About Relationship Sanctuary
About Linda
Linda holds a post-graduate degree in counselling, researching couple relationships. She has completed Gottman Institute training in relationship therapy. She has extensive counselling experience with individuals, couples and families in various NGO contexts and has a special interest in working with couples to enrich their relationships.
Linda believes that very few of us have been taught how to do intimate relationships well. We try to do our best and have the best of intentions but often lack the knowledge or tools to help us create a satisfying, long-lasting and healthy relationship. Her goal is to equip couples to gain a better understanding of one another and to emotionally connect on a deeper level. When you sit in one of her sessions you won’t be talking or listening primarily to a therapist, you will be communicating directly with each other with a little coaching when needed.
Linda works using a holistic framework, acknowledging that family history, expectations, beliefs, values and spirituality contribute to as well as impact on our relationships. The provision of a safe environment gives you opportunity to explore, understand and modify any factors that might be holding you back from truly enjoying one another.
Linda is a Christian and is happy to provide like-minded clients with counselling from a biblical perspective whilst maintaining respect for those who share a different belief system.
The Relationship Sanctuary Approach
Relationship Sanctuary is a retreat established to remedy “the drift” commonly experienced by couples.
Set in a rainforest location on Tamborine Mountain in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland, it offers a getaway experience with activities designed to reconnect you and your partner. Couples are encouraged through fun activities to re-author their story of togetherness- past, present and future.
The Sanctuary accommodation offers couples an opportunity to escape from daily concerns and never-ending demands. Couples can book in for a 2-3 day small group workshop which teaches enhanced skills for keeping relationships alive and satisfying.
Relationship Sanctuary also offers immersive packages where couples receive counselling sessions in an intensive and condensed format that combines therapeutic help with a romantic getaway experience.
The Vision
Linda and her husband Jeff have been married for 40 years. They have witnessed the distress of friends and family members impacted by divorce and have long held a desire to provide a sanctuary where couples could come to rejuvenate and restore their relationship. On their journey, they have encountered many experiences that have equipped them to be able to support and assist couples. Their vision became a reality in 2014 when, on finding their envisaged property, they took a leap of faith and relocated to Tamborine Mountain, founding Relationship Sanctuary.
Relationship Sanctuary aims to generate hope for every couple that their relationship will not just survive but flourish. All that is required is willingness from both partners to take responsibility for their part in nurturing the relationship.
The journey to a satisfying, fulfilling and enriched relationship starts here…
The Gottman Method
The Gottman Method has proven to be one of the most effective in strengthening a couple’s relationship, and for this reason is commonly used in couples counselling. John and Julie Gottman have dedicated the past forty years to researching couples and through their research have identified the qualities that contribute to longevity as well as satisfaction. The Gottman Method is based on mastering seven relationship principles:
- Building love maps by knowing what makes your partner tick
- Building a fondness and admiration system by expressing affection and respect in even the little things
- Turning towards each other, instead of away or against, by noticing your partner’s needs for emotional connection
- Allowing positive sentiment overrides
- Managing conflict by using dialogue about problems, and practising self-soothing
- Honouring each other’s life dreams
- Building meaning into the life you share together.
The Highlights
Stop The Drift
What is the number one reported cause of divorce? Unfaithfulness? Conflict? Physical, mental or emotional abuse? The answer may surprise you. Research has foun d that 80% of divorcing couples attribute the breakdown of their relationship to drifting apart; falling out of love; lack of common interests; moving in different directions; lack of emotional connection. I’m guessing that you’ve heard the words “we simply drifted apart” spoken by a divorcing friend or reported on the latest celebrity break up. These words are often said with a tone of conviction that sends the message that the death of a relationship was beyond the couple’s control. Maybe you feel your relationship is heading the same way and you fear that the chasm between you is becoming insurmountable.
Take heart- divorce is not your only option. The good news is you didn’t marry the wrong person. The widening gap between you was created by you and your partner and it can be reversed by you and your partner. Stop neglecting your relationship and consider reprioritizing and making a commitment to doing things differently. Invest in your relationship today and you will begin to see that the gap can be breached.
Experience Retreat
A retreat experience offers an out-of-the-ordinary isolation from familiar surroundings, distractions, and routines. Our technologically driven culture consumes our attention and produces a multi-tasking frenzy of activity that leaves people constantly doing with no space to just “be”. We cannot thrive in such a frenetic world that provides little time for self-reflection and interpersonal connection. In response to this frenzy, there has been a growing interest in mindfulness practices which lead to a general sense of slowing down and a feeling of being more engaged in life. Relationship Sanctuary’s contemplative setting is a gateway toward a more vital mode of being in the world by becoming attuned to ourselves and to one another.
Naturally Connect
We can learn a thing or two from tree huggers…..Think about the contexts in which the early days of your relationship developed and you will find that those special moments are often closely associated with nature: strolling hand in hand along the beach, picnicking under the shade of a tree or parking in a romantic spot under a full moon or a starry sky. These are the contexts for romance and love that many long-married couples lose touch with. In the day-to-day management of the household, the commitments of work, the rearing of children, and the concerns of balancing the budget, romance tends to lose priority. The stimulating, rejuvenating elements of interacting with the natural environment tend to be lost. A stay at Relationship Sanctuary offers you the opportunity to explore the benefits of nature on your relationship. You can access ancient rainforest tracks where you and your partner will rediscover a sense of belonging and connectedness to both the natural world and to each other.