An intensive is not something you walk into cold. The preparation is part of the process — and it is what separates a Numa intensive from anything generic.

Before your intensive begins, each spouse completes a detailed individual intake assessment covering your history, the current state of the marriage, your specific pain points, your goals for the experience, and what you most need Brady to understand before you arrive. These are completed privately and separately — your responses are not shared with your spouse before the intensive begins. This allows Brady to enter the day with a full picture of both perspectives without either spouse having to perform or protect.

Following the intake assessments, Brady will schedule a pre-intensive call to review the information, clarify the structure of your day or days, discuss any clinical concerns, and answer your questions about what to expect. The intensive is then built specifically around your marriage — your history, your wounds, your goals, and the specific work that needs to happen.

You will receive a preparation guide before the intensive begins covering what to bring, how to prepare emotionally, what to eat, and how to set up the day at home the night before so you arrive ready rather than depleted. The goal is for both of you to walk through the door with nothing left to manage — just the space to finally do the work.

Every intensive is custom-built — no two days are identical. But a full-day intensive typically flows in the following structure:

Morning — Individual sessions Brady meets individually with each spouse in the first part of the morning. This gives each person the space to speak freely, to name what they most need the other to understand, and to arrive at the joint work having already said what needed to be said privately first.

Mid-morning — First joint session The first joint session brings both spouses into the room together. Brady guides the conversation using the AWARE to BLESS framework and Emotionally Focused Therapy principles — addressing the specific pain points identified in the intake and beginning the structured work of hearing and being heard.

Midday — Structured reflection and lunch break A built-in break midway through the day is not optional — it is clinical. The nervous system needs time to process what has already happened before more work begins. Brady will provide a short reflection exercise for the break so the time is purposeful rather than disconnected.

Afternoon — Deep work joint session The afternoon session is typically where the deepest and most significant work happens. The morning has created safety and opened the conversation. The afternoon builds on it — moving into the specific patterns, agreements, and wounds that have been driving the disconnection.

Late afternoon — Action planning and closing session The final session is structured around what happens next. Brady will walk through your written ninety-day action plan, establish clear agreements between both spouses, schedule follow-up sessions, and close the day with intention. You will not leave without a plan.

The intensive does not end when you leave the office. What happens in the days and weeks following is critical — and it is built into every package.

Every intensive includes structured follow-up sessions to help you consolidate what you experienced, process anything that surfaces in the aftermath, and sustain the momentum the intensive created. The frequency and number of follow-up sessions vary by package and are determined in the pre-intensive call based on the scope of your work.

Many couples experience a significant emotional release in the days immediately following an intensive. This is normal and expected — not a sign that something went wrong. Brady is available for brief check-in contact between sessions during the follow-up window so you are never navigating the aftermath alone.

The ninety-day action plan you receive at the end of your intensive is a living document — not a summary of what happened but a structured guide for what comes next. It includes specific agreements, communication tools, weekly practices, and reflection prompts designed to keep the progress moving in the weeks between your follow-up sessions.

The intensive is the beginning of a new chapter — not the end of the work. The follow-up structure is designed to make sure what you built together actually holds.

If you are considering a marriage intensive but are not sure where to start — or if you are not certain whether an intensive is the right format for your marriage right now — the webinar and consultation pathway is the place to begin.

Step 1 — Watch the webinar. The webinar gives you a clear picture of what a marriage intensive is, how the process works at Numa, and what couples typically experience before, during, and after their intensive. It is free to watch and designed to answer the questions most couples have before they are ready to reach out directly.

Step 2 — Sign up for a consultation. After watching the webinar, schedule a sixty-minute consultation with Brady for $67. This is a structured clinical conversation — not a sales call. Brady will review your specific situation, the current state of your marriage, and what you most need from the intensive experience. You will leave the consultation with a clear recommendation for which format is the right fit, what the intensive would focus on, and what the next step is.

Step 3 — Receive The Marriage Reset Quick Start Guide. Automatically sent after you schedule your consultation, The Marriage Reset Quick Start Guide gives you practical, immediate tools to begin stabilizing your marriage while you prepare for the intensive. It is designed to help you get traction now rather than waiting for the intensive to begin the work.

The consultation is the gateway to every intensive at Numa. It protects the process — ensuring that every couple who comes for an intensive is properly prepared, appropriately matched to the right format, and set up to get the most from the experience.

A marriage intensive and weekly marriage counseling serve different purposes. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right format for where your marriage is right now.

Weekly counseling is designed for steady, ongoing work. It is the right format when your marriage needs consistent attention over time — building skills, processing patterns, and making incremental progress week by week. Weekly sessions are maintenance, growth, and prevention built into the rhythm of your regular life.

A marriage intensive is designed for concentrated transformation. It is the right format when the pace of weekly sessions is too slow for what your marriage needs right now — when a crisis has happened, when disconnection has become acute, or when you need to do in two days what would take twelve months of weekly sessions to reach.

The structural differences matter. In a weekly session you have fifty to sixty minutes. In a full-day intensive you have seven hours. In a weekly session the conversation ends before it often reaches the root. In an intensive the conversation has time to go where it needs to go. In weekly counseling you leave and return to ordinary life before the work fully lands. In an intensive you stay in the room until the work is done.

You leave a Numa intensive with a written ninety-day action plan, structured follow-up sessions, and specific agreements in place. You do not leave with a feeling — you leave with a plan. That is the difference.

Many couples do both. They come for an intensive to create momentum and break through a specific wall — and then continue with weekly or biweekly sessions to sustain and build on what the intensive produced. Brady will recommend the right combination at the consultation.

Every Numa intensive package includes a structured follow-up session schedule. The number and frequency of follow-up sessions is determined by the format and scope of your intensive — and is confirmed during the pre-intensive call so you know exactly what your follow-up support looks like before the intensive begins.

Follow-up sessions serve three functions. First, they give you a structured space to process what surfaced during the intensive — particularly anything that continued to move and shift in the days following. Second, they provide accountability to the agreements and action steps you established during the intensive. Third, they help you identify and address any new patterns or stuck points that emerge as you implement what the intensive produced.

The ninety-day action plan serves as the guide for your follow-up sessions. Each follow-up session begins with a review of what has happened since the last session — what worked, what was hard, and what needs attention. The follow-up sessions are not a return to weekly maintenance mode. They are a targeted continuation of the intensive work.

If you are coming for a multi-day or full-week retreat intensive, your follow-up schedule will be more extensive and is customized based on the depth and scope of what was covered. Brady will walk you through the full follow-up structure before your intensive begins so there are no surprises.

You will not be left without support after one of the most significant clinical experiences of your marriage. The follow-up structure is not optional — it is part of every package.