy. That’s understandable, but the two are definitely different. Some couples do both, but each is its own experience. Here are a few differences.
Two couples sit on a large rock overlooking the water representing a group that successfully completed a Couples Retreat in Florida together. Couples Retreats are available to couples in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Beyond.

A Couples Retreat is a Group Experience

Whereas couples therapy usually involves just the couple and their therapist, a Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat in Florida consists of any number of couples learning and interacting together. While it’s a low key, laid back experience and no one is put on the spot or forced to share, it’s comforting and encouraging for couples to learn how much they share in common with others—their emotions, their actions, their reactions, their struggles, their needs and longings. Our desire to connect, to be seen, heard, valued, trusted, embraced, cared for by our key other, our “attachment figure,” is something all humans share. Realizing how similar we are, how much we have in common, how much we can give and receive from one another in a Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat makes the two days together profoundly enriching and edifying. That dynamic just doesn’t happen the same way in couples therapy.

Couples Retreats are Less “Problem Focused”

Most couples come to therapy with a specific problem or crisis to address. There is often an air of “emergency” in couples therapy. Therapy, by definition is about fixing something. Couples retreats have a different focus. While some couples indeed come to a Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat facing difficulty or feeling distress, the weekend is really geared to those couples aiming to enhance and improve their relationship, rather than repair specific problems. Thus, couples who attend a retreat need not be “in crisis” or struggling.

A Couples Retreat in Florida is About Prevention and Wellness

Think of the difference between a vitamin and a medicine or between a tune up and a rebuild on your car engine. In either case, one is about prevention and wellness; the other is about fixing a specific problem. Thus, many couples come to a Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat not so much to fix problems as to make their strong relationship even stronger. In those two short days, they come to understand their partner and their connection more deeply. They build on their strengths, as opposed merely to fixing what might be broken. Think of Hold Me Tight®️ as a great fitness program for your relationship. Go to the gym now and you might not need the doctor later. 

Neither Takes the Place of the Other

A Hold Me Tight®️ retreat is not therapy and therapy is not a retreat. It’s both/and, not either/or. Each has their place and either can complement the other. For example, couples already in therapy who attend a Hold Me Tight®️ retreat often leave saying the retreat enhanced and boosted their therapy. They find that the information and insights they gained in the retreat really kicked their therapy into another gear. And some couples whose first step was a Hold Me Tight®️ retreat learn in that weekend together that they have more work to do and Emotionally Focused Therapy (which is the foundation of the Hold Me Tight®️ model) is how they want to proceed. Those couples leave knowing where they want to go and how to get there. Believe me, that alone is worth the price of admission. 

A man gives his partner a piggy back ride on the beach. Improve your relationship with the help of a Couples Retreat in Orlando, FL. Retreats for couples are available for people in Florida, Virginia, Georgia , and beyond.

Strengthen Your Relationship With a Hold Me Tight® Couples Retreat in Florida Today!

A Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat is powerful and transformational, be it a stand alone experience or an adjunct to couples therapy. Couples the world over have discovered the power of Hold Me Tight®️. Wherever you are in your journey as a couple, make a Hold Me Tight®️ couples retreat the next milestone in your relationship.



An ocean sunset. Join a Couples Retreat in Orlando Florida and see how wonderful your relationship can be. Retreats for Couples are available in Florida and Beyond.

Have a Safety Plan

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Like over 90% of Americans, I own a smartphone. It’s definitely a love/hate relationship. My phone frequently notifies me of a software update. It’s pretty easy to update my phone, and even more important. But, why update the software? I asked Google and here’s what it told me: “Smartphone software updates are crucial for enhancing security by patching vulnerabilities, improving stability by fixing bugs and glitches, and optimizing performance for a smoother experience.” Sounds good to me. All I know is: updates matter. They keep my phone working well. They are as beneficial as they are necessary. But, it occurs to me that not just smartphones need updates. Smart relationships do too.

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Benjamin Franklin famously said, “An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.” I think he was right. Preventing heart disease, for example (with exercise and a healthy diet) beats cardiac bypass surgery by a mile. An oil change on your car is way better than an engine rebuild. Prevention is easier, faster and cheaper almost every time. It’s true in relationships too. Love is meant to last a lifetime. But a relationship left unattended will eventually wear out—and many do. Repairing it in couples therapy is often expensive, difficult and time consuming. Instead, a little attention along the way can help you avoid those costly repairs.

The "Other Side" of the Coin

By Mark Beck • July 17, 2025
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My wife and I bought a car recently. Not a new car, just new to us. We spent a small fortune on it and I’m determined to take good care of it. I vacuum it religiously. I check the fluids, tire pressure, mileage. I keep it clean, inside and out. I wash it at least once a week and am careful not to track a lot of dirt inside it. I’ve watched You Tube videos on simple maintenance such as oil changes, tire rotation and so forth. I’m no master mechanic, but I like to do the little things any shade tree mechanic might. We keep it out of direct sun when we can and drive as carefully as possible.

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Change Your Viewing

By Mark Beck • May 29, 2025
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