It's The Season for Giving!

Ah, our favorite time of year, the season for giving. (Pardon the little bit of sarcasm there.) And, whether you do your shopping early or, like me, you somehow always wait too late, Christmas shopping is tough…not knowing what to buy, where to look, how to find it. Shopping is the stressfullest (is that a word?) part of the holiday season. You want to find that perfect gift. A perfect gift is something useful, something your giftee (is THAT a word?) will appreciate—something with value and meaning, and you want something that will last, hopefully a very long time.
Hmmm. That’s a tall order.
Never fear, I have just the ticket for the couples on your wish list.
How about gifting them a Hold Me Tight®️ couples weekend retreat in beautiful Orlando, FL? It just may be the perfect gift for a couple.

A Useful Gift

First of all, it’s useful. Every couple can use two days away just for themselves, deepening their relationship, strengthening their connection. And don’t worry, gifting a couples retreat doesn’t suggest that a relationship is in trouble.

In fact, Hold Me Tight®️ is great for any couple—any age or stage, almost any situation.

All couples, even the closest couples have much to learn in love. None of us are experts from the start. Hold Me Tight®️ teaches what all couples need to know—what draws them together and what pulls them apart. Hold Me Tight®️ is rooted deeply in attachment science. Until we learn these powerful lessons, we are likely to make the same mistakes and follow the same patterns until we drift apart or lose our way. 

What could be more useful for couples than learning the lessons of love?

A Valuable Gift

A perfect gift is valuable as well. You want to give something that shows how much your loved ones mean to you. The gift of Hold Me Tight®️ may well be priceless. You can’t put a price tag on a healthy, strong relationship. It pays off in a thousand ways. We know that people with healthy connections tend overall to live longer, resist illness and heal faster, suffer less anxiety, depression and addiction, tend to have more stable and rewarding careers, tend to raise happier children and tend to do better in just about every way we measure better. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, but a healthy relationship certainly slants the playing field in a positive direction. And those benefits can trickle down for generations, even to those yet unborn. Nothing says you love and want the best for your loved ones like investing in their committed relationships.

A Gift that Lasts

And most of all, Hold Me Tight®️ is a gift that lasts. Of course, there are many types of couples workshops and retreats. They are NOT one size fits all. Only Hold Me Tight®️ is based on attachment science and the tenets of Emotionally Focused Therapy. Mind you, Hold Me Tight®️ is not therapy, but it stands on a reliable, validated therapy model that has the best track record in the business. Numerous outcome studies show that couples who learn the lessons of Hold Me Tight®️ report a stronger, closer connection as much as two years later. Hold Me Tight®️ is more than a two day “sugar high.” The lessons couples learn can change things for good. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving.


So, Hold Me Tight®️ might just be the perfect gift! It’s useful, valuable and can last a lifetime.

What couples do you know and love? Maybe they are engaged or just starting out. Maybe they’ve been together for years and are looking for a shot in the arm. Whether they are naughty or nice, Hold Me Tight®️ is a perfect gift that will show them that you care.


At the top of the home page of this website, click on “More” and go to the Store. Gift cards come in various denominations. Gift all or part of a Hold Me Tight®️ Florida couples retreat and show that you care!


Get to know more about Vicki and Mark

Fill out our convenient online contact form

Prepare for a life changing experience



Have a Safety Plan

The "Other Side" of the Coin

By Mark Beck • July 17, 2025
In my last blog post, we said that the most vital skill for any strong relationship is empathy. (If you haven’t seen that blog, check out “The One Skill Your Relationship Can’t Do Without”.) Empathy is vital in love. But, empathy is not the only important skill. That hit record has a flip side. What is it? It’s vulnerability. Close connection in love demands vulnerability, almost by definition. Vulnerability: the willingness to open up, to show and share the deep stuff: wishes, needs, fears, uncertainties, insecurities, the things about us that we often prefer to hide. In any healthy relationship, vulnerability and empathy go hand in hand. Each makes the other possible. Without them, couples live at arm’s length, “hiding in plain sight,” like intimate strangers. They might be together…might even be married, but they aren’t close. Maybe you know this all too well. Maybe you live it everyday.

The One Skill Your Relationship Can't Do Without

By Mark Beck • July 14, 2025
Lots of things make for a healthy relationship: affirmation, trust, sacrifice, forgiveness, commitment. But, maybe the most important skill, the one no healthy relationship can do without…is empathy. Empathy is the ability to recognize and convey not only your emotions, but your partner’s emotions as well. Humans are bonding mammals and emotions are how we bond. Emotional connection is the lifeblood of any relationship. Your partner needs to know that you “get them,” that you understand their world, that you support and believe in them, that you are there for them. Empathy gets all that across.

Maintenance is Key

By Mark Beck • July 7, 2025
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.

Trust is Key

By Mark Beck • June 25, 2025
I had a strange experience recently. I was out of town (in Texas, actually) and absentmindedly left my phone in a WalMart restroom (big mistake, but I know I’m not the first). I realized what I’d done less than 20 minutes later and headed back for my phone. Too late…it was gone. Now, if you found a lost cell phone, what would you do? You’d probably try to contact the owner or at least leave it with someone responsible. You’d make a good faith effort. Most people would. But, not all. With my wife’s phone, I called my number and, sure enough, someone answered. He indeed had picked up my phone. I was relieved…for a second. Then, the guy told me he’d happily return the phone to me…for $200, via Cash App. I don’t know who was dumber: me for leaving my phone behind or him for thinking I’d give him a dime to get it back. We both knew one thing: whether I paid him or not, I’d never see that phone again. It was a sad lesson in broken trust as my faith in humanity slipped a few notches. Chalk one up for the school of hard knocks.

Change Your Viewing

By Mark Beck • May 29, 2025
What is the first step to changing our station in life, changing a situation or a relationship? I suggest it starts with changing how we view things, how we look at the problem or the person. Do we see burden or a blessing…obligation or opportunity? Often, when we’re stuck, say, in a difficult relationship, we see our partner as an opponent. He or she is the problem. We may even go find a therapist whom we hope will “fix” our partner. We focus on the other’s weakness, faults and failures, how they let us down and miss the mark. If that is your focus, then the more you look, the more you will see. Most couples who come to me for therapy are so focused on their partner’s problems that they can’t see anything else. They are often stuck in blame and negativity. And what we see informs what we believe. If we see only the bad in our partner, it’s easy to believe that he or she doesn’t love us or that the relationship is hopeless. That’s when couples don’t call me; they call lawyers.

We All Need Predictability

By Mark Beck • April 25, 2025
If you are invested in the stock market, it’s been a roller coaster lately. Indeed, perhaps the best short run strategy is to close your eyes and hold on and ride it out—just like on a roller coaster! However you view the market moves we’re seeing—tariffs and the like—one thing is pretty clear: markets don’t like unpredictability. Uncertainty makes markets very nervous. Hence, lots of ups and downs make for tension and trouble. It’s human nature; unpredictability is stressful in any context.

Safety First

By Mark Beck • April 1, 2025
A local factory required all of its employees to attend a safety class. One fellow didn’t really pay attention and when the final exam at the end of the class asked, “In case of a fire, what steps would you take?” the fellow answered, “Large ones!” “Safety First” is a wise strategy, everywhere from the workplace to the highway to healthcare to childcare. Injuries and accidents cost multiplied billions every year and it’s always better to prevent an accident than to treat one. Whatever the setting, people do better when they feel safe.

Curious or Critical

By Mark Beck • March 14, 2025
Somebody said, “Marriage is a never ending conversation.” I think that’s true. It certainly is a never ending education. That’s part of what makes it fun. Everyday I learn something about my wife, Debbie, about how she sees the world and sees me. And I’m often surprised at our different perspectives. We were on the verge of an argument the other day, simply because we both saw the situation very differently. Neither of us were wrong. But, once I realized how Debbie saw things, I understood her actions and reactions much better. And I realized again that a real key to connection lies in understanding, more than being understood. The late Sue Johnson used to say, “People calm down when they feel understood.” I’ve certainly found that to be true.

Love Is a Team Sport

By Mark Beck • January 29, 2025
If you’re a sports fan (specifically, football) this is your favorite time of year. The NFL playoffs showcase the best of the best and even for the non-fanatics out there, some important truths are evident. Football, like many other sports, is a team game. For sure, individual superstars shine, but only because those around them pull together for a common goal. The best teams operate as one. Eleven players, all on the same page: focused, supportive, picking each other up, pursuing the same goal. When they do, they become more than the sum of their parts…highly efficient. They minimize mistakes and overcome them when they happen. When adversity hits, lesser teams slip into fault finding, sniping and looking out for number one. In any sport, if teammates ever become opponents, they can’t win. It’s game over.

Relationship Rescue

By Mark Beck • January 24, 2025
You might remember the cruise ship Costa Concordia that foundered off the coast of Italy in 2012 after her captain carelessly steered her too close to shore. Rocks tore a 175 foot gash in her hull and the ship listed severely to her starboard side, taking on water and running aground. Ultimately, 32 people died and the recovery cost about $2 billion. Perhaps the greatest blunder though, was that the captain waited over an hour to give the order to abandon ship. For such negligence, he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years. Indeed, he left the ship with 300 passengers still on board! (He said he “fell” into a lifeboat as it was being lowered.)
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