February Couples Retreat

One-Day Couples Retreat
Designed by the leading experts in the field of relationships at The Gottman Institute
Are you looking for a deeper, more intimate connection in your relationship? Are you looking for healthy and positive ways to communicate during disagreements? Or maybe you are newly engaged and looking at ways to start off on the right foot?
Join Uplift Counseling on February 11, 2023, for a one-day workshop at the Oxbow Hotel in Eau Claire, Wisconsin! You and your partner will focus on increasing intimacy, connection and friendship in your relationship!

The Gottman Seven Principles Workshop is based the New York Times Bestseller, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. This workshop has been developed using ground-breaking research by Dr. John Gottman and Nan Silver on what makes relationships really work. Over 40 years of research and 3000 real life couples’ experiences have been compiled to create a program for couples who are wanting to strengthen their relationship and learn real-life skills for creating a relationship that lasts.
During this one-day workshop, you will learn how to:
- Foster closeness and admiration
- Increase intimacy and romance
- Learn how to argue in healthy ways
- Gain skills on understanding and managing problems, including maneuvering through gridlock
- Increase turning towards each other during tension instead of away
- Build new shared meaning and memories
Who would benefit from this workshop?
- Pre-engaged (dating)
- Pre-marital (engaged)
- Everyone from newlyweds to seniors
- Those who wish to enhance an already ‘good’ marriage
- Those who want better conflict management skills
- People of all backgrounds and faiths
What are the Seven Principles?
- Enhance Love Maps | Consistently maintaining a detailed map, over time, of your partner’s inner world including their thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes, dreams, fears etc.
- Nurture Fondness & Admiration | Focusing on the positive, lovable traits of your partner and creating a culture in which your partner feels both liked and loved.
- Turn Toward Each Other | Bidding for your partner’s attention with vulnerability and accepting your partner’s bids for connection with a relationship building response.
- Let Your Partner Influence You | Accommodating your partner’s needs, wants, and desires, without sacrificing your own.
- Solve Your Solvable Problems | Bring up conflict issues in a gentle way and allow for conversations to be repaired.
- Overcome Gridlock | Create an environment of emotional safety in order to understand the deeper meaning behind your stuck conflicts.
- Create Shared Meaning | Intentionally building your own unique culture as a culture based on shared goals, symbols, roles, rules, and rituals.

- 6.5 Hour Workshop
- The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work Book
- The Seven Principles Companion Workbook allows you to privately record answers and journal thoughtfully about the concepts in the book, as they apply to your relationship. It takes users step-by-step through the interactive exercises in each chapter of The Seven Principles Book.
- “Love Map/Open Ended Questions” card deck. This deck is fun and effective way for couples to get to know one another’s inner lives, thus increasing closeness and friendship.
- Engaging presentation and the opportunity for many exercises and conversations with your partner
- Lunch
The Location:
The Oxbow Hotel
516 Galloway Street, Eau Claire, WI 54703


Meet Your Facilitator
My name is Sara Bowe. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and co-owner of Uplift Counseling Center. I’m also an authorized Seven Principles Program Educator who will lead the workshop to teach you practical strategies for making relationships work.
One of my passions in counseling is working with couples! Relationships are an important part of connection and wellbeing. However, when we choose a partner we are also choosing a problem set. Without healthy strategies to navigate through these problems, the good parts of the relationship can be forgotten or feel fewer and far between. This workshop can help couples learn how to avoid gridlock of their problems to create stronger friendships while increasing intimacy. It can be a great foundation for couples who are engaged to be married or who are newly married as well. Although I am a therapist, this workshop is not therapy. The workshop is centered around providing strategies to build stronger relationships through private couple centered activities. If you are interested in learning more about therapy services, or just want more information about Uplift Counseling Center in general, check out our website!

February 11, 2023 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm (workshop)
Social hour + Koldtbord 4:30 – 6:00 pm
$337 per person + 149.95-214.95 depending on room choice
Early bird pricing of 20% off registration is being offered through November 30! Space is limited and a waitlist will be created after registration is full.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations are accepted with full reimbursement through December 31, 2022. Cancellations from January 1st, 2023-February 11th, 2023 will be reimbursed at 50% of your total cost. This does not include room reservations. Please check with The Oxbow Hotel for their room reservation and cancellation policy.

Who can I contact with questions?
Sara Bowe, 715-559-9428 or sara@upliftcounseling.com
Do we have to share in this class?
No! Although you will have time to meet other couples, sharing of personal stories or problems will not be required. There will be time to actively participate within the workshop by answering questions, but you will not be forced to talk.
Who is this training for?
This workshop is for anyone in a committed relationship, married or unmarried. The training is appropriate for any sexual orientations, relationship arrangements, any faith, and any age.
Is there anyone that shouldn’t attend this training?
This workshop is not geared to help couples with a ‘quick fix’ through a crisis or severe distress (such as a recent affair), present with abusive behaviors of any form, have active addictions present (drugs, alcohol, gambling), or serious mental illness present in one or both partners . Although strategies of this workshop could help in the future, couples or individual counseling would be more beneficial first.
Is this considered therapy?
No! Although the facilitator is a trained therapist, this workshop is all psycho-education (skills and education based). Although therapy can provide psycho-education and skills training, it involves a deeper process of creating a treatment plan centered around client goals and targeted interventions.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions. We look forward to hosting you!