We are happy to announce that our clinical team is fully vaccinated for CV-19 and are once again working in our conventional manner with a few additional minor precautions
Helping couples and families heal and reset in a fun, non-clinical setting.
Helping couples and families heal and reset in a fun, non-clinical setting.
Fully individualized intensive couples & family therapy provided by senior clinicians
Introduction
Far away from the distractions of daily life the opportunity to work on relationships while at the same time having fun on a wonderful vacation is a powerful combination for change and healing. These factors, together with the intensity of a seven-day program and work with highly experienced senior clinicians allow most couples and families to find avenues for reconnection, forgiveness and healing that are more difficult to achieve in more traditional therapies.
Perfect for couples, families with growing children, families with adult children & families with children with special needs.
Common problems include:
Parenting a child with special needs, recovery from infidelity, emotional drift/detachment, parent-child estrangement, parenting issues, sexual intimacy/compatibility, loss & grieving, management of chronic illness, issues of addiction, adult-children dynamics, management of loss, ineffective patterns of communication.....
Lead Clinician:
John Stewart, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry,
Tufts University School of Medicine,
Boston, MA
Additional Information:
Services and Treatment Approach
Maine Program
Working in the location Of Your Choice
Clinical Team
Frequently Asked Questions
Children with Special Needs
Parent-Child Reunification After Separation or Alienation
Program Costs
Typical Day
Program Reviews
Far away from the distractions of daily life the opportunity to work on relationships while at the same time having fun on a wonderful vacation is a powerful combination for change and healing. These factors, together with the intensity of a seven-day program and work with highly experienced senior clinicians allow most couples and families to find avenues for reconnection, forgiveness and healing that are more difficult to achieve in more traditional therapies.
Perfect for couples, families with growing children, families with adult children & families with children with special needs.
Common problems include:
Parenting a child with special needs, recovery from infidelity, emotional drift/detachment, parent-child estrangement, parenting issues, sexual intimacy/compatibility, loss & grieving, management of chronic illness, issues of addiction, adult-children dynamics, management of loss, ineffective patterns of communication.....
Lead Clinician:
John Stewart, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry,
Tufts University School of Medicine,
Boston, MA
Additional Information:
Services and Treatment Approach
Maine Program
Working in the location Of Your Choice
Clinical Team
Frequently Asked Questions
Children with Special Needs
Parent-Child Reunification After Separation or Alienation
Program Costs
Typical Day
Program Reviews
Program reviews
"Coming to this program was an act of desperation, our family was falling apart - we are leaving with new hope and sense of connection. I am still not sure what happened, but this experience healed some very broken places in our family." Nicaragua 2011
"We got our two adult kids who have struggled with one another since childhood to join this process. Meeting in coastal Maine for five days we learned that it was not just our kids who were struggling, we all were. I am not sure what happened over this time but doors opened in ways that I had never imagined they could and we are leaving so much closer and happier than we we arrived." Maine 2020
“This is a different way to do therapy, it is intense, yet non- threatening and almost fun, largely due to Dr. Stewart’s sense of humor and the amazing offerings of this region. I have never felt so safe and comfortable while at the same time looking so deeply and honestly at our relationship, myself and our family . We both left feeling ready to stop the old destructive dances and get on with being friends and for the first time in a while lovers.” NYC, 2017
"We have been in and out of couples therapy for years and have found it helpful, but not that helpful. This was different and took us to a deeper and honestly more loving place. John and Jan were so helpful in taking us back to what really mattered and not getting lost in old hurts. All of this and a wonderful vacation was perfect for us." Italy 2018
" My parents and I had not spoken for over a year and it was so painful. We did not know how to break the pattern we were in. John and Jan brought such deep understanding, kindness and even laughter to our work together that we were able to "change our dance", as they would say. Thanks for giving us a chance to start over." Maine, 2018
" I know I have said thank you several times. But I can't say it enough.
Though I had hoped for the outcome we got, I really didn't think it would happen. We were both in such pain.
We are both gobsmacked at the process you took us through, with such sensitivity, kindness, caring, intelligence, and as a bonus, such humor. I know that we will hear your voices in our minds for some time to come." Italy, 2019
" The unbearable sadness of estrangement between our adult kids was breaking our hearts and led us here. We came into this experience with tension you could cut with a knife. Through a process that involved as much laughter as tears we made our way back to being a real family. The process is intense and involved a deepening of our understanding of how we got here and a pathway to forgiveness. We learned a great deal about psychological development, attachment, our brains and what it takes to truly heal as a family. We can not thank John and Jan enough for their kindness, wisdom and guidance in giving us back our family." Maine 2020.
"Coming to this program was an act of desperation, our family was falling apart - we are leaving with new hope and sense of connection. I am still not sure what happened, but this experience healed some very broken places in our family." Nicaragua 2011
"We got our two adult kids who have struggled with one another since childhood to join this process. Meeting in coastal Maine for five days we learned that it was not just our kids who were struggling, we all were. I am not sure what happened over this time but doors opened in ways that I had never imagined they could and we are leaving so much closer and happier than we we arrived." Maine 2020
“This is a different way to do therapy, it is intense, yet non- threatening and almost fun, largely due to Dr. Stewart’s sense of humor and the amazing offerings of this region. I have never felt so safe and comfortable while at the same time looking so deeply and honestly at our relationship, myself and our family . We both left feeling ready to stop the old destructive dances and get on with being friends and for the first time in a while lovers.” NYC, 2017
"We have been in and out of couples therapy for years and have found it helpful, but not that helpful. This was different and took us to a deeper and honestly more loving place. John and Jan were so helpful in taking us back to what really mattered and not getting lost in old hurts. All of this and a wonderful vacation was perfect for us." Italy 2018
" My parents and I had not spoken for over a year and it was so painful. We did not know how to break the pattern we were in. John and Jan brought such deep understanding, kindness and even laughter to our work together that we were able to "change our dance", as they would say. Thanks for giving us a chance to start over." Maine, 2018
" I know I have said thank you several times. But I can't say it enough.
Though I had hoped for the outcome we got, I really didn't think it would happen. We were both in such pain.
We are both gobsmacked at the process you took us through, with such sensitivity, kindness, caring, intelligence, and as a bonus, such humor. I know that we will hear your voices in our minds for some time to come." Italy, 2019
" The unbearable sadness of estrangement between our adult kids was breaking our hearts and led us here. We came into this experience with tension you could cut with a knife. Through a process that involved as much laughter as tears we made our way back to being a real family. The process is intense and involved a deepening of our understanding of how we got here and a pathway to forgiveness. We learned a great deal about psychological development, attachment, our brains and what it takes to truly heal as a family. We can not thank John and Jan enough for their kindness, wisdom and guidance in giving us back our family." Maine 2020.
Note from the Program Director
Your visit to this site suggests that you are struggling in some important aspect of your relational life. In many respects relational difficulties are inevitable in that all relationships are subject to periods of tension and distance. Unfortunately feelings of powerlessness and sadness concerning these struggles, whether in relationship to a child, a partner or entire family casts a broad shadow on our lives. Extensive research tells us that the healing of broken relationships is not so much about resolving conflict, as it is about reestablishing emotional connection. Whether between partners, spouses, parents & children or extended family this process is largely dependent upon the dropping of defenses and allowing ourselves to move towards a deeper acceptance and empathy for one another.
As a clinician with many years of experience working with couples and families in a wide range of inpatient and outpatient settings, I believe deeply in the potential of thoughtful intervention to help heal fractured relationships. This said, I have also seen how difficult it can be to make real change in the context of busy lives, established patterns, infrequent sessions and settings that feel more clinical than real. It was in response to these factors that we developed our intensive couples and family therapy clinical retreats.
Having run these programs for over 16 years, every year I am more excited and proud of the unique opportunity we are providing couples and families to reconnect through the integration of intensive attachment focused therapy with a wonderful vacation. The opportunity to see one another in a new light through the therapy process and then to have fun together is a powerful combination.
If after reviewing our website you have questions or interest in scheduling a telephone or video interview to help assess the fit between your needs and our programs, please be in touch. In that we know individuals contacting us are often in a very difficult spot we attempt to respond to all contacts within several hours.
Please let us know if we can help,
John Stewart, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry,
Tufts University School of Medicine,
Boston, MA.
207-712-4869
email: johnstewart.bdi@gmail.com