Solutions

Three-Day Marriage Clinic™

There are 25 Essential Marriage Skills for marriage satisfaction.

Following them = Thriving marriage
Rejecting them = Dying marriage

Though couples experience different symptoms, such as anger, resentment, and withdrawal, the root of these issues is almost always the same: violation of these 25 Essential Marriage Skills.

Instruction and training sessions are presented in a group format. Then break out into private sessions (just you and your spouse) for discussion, private experiential counseling, and activities and resolution of marital issues. (Selected clinics are held using secure videoconferencing.)

Concentrated Format

Unfortunately one-hour couples counseling sessions just don’t offer enough time to develop the essential marriage skills or heal the damage done from violating them. When couples bring painful issues to the surface without enough time to resolve them, these couples actually re-activate these old wounds and go away feeling worse than when they came! Leaving a counseling session with unresolved agitation tends to create more conflict among couples—not less.

The Three-Day Marriage Clinic™, facilitated by Karl Elkins, eliminates this problem by addressing issues in a concentrated, three-day format. It’s equivalent to receiving 18 weeks of marriage counseling in just three days. This format allows time for each partner to be heard and to actually resolve each issue that rises to the surface.

A heart surgeon would never open you up once a week for 18 weeks. He would instead address all of the relevant issues during a single operation. Wouldn’t it be great if you could open up all the hurtful events of your emotional heart, and resolve them over three days? Through the Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ you can!

Key Benefits

Prevents new hurts. Weekly one-hour sessions leave you more sensitive and vulnerable to new hurts that are raised but not completely resolved. This format allows for plenty of time to completely resolve the issues.
Cost effective. The Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ costs about $22 an hour per couple—much less than hourly rates of $90 to $200 for individual and couples counseling. Those who feel the need to follow-up with individual or couples counseling will require far fewer sessions.
It works! Ample time is provided to resolve each issue that surfaces as both parties are able to address “their side of the story” and contributing factors.
Addresses root problems. With enough time, the surface issues can be peeled back and the root problems can be addressed.
Allows for the “how my partner influenced me to do what I did” factor. If you are influencing your partner’s “bad” behavior, wouldn’t you want to know? The Three-Day Marriage Clinic allows time to discover this.
Fluid. It is much easier for couples (and counselors) to flow from one issue to the next whenever sessions are provided back-to-back, rather than on a weekly basis.
Fast. Experience the equivalent of 4-5 months of counseling in only three days. In three days most couples can successfully resolve all of their conflicts—or at least master the process to resolve these conflicts on their own.
Distraction free. This format allows you to escape the distractions of chores, children, TV, e-mail, phone, and work so you can get your partner’s full, undivided attention. This is especially true if you choose to stay in a hotel, which we highly recommend.
Agreeable. Partners who will not commit to weekly counseling for six months, are often much more open to our three-day approach.
More effective with partners having affairs. Often when one person wants out of a marriage it is because they are involved with another person. In these difficult cases, it is important to get them out of their harmful environment (away from the other person) and allow enough time to pierce through their calloused heart. Rarely will this person commit to the typical six months of weekly sessions—because they usually just want out. However, they will often consider three days of counseling.
Eight to 17 percent more actual counseling time. In weekly counseling, counselors take five to ten minutes each hour to document the session, receive payment and schedule future sessions. The Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ avoids this administrative time completely because all of the charting, scheduling, and payment for all 18 hours is taken care of at one time.
May be reimbursed by your insurance company. If your policy covers educational group counseling, you could be reimbursed (more insurance information). If not, at $22 an hour, the Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ is still an excellent value.
Can be easily followed up with individual/couples counseling as needed. Many want the security of ongoing follow-up marriage counseling to guard against relapse or to deal more thoroughly with difficult and issues. The Monthly Marriage Enrichment Group offers support, encouragement, and accountability through the counselor and other couples.

What Will You Learn?

Essential Relationship Concepts

One Concept that Stops All Arguing
Six Warm-Up Steps that Guarantee Successful Conflict Resolution
Avoiding the Number One Reason Relationships Struggle and Fail
14 Aspects of Successful Communication
Eliminating Worry, Fear, and Anxiety that Prevents Abundant Life
Getting to the Root of Addictions
Discovering True Freedom by Gaining Powerful Self-Control
Conquering Impure Thoughts and Habits
Understanding Unique Gender Issues and Roles
Getting to the Root of Your Children’s Bad Behavior

Relating to Your Spouse

What Does a Happy Marriage Really Look Like?
Discovering Twelve Needs of Your Spouse
Meeting 91 Percent of your Partner’s Needs in 30 Seconds
Three Barriers to Intimacy
Getting Your Partner to Share More Heartfelt Emotions
How Problems and Emotional Distance Develop
How to Stop Fighting over Money
Why Meeting Needs with Good Intentions Is Not Enough
Protecting Your Marriage from Infidelity
Communicating Desires, Needs, and Hurts Without Provoking Anger
Eliminating Your Partner’s Anger
Helping Your Partner Resolve Childhood Hurts that Can Hinder Present Relationships
Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts and How They Predict Certain Marital Conflicts
Alleviating Your Partner’s Feelings of Loneliness
Discovering Your Partner’s Need of the Moment
How Misapplying Boundaries Destroys Your Marriage
How Misapplying the “God Is All We Need” Concept Damages Marriages and Families

Reconciliation and Recovery

Helping Your Partner Discover Ways They Hurt You
Why “Coping” with Problems Is Not Biblical
Why “Just Choosing to Forgive” Doesn’t Fully Work
Experiencing Six Steps to True Forgiveness
Recover from Adultery
Regaining Trust after Adultery
15 Consequences when a Man Initiates Divorce
17 Consequences when a Women Initiates Divorce

Key Differences

Still trying to decide which marital counseling solution is best for you? Check out our comparison chart below. (Both Three-Day solutions include similar instructional material and topics, but in different formats.)

	Three-Day Accelerated Marriage Counseling (AMC)™	Three-Day Marriage Clinic™	Individual/Couples Counseling
Teaching and sessions	Private (you, spouse, counselor)	Group	Private (you, spouse, counselor)
Discussion	Private (you, spouse, counselor)	Private (you and spouse only)	Private (you, spouse, counselor)
Experiential counseling, activities, resolution of issues	Private (you, spouse, counselor)	Private (you and spouse only)	Private (you, spouse, counselor)
Meeting location	Christway offices, videoconference	Church, hotel conference room, or videoconference	Christway offices or videoconference
Videoconference option	Available	Selected clinics	Available
Hours	18	18	Multiple one-hour appointments
Days	3 (flexible)	3	Multiple one-hour appointments
Insurance coverage	More likely	Less likely	More likely
Cost	$3420/couple	$25-190/person ($50-380/couple)	$190/hour
	More Details \| Register	More Details \| Register	More Details \| Register

Dates, Locations & Details

The Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ typically follows this schedule (with some exceptions noted below):

Friday 1:00pm–7:00pm
Saturday 8:30am–2:30pm
Sunday 1:00pm–7:00pm

Teaching and sessions are in a group format. Discussion, experiential counseling, and activities and resolution of issues are conducted privately. We currently hold the Three-Day Marriage Clinic™ in the Houston area, Austin, and other locations. Upcoming dates and detailed location information are shown below.