FAQs: About Couples Programs
General Questions:
- Why is the Connection Quest private sessions more effective than ongoing sessions?
- When is Hedy and Yumi coming to my city or country?
- Is the two-day private sessions very different from the three-day workshops for couples?
- How can I bring Hedy and Yumi to my city or organization?
- Do you have experience with gay and lesbian couples?
- Will my health insurance cover the fee for the Connection Quest intensive or Adventure in Intimacy workshop?
- I’m considering an intensive session. Is there any follow up after the sessions?
- Do you provide couples therapy on an hourly or weekly basis?
- My partner and I need couples counseling. How do I make an appointment with Hedy?
As an experienced couples therapist and clinician, observing and studying couples for 20 years in her dedicated couples laboratory, Hedy has developed an intensive transformational two-day program for couples, called Connection Quest. She has found this program to be more effective than the ongoing hourly sessions because she has seen stunning results when couples can keep open and available to learning and growing together over an extended period of time. Hedy has inspired many couple therapists to offer intensive sessions to their couples, and they have reported meaningful results in their work. Hedy is currently teaching an international Master Class to educate couple therapists in her innovative Encounter-centered Couples Therapy.
CloseHedy and Yumi bring their workshop for couples, training programs for therapists, and training programs for companies and organizations to locations throughout the world, in English, French, German and Hebrew.
Typically, there are 4 workshops for couples and 1-2 trainings for therapists each year in the USA. Hedy and Yumi travel at least once per year to Israel, France, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
For dates and information on upcoming events near you, view our global calendar.
To make sure you are notified when a workshop or training is scheduled for your area, please join our mailing list and select the appropriate information you would like to receive.
If you are interested in organizing a workshop or training for your organization or geographical area, please contact us to discuss your event in detail.
CloseThe fundamental principles and skills you will learn at both the workshop and the private session are similar. However, during the private session, you have Hedy’s full attention and expertise, and she will guide you and your partner in the direction you need to go based on where your relationship is currently.
The workshop has a specific format, and you are with a group of couples. It is not group therapy, and you do not need to speak in front of the group. Although the workshop is dynamic, entertaining, and flexible, Hedy and Yumi teach the principles at the pace of the group.
CloseHedy and Yumi bring their workshop for couples, training programs for therapists, and training programs for companies and organizations to locations throughout the world, in English, French, German and Hebrew. If you are interested in organizing a workshop or training for your organization or geographical area, please contact us at 305-604-0010 or email us to discuss your event in detail.
CloseYes. We welcome all couples, and many gay and lesbian couples do attend our workshops and private sessions. Hedy and Yumi’s teachings are universal for everyone because the focus is entirely on the relationship, not on a couple’s religion, race or sexual orientation.
CloseSome health insurance policies with mental health benefits will reimburse couples for the Connection Quest full day intensives. Check your policy to see if you are covered. The Adventure in Intimacy couples workshop is not covered by insurance.
CloseAt the completion of your Connection Quest intensive session, Hedy will send you a report, which will include assignments to help you keep what you have learned alive. She might also suggest a schedule of phone sessions, as well as a one-day follow-up Connection Quest session.
CloseWe provide a two-day intensive session for couples called the Encounter-centered Couples Therapy Intensive. Hedy’s experience has shown that this format is very transformational and more effective for the couple than hourly therapy sessions. Your EcCT Intensive can be in your native language of English, French, Hebrew, German, Spanish or Yiddish.
For more information on this opportunity, please review Private Sessions for Couples and contact us at 305-604-0010 for available dates.
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Hedy see couples for one-day and two-day private sessions called Connection Quest. Your intensive session can be in your native language of English, French, Hebrew, German, Spanish or Yiddish.
Hedy also leads a couples workshop called Adventure in Intimacy with her husband Yumi. Hedy and Yumi conduct the workshop in many countries in the English, French, Hebrew and German languages.
Attending an Adventure in Intimacy or a Connection Quest intensive session is the equivalent of over 30 hours of counseling.
CloseRegarding the Couples Workshops:
- We are looking for ways to communicate better, find and keep intimacy. Tell me more about your workshop.
- How many people attend the workshop for couples?
- How do we prepare ourselves for the workshop?
- Getting the Love You Want
by Harville Hendrix
- Keeping the Love You Find
by Harville Hendrix
- I And Thou
by Martin Buber
- Knowledge of Man
by Martin Buber
- Appreciative Inquiry by David L. Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
- Appreciative Living
by Jacqueline Bascobert Kelm
- Re-Evaluation Counseling, Third Edition
by Harvey Jackins
- A General Theory of Love
by Lannon, Lewis and Amini
- Parenting from the Inside Out
by Daniel Siegel
- The Neurobiology of "We"
by Daniel Siegel
- Social Intelligence
by Daniel Goleman
- My partner and I really want to attend the workshop, but we simply can not afford it. What can we do?
- What if I have to cancel?
- What does it cost to attend the workshop?
- What is the format of the workshop?
- Where is the workshop held?
- What is the schedule for the workshop?
- I have already attended an Adventure In Intimacy workshop. Can I attend again?
- My partner and I are thinking about ending our relationship. Will we feel comfortable at your workshop, and will your teachings apply to us?
- I want to attend your workshop but my partner is not that interested. Is that a problem?
- I have heard so many wonderful things about Hedy and Yumi. If I attend the couples workshop, will they be there?
- What if I know other couples at the workshop I will be attending? Would that be strange?
- Will I need to speak in front of the group?
- Can I attend the workshop even if I don’t currently have a spouse or partner?
The workshop is based on a number of methodologies including Imago Relationship Theory, Appreciative Inquiry, Relational Neurobiology, and the concepts of Martin Buber, as well as Hedy and Yumi's 44 years of marriage and their life together.
The workshop is also not group therapy. Here is the structure of the three days:
Hedy and Yumi teach 7 relational principles and 7 skills. They will present the first principle and skill using a PowerPoint presentation along with stories and examples, then there will be a demonstration of the first skill with a couple that volunteers.
Then each couple works privately, spread out around the room, to practice the skill they just learned. During that time, we have relationship therapists who assist us who can work with you, or answer question if you choose to use them.
Then everyone comes back to the group and Hedy and Yumi answer any questions, and then move on to the next principle. At no time during the workshop are you required to say anything personal about your relationship to the group or other couples.
CloseOn average, 25-35 couples attend the Adventure In Intimacy workshop for couples. The January workshop is typically our largest workshop since many couples from colder regions of the world come to sunny Miami. Every Adventure In Intimacy workshop has specially trained relationship therapists who assist Hedy and Yumi ensuring that each and every couple is given attention.
The Art of Sexual Connection advanced workshop has a more intimate group of couples and is closed at 25 couples.
CloseHere are some recommended video and audio programs, and books to prepare yourself for attending the Adventure in Intimacy workshop for couples:
One important video to watch is Hedy's 18 minute TEDtalk on "the three invisible connectors:" the Space, the Bridge, and the Encounter.
We also recommend the special documentary package which includes the award-winning documentary, "Hedy and Yumi: Crossing the Bridge" and seven audio programs on relationships.
There are also additional video and audio programs in our Media Center.
Below is the bibliography from the workshop manual you will receive at the workshop. Reading any of these books will assist you in your relational journey:
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Hedy and Yumi offer several partial scholarships for each workshop. To be considered, please fill out the scholarship application and return within 30 days of the workshop you would like to attend.
CloseThere is a $200 cancellation fee, credited towards a future workshop.
If, when you cancel, you are able to reschedule for the next workshop dates, we will simply move your registration into the next workshop.
If you are not able to reschedule for a future workshop, we will refund whatever you have paid minus the cancellation fee. If you register for a workshop in the future, you would have a $200 credit which we would apply towards the balance of your future registration.
CloseThe Adventure in Intimacy workshop is $995 per couple, and includes two Adventure in Intimacy manuals, continental breakfast and an afternoon snack each day. Hotel and other meals are not included.
If you have already attended the Adventure In Intimacy workshop, a Getting the Love you Want workshop, or if you are an Imago therapist, you can attend for only $795 per couple.
You can register with a $200 deposit payable by credit card, cash or check. The balance is due two weeks before the workshop begins.
CloseThe Adventure in Intimacy workshop explores “Seven Principles and Seven Rituals.”
The format includes short lectures, live demonstrations, guided imageries, and experiential practice with your partner.
While individual couples are working together, therapist assistants are available to answer any questions and assist you. You are not required to say anything about your relationship while in the group.
CloseHedy and Yumi present the workshop in many countries including Canada, Israel, Austria, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
In Florida, the workshop is held at a hotel in Miami. We also offer discounted group rates for staying at the hotel. For complete hotel information, please refer to the workshop schedule page.
CloseThere is a continental breakfast at 7:45am, and the workshop begins promptly at 8:30am each day during the three-day session. Workshops end at about 7:30 pm. There are several short breaks throughout the day and 90 minute break for lunch each day. Please note that in most cases, the workshop begins on Friday morning at 8:30am.
CloseYes, many couples attend our workshop several times. The Adventure in Intimacy workshop continues to improve and develop, and thus is never quite the same. Couples who review (attend again) the workshop come back at a different place in their relationship, so that they hear new things and receive a broader understanding of what they heard previously.
In addition, couples who return receive a $200 scholarship.
CloseCouples come to our workshops at all different stages of a relationship: some are at the beginning of their relationship; some are engaged to be married, some are just married; some have been together for many years; some are considering a divorce, and some are already separated; some are longing for a miracle; and some want to take an already good and stable relationship to a deeper level.
By the end of the workshop, both you and your partner will have a clear and real sense of what’s going on in the world of the other. You will have learned the language of connection. With a clear picture of your partner’s world and the relational space you co-create together, you can then move forward, and decide intentionally what "forward" means to each of you.
CloseMany couples who attend the Adventure in Intimacy workshop come with one person who is very interested and the other very much less so. That is completely normal. Quite often, the dragged-along partner becomes even more enthusiastic and excited about what he or she is learning.
CloseYes. Hedy and Yumi ARE the workshop presenters of the Adventure in Intimacy workshops. They present the entire workshop. No substitutions. They are always present.
CloseAt the workshop, couples do their individual work privately rather than in the group setting. Because of the special atmosphere of safety and confidentiality that is created, people have found that knowing another couple is not an issue.
In fact, some couples have reported that being in the same workshop with a couple they know is quite beneficial, because they continued to support each other after the workshop. That is why we encourage couples to attend with friends and family, and offer a $50 scholarship to couples who bring a “buddy couple’ to the workshop. Call us at 305-604-0010 to register with a buddy couple.
CloseWe understand that most people dislike public speaking. At no time are you required to speak in front of the group, and your privacy is always respected.
CloseCertainly. You can attend with a family member (father, mother, daughter, son, sibling, etc.) or even attend with a very close friend. What you learn will easily be applied to all relationships: family, friends, and prepare you for your next romantic relationship. If you do currently have a spouse or partner, you should attend the workshop with that person.
CloseIf any of these answers are unclear or you have a question not covered here, please contact our office
