Enrich your relationship and build a stronger bond at Santa Fe’s beautiful Ojo Spa & Resort at our upcoming intensive HOLD ME TIGHT® couples weekend retreat. (HOLD ME TIGHT® is a registered trademark to Sue Johnson.) Here’s how HOLD ME TIGHT’s unique curriculum of information, guided discussion and videos can help you and your partner:
- Learn how to resolve conflicts
- Break old destructive patterns
- Experience relationship breakthroughs
- Increase intimacy
Based on the concepts of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) developed primarily by Sue Johnson, Ph.D., the popular HOLD ME TIGHT® retreats help couples strengthen their relationship, their connection and their love. EFT focuses on the attachment between a couple, and it’s based on decades of research and proven methods for strengthening relationships. Life Change Psychotherapy Institute is now offering this relationship enhancement program to fortify and boost your relationship bond.
Here’s our next HOLD ME TIGHT® retreat for 2025:
Feb. 22-23, 2025
Ojo Spa & Resort
Santa Fe, NM
Timed to be a perfect gift for you and your Valentine to share, our Ojo retreat is intimate in size and the tone is warm, confidential and nurturing. The fee is $1,245 plus tax per couple, not including lodging or spa access. Retreat fee includes instruction, handbook, guided discussion, videos and private processing; and private couples' sharing time with expert help as needed.

When retreat sessions have concluded for the day, soak in the Ojo Spa’s healing thermal pools or indulge in a soothing massage or other luxurious spa treatment.
Here’s what some of our recent retreat couples have said about the experience:
Is Our HMT Retreat Right For You?
Whether you are looking for relationship enhancement or recovering from an emotional or physical challenge that has stressed your relationship, our HMT retreats will offer you and your partner a transformative experience and an opportunity to regain and/or develop healing connections. Whether you are seeking a relationship enhancement or healing from hardships, the HMT retreat is here to help.
CEU Opportunity
New Mexico Masters level mental health providers can earn 12 CEUs if attending the retreat as a participant with their partner. CEU cost is $30 plus $2.29 tax. Non-NM providers in other states should contact their state’s licensing board to see if CEUs apply.
How Do I Register?
Contact us at 505-271-5050 or slee@lifechangetherapy.net . All we need to start the process is your name, phone number and email. One of our HMT presenters will call you to personally finalize the registration.
Our HOLD ME TIGHT® Experts
Tricia Mckenna, Ph.D., (left) has been a New Mexico licensed psychologist for 27 years and owner of Life Change Psychotherapy Institute in Albuquerque for 30 years. She is also a certified Couples’ Emotionally Focused Therapist. Helping couples and groups move from disconnection to connection has been her focus and passion for nearly three decades. It began with her doctoral thesis, in which she studied how the death of a child–in comparison to other types of losses, such as sibling/parental death: affected couples’ relationships. Dr. McKenna found that such a tragic loss was positively affected if there was open disclosure and communication between the couple. In fact, it was men’s openness that became the largest factor in predicting marital satisfaction. The HOLD ME TIGHT® workshop will offer couples healing, transformation and potentially new beginnings. And again, it will prove the transformational value of open and honest sharing when facing a life challenge together.
For more than 11 years, Dr. McKenna has also guided a group called Healthy Connections that helps participants move out of loneliness and into a sense of belonging, where they can safely develop or regain a sense of security and connection.
Sarah Lee, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with more than 20 years of experience in working with individuals and couples. Her training includes a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN, and a post-graduate degree internship with the McFarland Institute in New Orleans, LA. She has always had a passion for working with couples. Her initial experience started by developing and running a program called Healthy Marriages, which strengthened 1,000 couples annually for five years throughout the state of New Mexico. At that time, she also became a Certified Facilitator with the Prepare/Enrich pre-marital and marital assessment tool. From that point on, her passion has been to strengthen relationships. She has developed, participated in and led couples in educational retreats, trained mentor couples in the Prepare/Enrich assessment tool, led small groups at her church and in the community, and counseled couples in private practice. Sarah has continued to advance her training, specifically with intensive instruction in Emotionally Focused Therapy, and is working toward EFT certification.