Couples

Working with Couples

Brian teams up with his wife Tricia (more about Tricia, her coaching, and her mind/body healing practice at www.triciagast.com) to work with couples on their communication, connection, and shared vision. Couples in which one or both people are executives or successful entrepreneurs have unique sets of challenges in maintaining intimacy and a healthy balance of support and power. Brian and Tricia have first-hand experience with these dynamics given Brian’s 20-year corporate and entrepreneurial background prior to becoming a coach.

After 26+ years together, the Gasts have not stopped working on deepening their connection, engaging in healthy conflict, and supporting one another’s dreams. The relationship aspect of their lives has been so important that they want to support their clients’ relationships and teach them the communication models, skills, and relationship road map that research has shown is key to a vibrant, long-lasting life partnership. To design programs for couples, Brian and Tricia pull from training they have received from the Gottman Institute as well as other trainings in Non-Violent Communication, Voice Dialogue, the Enneagram, and many coaching models. The Gasts’ foundational work with a couple is a two-day, two-night retreat.

Couples Retreat

General Description

This two-day retreat is personally designed for your situation and goals. We create a custom agenda based on your relationship history, current communication patterns, and goals. Although Brian and Tricia share their own experience and do some teaching on relationship and communication models, most of the retreat involves experiential learning through working on “live” issues. Through these processes come clarity, energy, and even healing. The Gasts’ foundational belief is that while relationships can be one of the most important aspects of our lives, they can also be our toughest teachers. It’s through the pain and the joy of our relationships, combined with personal and professional life transitions, that we can deepen our insight into our individual paths and discover how to better love ourselves and our partners.

Goals

• A clear understanding of what’s working and not working in the relationship.
• Increased levels of self-observation and self-mastery that allow you to self-diagnose and correct relationship dynamics.
• A significantly expanded set of communication tools you can use to effectively surface and resolve conflict while deepening your connection and intimacy.
• Increased levels of emotional intelligence and a vital capacity for expression, listening, and connecting.
• A vision and blueprint for your relationship including goals, action items, and agreements that will help foster a stronger, more intimate relationship.

Retreat Preparation

• Joint and individual interviews with both partners.
• Complete a pre-retreat questionnaire and Whole-Life Audit.
• Complete two on-line assessments (Enneagram and HBDI) that offer insight into motivations for your and your partner’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
• Pre-reading based on your situation.

Post Retreat

• Homework assignments that will help integrate the learning, insight, and connection established on the retreat.
• Follow-up couples’ call to hear about homework assignment successes and flubs.
• Additional recommended reading.

Logistics

• Gather late afternoon on day one and conclude mid-day on day three.
• The retreat is residential, either at the Gasts’ home in Denver, Colorado or in a home/condo away from the clients’ home in a private, natural setting free of interruptions and distraction.
• We eat all meals together on the premises.