Rous & Most | Couples Therapy Intensives

Rous & Most is a dedicated international practice specialising in couples therapy intensives, with a particular focus on infidelity, decisions about staying together or divorcing, multicultural and expatriate relationships, and mixed-neurotype couples. Founded by psychotherapists Elena Miari and Marina O’Connor, the practice supports couples facing complex relationship difficulties who want focused, personalised support.

When a relationship is under strain, couples may find that a weekly session ends just as the most difficult conversations begin, leaving important issues unresolved between appointments. An intensive offers sustained time to understand what is happening, work through difficult emotions and explore possible ways forward. With a therapist actively guiding the conversation, partners have time to move beyond their immediate reactions, practise different ways of responding and make informed decisions about their relationship.

In practical terms, a full-day intensive provides seven hours of therapy, while a three-day programme provides twenty-one hours. This brings together the therapy time of seven or twenty-one weekly one-hour sessions into one or three days. The concentrated format allows conversations to develop without a week-long break between appointments, with time to explore difficult issues and work on changing patterns within the same programme. It can particularly suit couples in crisis, those facing an important relationship decision, or partners whose busy schedules make weekly attendance difficult. The equivalent number of hours describes the time available; each couple’s progress will depend on their circumstances.

The practice brings together extensive clinical experience, advanced training in relationship psychotherapy and trauma, and first-hand understanding of entrepreneurship, leadership and international life. Its founders’ experience spans psychotherapy practice since 2008, the leadership of a multidisciplinary London therapy practice, and close to fifteen years in business and executive leadership. This combination offers particular depth for couples whose relationships are affected by demanding careers, professional visibility or life across borders.

Work with infidelity and betrayal makes room for the full impact of what has happened, alongside clear accountability and careful consideration of what rebuilding trust requires. For couples considering separation or divorce, the work creates space to examine what has brought them to this point, whether there is a shared willingness to work on the relationship, and what each partner wants for the future.

Rous & Most also has particular expertise in multicultural and expatriate relationships, where relocation, belonging, cultural expectations and differences in values can shape a couple’s shared life. Work with mixed-neurotype couples, including relationships affected by ADHD, helps partners understand differences in communication, emotional responses and everyday responsibilities, and develop ways of relating that take both partners’ experiences seriously.

The clinical approach draws on existential and humanistic psychotherapy, differentiation, Transactional Analysis and Relational Life Therapy. Therapists work actively with the dynamics unfolding in the room, identifying moments of escalation, challenging assumptions and helping each partner understand their contribution to recurring patterns. The emphasis is on developing the capacity to respond differently, with greater emotional honesty, accountability and connection.

Rous & Most offers half-day intensives with four hours of therapy, full-day intensives with seven hours, and three-day programmes with twenty-one hours. Each programme is tailored to the couple’s circumstances and aims, with breaks built into the schedule. Couples can travel to the practice’s dedicated spaces in Lisbon or London, or arrange for a therapist to travel to them internationally. Intensives are also available online, allowing couples around the world to access focused support.

Privacy, discretion and personalised care are central to the practice.