How we are different

We help marriages transform themselves with someone else hearing your story or telling you what to do. No counselor. No therapy. Just you and your spouse working together, with help from couples who have done it. Marriage Rediscovery presents an updated version of the Retrouvaille program, structured differently from counseling, retreats, and the workshops most couples have already tried. That difference is usually the reason it works when those did not. Couples tell us, often, that they wish they had found it sooner.

Couples teaching couples

Peer ministry, not professional therapy

There are no marriage counselors in the program. The team is three married couples and a priest. Volunteers, all of them. Each one has lived through their own version of disillusionment, anger, and conflict, and put their marriage back together on the other side.

They are not reading from a textbook. They are telling you what worked.

Privacy and dignity

You never share your story with the group

This is not a sensitivity group. It is not a kumbaya retreat, and it is not group counseling. Other couples are present on the weekend, but you are never asked to share your problems with anyone but your spouse. No team-building exercises. No public discussions. No going around the room.

The weekend is for you and your spouse, and nobody else.

Practical, not therapy

A structured program, not a conversation

The program teaches you and your spouse a specific way to talk to each other again. It is not therapy. It is not a workshop. It is a guided, hands-on weekend built on tools couples have used since 1977. See what you'll learn on the weekend.

And we never try to convert anyone to any belief system.

All volunteer, not for profit

The business of marriage help has become a large for-profit industry:

• Family counseling, including marriage services, is roughly a $32 billion industry with 85,000+ for-profit businesses.
• Marriage counseling typically runs $150 to $200 per session, and often runs to 30 or more sessions ($4,500 to $6,000+).
• Divorce typically costs $15,000 to $30,000+ per couple in legal fees alone.

The hidden costs of divorce go past the financial. Children of divorce face two to three times the risk of emotional and behavioral problems, lower academic achievement, and more trouble in their own future relationships. Households see roughly a 20% drop in retirement savings and a 45% decrease in standard of living after a split, plus a real toll on the mental health of both spouses.

Marriage Rediscovery works differently. We are a non-profit ministry run by volunteers who have been through the program themselves. There is no payroll to feed. The work is the work.

What sets us apart

• The whole organization is volunteer, top to bottom. Every team running a weekend has been through the program first.
• No offices. No paid staff. No payroll.
• Tens of thousands of couples have finished the program since 1977. Many of them stayed on to help the next couples through.
• Donations from couples who came through cover everything we do.

Read about our program structure: the weekend, the six follow-up sessions, and what happens after.

Three reasons couples say it worked

Every program that helps couples promises something. These are the three things couples consistently say made the difference. The data backs them up.

How the program compares to the alternatives

The full program runs roughly 48 hours: a weekend retreat, then six weekly follow-up sessions. The registration usually runs $400 to $500 and covers your meals and lodging. A voluntary, anonymous donation is possible at the end of the weekend to help cover costs and support those that cannot afford it. See the full compared to therapy breakdown, or read on for the short version:

You work privately as a couple. You never share your issues with the group or the team. Volunteer couples who have rebuilt their own marriages run the weekend. Nothing to buy after. Lifetime support is free, and monthly support gatherings are free.

The donation helps cover program costs and supports couples who cannot afford the registration fee. There is no pressure. No follow-up sales. Nothing to buy. We are a non-profit, and the only job is to help couples heal their marriage.

Not sure it is a fit? Is this for us walks through the most common questions couples ask before registering.