What is Hold Me Tight® (HMT)?

Dr. Sue Johnson is a leading innovator in the field of adult love relationships for her work as the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). EFT has quickly become one of the most used, researched and effective interventions of couples therapy. Alongside EFT, Sue developed the best-selling book Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love and recently released Love Sense. This book offers a revolutionary new way to see and shape love relationships and is modeled after EFT.
Learn more about Dr. Sue Johnson and her work.

What will I learn during a HMT workshop?

Effectively share your real needs and desires with your partner
Help your partner really understand you and learn to communicate at a deeper level
Stop common and repetitive arguments
Deepen your emotional and physical connection
Shape positive moments of connection
Restore the intimacy you once shared
Create a safe, secure and loving bond
​Apply elements of a continued lifetime of love

What can I expect from a HMT couples weekend intensive?

A HMT weekend intensive takes all of the seven transformative conversations in the book and expands on them in an interactive and informative way. The word “intensive” is important here, as we spend 14-hours together exploring your relationship over a 2 or 3-day period. You will have the opportunity to walk through each conversation and use it to develop a more in-depth understanding of the defining moments of disconnection or miscommunication in your relationship. Your facilitators and the in-session activities (done privately between partners) will instruct you how to shape these moments of disconnection into moments of emotional attunement and responsiveness, vital to creating a secure and lasting bond.

The workshop utilizes a mixture of media to deliver participants all of the most up to date and interactive information required. You will receive an informative PowerPoint presentation, eight in-session activities to guide you through each conversation, eight homework activities to continue your work once you leave the workshop, plus a few extra handy tools to enrich the program, all available to you in a complete and personal binder. You will watch videos and case examples of real couples being guided through each conversation by Dr. Sue Johnson herself – which is a real treat! The videos are a helpful example of what it actually sounds like to have the HMT conversations with your partner. If you are a visual learner, this is an added bonus!

During the workshop, couples will have time to practice each conversation on their own with the support of your facilitators and roving therapists (a roving therapist is a couple’s therapist with advanced training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy – there as extra support to couples throughout the workshop) should you desire.

Who should attend a HMT workshop?

All couples experience miscommunication and/or disconnection in their relationship. Typically we start out intensely connected and responsive to our partners but sometimes our level of attentiveness drops off over time. Losing a connection with our significant other jeopardizes our sense of security and leaves us longing for more out of the relationship. Some chose the intensive format because it helps them get a jump start on healing their broken bond due to many of life’s challenges (substance use, mental health, affairs, lack of intimacy, raising children, work stress, etc.). Others find themselves somewhere in between, perhaps needing a relationship tune-up or desiring the tools needed to create a long loving relationship. Regardless, your facilitators are trained to work with all levels of couple distress and are there to guide you based on where you are at within your couple.

Couples who are currently in couples therapy are also encouraged to join a HMT workshop as it adds to the already wonderful work being completed in private therapy. During the workshop couples often find that they are having different conversations then they may during couples therapy. This may be due to the relaxed nature of the workshop and your facilitator. A workshop of this nature often launches couples into the next stage of work or helps them gain traction needed if in the early stages of private therapy.

Will I have to share in front of the group?

There is no requirement for you to share any private relationship details with the larger group. The workshop is largely informative and education with carved out private couple time for in-session practice activities. You will take what you learn in the larger group and apply it to your relationship during your private couple time throughout the workshop. That being said, one of the benefits of participating in a couple’s workshop of this nature is the normalizing and often relieving moments when one recognizes that they are not alone in their relationship concerns. Your facilitators set up a safe and confidential environment where sharing is welcomed but not required. ​We are committed to keeping each workshop small and intimate to ensure that all couples have the privacy, support and space needed to complete the work they came to accomplish.

What should I bring with me?

Absolutely nothing but yourselves! The workshop is set up to take care of all your needs. We will keep you fueled by providing snacks throughout the day and depending on the workshop, a fully catered lunch. Coffee, tea and water are also available. All the necessary tools to work throughout the workshop will be provided (binder, pens, paper etc.). There is a lot of sitting and the room temperature fluctuates so please bring whatever may make you most comfortable.

Workshop Facilitator(s)

​Jodi Rouah, MSW, RSW is thoroughly trained in EFT with couples, as well as a variety of individual and couple concerns. Jodi has been facilitating HMT workshops since 2015 and has hosted couples from all over Canada and The United States. Jodi not only practices EFT in her professional life but she is also a subscriber in her personal life, having attended with her partner who is the one who actually first introduced Jodi to the book HMT many years ago. Please visit her website to learn more about her and her private practice.