Hold Me Tight® Couples Workshop
Strengthen Communication, Connection, and Intimacy In Two Days
Many relationships begin with ease and connection, but over time, even the strongest couples face challenges. Busy lives, careers, parenting, and stress can create distance between you and your partner. This can lead to recurring conflicts or quiet disconnection where good communication and intimacy begins to fade.
If this feels familiar, you're not alone. These patterns are often rooted in deeper emotional needs and relationship dynamics. With the right guidance, couples can reconnect and reignite their bond.
The Hold Me Tight® Couples Workshop is a powerful, research-based experience designed to help couples strengthen connection and create lasting change. Based on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) and Dr. Sue Johnson’s book Hold Me Tight, the workshop offers a blend of education, private conversations, and guided exercises.
Couples will learn to recognize patterns, understand what drives them, and practice new ways of reaching for one another that foster safety, intimacy, and trust. Whether you're looking to deepen your connection, heal after period of conflict, or strengthen your bond, Hold Me Tight® offers a transformative path forward.
Hold Me Tight® is a registered trademark of Sue Johnson.
What You Will Learn
You will learn the art and science of attachment theory and emotional intelligence.
You will discover how to actively shape your love relationship.
You will be able to identify the pattern that drives fights and disconnection and learn how to shift it.
You will practice giving and receiving forgiveness.
You will connect emotionally, physically and sexually through discussion.
You will develop effective ways of communicating.
You will practice asking for what you need and want in a way your partner can respond to.
Principles Of Hold Me Tight
Most couples fall into interactional patterns shaped by underlying nervous system responses, emotions, perceptions, and attachment needs. We call this The Negative Cycle. When couples recognize their negative cycle with compassion and understanding, they can work together to shift it and create a new pattern that fosters communication, connection, and intimacy. By approaching their relationship as a team, couples can actively shape a deeper, more fulfilling bond.
When we recognize that all humans are seeking safety, security, love, and connection—and that we instinctively protect ourselves when faced with loss or rejection—it becomes easier to interpret your partner’s behaviors. With this awareness, couples can take intentional steps toward emotional balance and closeness rather than falling into unconscious patterns of distance and discord.
Couples who develop the ability to reach for and respond to one another can navigate challenges and communicate more effectively. When partners learn to truly see, hear, and support each other, they build the foundation for the kind of relationship they genuinely desire.
Curriculum
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The Hold me Tight program is based on the science of attachment, bonding and emotional intelligence. When partners are able to be accessible, responsive and engaged with each other this leads to improved communication, connection and intimacy. We begin our program by helping couples understand that love is logical, critical to our survival and thriving, and can be repaired, shaped and strengthened.
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We help couples discover where they get stuck and uncover the pattern of interaction that keeps them from enjoying the love, intimacy, and connection they desire. With high amounts of compassion and acceptance we support couples to see where things go wrong in order to help them do things differently.
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In order to strengthen the way you and your partner communicate and connect, we need to go deeper. In this portion of the workshop you and your partner will explore the triggers, emotions, perceptions and longings that drive your negative interactions. You and your partner will share honestly and vulnerably which will bring you closer and move you toward working as a team to create the kind of relationship you desire.
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Here, you and your partner will learn how to slow down your responses and rise above the pattern. You will explore how to stop the pattern when it comes up and work together to create new ways of interaction that is built on emotional safety and security.
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You and your partner will experience times that you get off track. You may have experiences from your past that still cause you to hurt today. In this portion of the workshop you and your partner will be guided through the process of repair, forgiveness and healing.
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The Hold me Tight conversation promotes bonding. You and your partner will share about what you need and want in a way that you can hear and respond to.
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Sex is an important aspect of most love relationships. In this portion of the workshop you and your partner will have a conversation about sex. You will discuss what you want to explore, what you like, what you do not like, and what you both need to create a deeply fulfilling sexual connection.
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We complete our workshop by helping you and your partner create a plan to keep your love alive for the long haul. You can expect to experience a deep sense of connection, intimacy and closeness.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We understand the need for confidentiality. Although all couples are invited to engage in discussion with the group, and this is a group experience, most conversations occur privately between partners. Couples who do not want to talk about their relationship with the group are not expected to do so, and we absolutely respect this. We want all couples to feel confident that what they share during the workshop will be kept confidential. This is important to us and we discuss this at the start of the workshop.
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Yes! It is fantastic that you have a solid foundation. The concepts in this workshop will guide you to deepen your bond even more and can renew sexual excitement and spark and we offer a module that is devoted to this topic.
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Hold Me Tight is ideally suited for couples that are committed and have an intention to stay together. If you are trying to decide whether or not you want to stay in your relationship, we encourage you to consider discernment counseling or therapy instead.
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Yes! This program is designed for all committed couples with a desire to strengthen their relationship. We welcome couples in new relationships, those who have been married for decades or longer, and everything in between. Couples that are in newer relationships remind the group of the joy that comes with early love. Couples that have been together for decades or longer share stories of commitment and resilience.
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Hold Me Tight is relationship education that is based on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. The Hold Me Tight Workshop is not marriage and family therapy, counseling, psychotherapy, or mental health counseling. This program is not suitable for couples experiencing active and untreated abuse, addiction, affairs, or severe mental illness. It is also not suitable for those taking steps toward separation or divorce. If you or your partner are experiencing these challenges we encourage you to consider therapy.
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Yes! We welcome all couples that are committed to their relationship in the way that they define.
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We are not associated with any particular religion. We respect each individual's religion and spiritual practice. We teach tools, such as breathwork and visualization, to support participants with managing stress and being more responsive in relationships. We incorporate movement and mindfulness as they provide a path toward emotional regulation, co-regulation and connection with self and others.
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The Hold me Tight Couples Workshop was developed by Dr. Sue Johnson and is based on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) and her book, "Hold me Tight, Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love". Hold Me Tight® is a registered trademark to Sue Johnson. Emotionally Focused Therapy is based on research and has been empirically validated to improve relationship satisfaction in 70 to 90 percent of couples. The workshop is an experience that consists of relationship and attachment science education, exercises, group discussion, and conversations that take place between couples. The program is facilitated and couples are given time to work together at their own pace. The focus is on supporting couples to develop connection, intimacy, and communication. To learn more about Hold Me Tight and Emotionally Focused Therapy visit www.iceeft.org
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In this program we cover:
How to communicate more effectively.
What drives distress in relationships and how to change this.
How to build on your strengths and renew connection and bonding.
How to stop painful patterns of fighting or lonely withdrawal.
How to forgive and repair past difficulties in the relationship.
How to enhance intimacy through presence and touch.
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No! Hold me Tight is considered relationship education and is based on Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy.
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Yes. We have several couples therapists at Integrative Couples Therapist that are trained in the Emotionally Focused Therapy, which is the model that Hold me Tight is based on. They are available to see you on a weekly basis at our office in Encinitas, CA or via video if you are located elsewhere in California. If you do not live in California we recommend you utilize the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy directory by clicking here.
Meet Your Facilitators
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Cristina Trette is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, couples workshop facilitator, and the owner of Integrative Couples Therapy. She is dedicated to helping partners rediscover the love that brought them together. Through Hold Me Tight© workshops, she guides couples through a process hat fosters closeness and builds a foundation of trust. Cristina’s approach blends depth, warmth, and clarity, creating an inspiring space where couples strengthen their relationship and reimagine what is possible for their future together.
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Jeff Everage joins Cristina Trette in leading Hold Me Tight® workshops, bringing a unique blend of leadership and heart to the process. A former Navy SEAL, and founder of Trident Proposals, Jeff draws on decades of high-performance leadership experience to help couples build trust, resilience, and emotional connection. His grounded presence and ability to bring a balanced masculine lens to love and relationships create a space where both partners feel safe to lean in, speak honestly, and reconnect. In collaboration with Cristina, Jeff guides couples through transformative conversations helping them move to deeper intimacy. To learn more about Jeff, visit his LinkedIn Profile here.
Who Should Attend
The Hold me Tight® Couples Workshop is designed for all couples in committed relationships. It is particularly helpful for couples that are married or in long term committed relationships wanting to create better communication and revitalize intimacy. Couples in newer relationships will set their relationship up for success. Seasoned couples will have the opportunity to develop new tools, renew their bond, and bring healing to distressed aspects of their relationship.
This workshop is not intended for couples that are experiencing active infidelity, addiction, abuse, or those on the brink of seperation and divorce. If this describes the situation you are in, we would love to support you in therapy. We encourage you to contact us for more information on our therapy services.