Nahed Sammani Stefany, MS-LMFT Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Private Couples Retreats

Marriage counseling could be a prolonged process where couples feel defeated by the possible complexity of scheduling conflicts, commitment to the therapy and the feeling of needing to find a solution to a big problem in a marriage while the process of therapy could drag on for weeks. In this intensive counseling setting, issues can be resolved through an environment that provides understanding, guidance, conflict resolution skills and a long term plan to maintain a form of communication, trust, openness and compassionate love between couples on one weekend. This form of therapy can be emotional and exhausting as well, however, the couple will feel that they received continuous hours of individual attention from the therapist and the time pressure is off. There will be time to discuss the issue at hand, understand the problem at its depth, practice skills and make plans for maintenance of the future.

The retreat is designed in a manner where the therapist would provide several questionnaires prior to the beginning of the retreat. The therapist would have a clear idea of the problem from each individual. For 6 hours each day broken into mini extended sessions the issue at hand is tackled. There will be resolution, skills practice, emotional processing and a hopeful solution for the couple to take home and maintain.

The location is serene and private north of Los Angeles, CA. There will be some outdoor meetings in a beautiful garden as well as intensive private meetings in a therapeutic setting. The couple will also have time to enjoy evenings alone to relax and wind down from a difficult day.

How I work

I am a certified Sex Therapist through AASECT. I have been trained in 2 levels of the Gottman couples method. I also have done extensive training in Emotional Focused Therapy for couples by Sue Johnson. I find the Gottman model extremely helpful to understand and teach ways to cognitively address communication, thinking patterns and logical issues and EFT’s model is an emotional form of therapy where you learn the emotional experience that you encounter in your relationship and how it imposes itself on your partner. I work eclectically with the couple depending on the issue they struggle with and their personality. I also rely on personality questionnaires, assessments, specific answers designed for the couple and a full understanding of their culture, background and history. I will collect as much information of possible about the couple through a thorough questionnaire before their arrival. I will design a treatment model for this couple specifically for how I see their emotional or cognitive issues appears to me. There will be multiple hours spent exchanging information before the couple arrive to the retreat where I will feel that I know the issue at hand in full and also understand your personality type and your love language before I even meet you in person. When you arrive to the retreat, you wouldn’t feel that you have to start telling the story from the beginning.

For more detailed information please contact me at: nahedss@sbcglobal.net

Individual Therapy Retreat

This retreat is designed for an individual who is working to overcome a specific issue or is interested in overcoming a specific trauma whether recent or lifelong. The individual therapy retreat is intense but it allows the client to work through difficult issues in a timely manner. Individual therapy is beneficial when it is set at a slow pace but sometimes it feels frustrating to return to therapy continuously on a weekly or bi weekly basis depending on one’s schedule. Therefore, it is helpful when an individual is set to learn about an issue and learn skills to overcome this issue.

Because of my training in EMDR and considering the intensity of this form of treatment, please visit EMDR.ORG to understand this healing process, it is very helpful for an individual to engage in EMDR treatment for multiple hours due to the sensitivity of the process and allowing yourself and the therapist to take time to get through the whole process in a calm and non-rushed manner.

Please note that insurance companies don’t pay for such retreats and the price of the retreat is depending on how many hours one is interested in investing. The fee is at a $100 per hour rate.

Issues that are useful to tackle in individual retreats:

Anxiety
Sexual Abuse
Traumatic Events
Partners of Porn Addiction
Self Actualization

For more detailed information please contact me at: nahedss@sbcglobal.net

Family Retreat:

Family retreats are designed to facilitate a group form of therapy between children and their parents. A family that is a good candidate for a retreat is a family that struggles with sibling rivalry, parenting issues, discipline, relational conflict and communication issues. Retreats are always good options for ¬a setting where time is not pressed to end a one hour session and when multiple individuals are trying to communicate their ideas or issues it gives each family member an opportunity to share and express their needs without time pressure. The family retreats include some mild hiking or experiencing some time in nature. Art and doing a project together is included usually to help the family learn how to work and communicate together and it’s a good tool to help the therapist understand the form of the way the family members interact.