You finished the biggest project of your lives. Now what do you build?
The Next Chapter — a four-hour Saturday workshop for three couples whose children have left home. Led by a licensed couples therapist who is thirty-eight years married and living in the same quiet house you are.
Any of this sound familiar?
- “We're fine. We just don't have much to say to each other at dinner anymore.”
- “We were a great team for twenty-five years. I'm not sure what the team does now.”
- “She wants to talk about it. I want to fix it and get on with the day.”
- “I'm excited about this stage — and I feel guilty for being excited.”
- “We keep having the same conversation about the same three things and never finishing it.”
- “We like each other. We're also basically roommates who get along.”
None of that means something is wrong with your marriage. It means the thing that organized your marriage for twenty-five years just ended — successfully — and nothing has replaced it yet.
HERE'S THE PART NOBODY TELLS YOU
The best long-term research on this stage of marriage — couples followed for nearly twenty years — found that marital satisfaction goes up after the children leave home.
But the reason matters more than the finding. Satisfaction didn't rise because couples suddenly had more time together. It rose because the time they had became more enjoyable.
That part isn't automatic. For two decades the calendar decided where you were and who you were with. It's gone now, and nothing has taken its place. Whatever you don't build on purpose is simply not going to happen.
This workshop is four hours of building it on purpose.
WHAT THE MORNING LOOKS LIKe
9:00
Update the map.
The picture you carry of your spouse is probably fifteen years out of date. Parenting turns spouses into co-managers, and co-managers trade logistics, not interiors. You'll spend the first hour finding out who your spouse actually is now — and saying the thank-you for the last twenty-five years that neither of you ever got around to.
The empty chair.
Four things left when they did: your identity, the structure of your week, a daily sense of purpose, and the buffer the kids provided. We'll name what you actually lost, and take an honest inventory of the household agreements you're both still running from a decade ago and have never renegotiated out loud.
The conversation you keep not finishing.
Roughly two-thirds of the problems in a long marriage never get solved — they get talked about well or badly. You'll take the one that matters most and have it differently, using a structure that works, with a therapist in the room coaching you through it.
The next twelve months.
You leave with something written and signed: two weekly rituals, one shared adventure with a date on it, one pursuit each of your own, and a standing weekly conversation — scheduled on your phones before you walk out the door.
1:00 — Done. Home in time for a late lunch.
What this is not
It is not group therapy. You will not sit in a circle telling strangers about your marriage. Most of the morning you'll be in your own corner of the office, talking to your spouse.
Nobody gets put on the spot. There is no hot seat and no couple gets worked on in front of anyone. When the group does talk, one sentence is plenty, and “pass” is always an acceptable answer.
No role-playing. No trust falls. No holding hands with people you just met.
It is not religious, and it is not a sales pitch for something else.
It is not four hours of a therapist talking. Nothing I say runs longer than twelve minutes.
It is not a whole weekend, and it is not a hotel in the Hill Country. It's one Saturday morning, and it ends at one o'clock. Not 1:20. One.
Who it's for
- Couples whose youngest has left home in roughly the past five years — or is about to.
- Couples who are basically doing all right and want the next thirty years to be better than a slow coast.
- Couples who feel more like good colleagues than anything else lately, and would rather do something about it now than in five years.
- Couples who have never done anything like this and are mildly embarrassed to be considering it. You'll be in good company; so are the other four people in the room.
And who it's not for, honestly:
This is the wrong setting if there is violence or fear in your relationship, an affair that is still going on, active addiction, or if one of you has already decided to leave. Those things deserve more privacy and more time than a group of three couples can give them, and I'd rather tell you that on the phone than take your money for the wrong thing. Everyone who registers has a private conversation with me first, and if it isn't the right fit I'll point you somewhere better.
Rather do this with people you know?
Some couples would rather not spend a Saturday morning with strangers — and some would rather do it alongside the friends they already talk to about this stuff.
You can book The Next Chapter privately. Two or three couples of your choosing, the same four hours, your own Saturday. One person organizes it, everyone still has a private conversation with me beforehand, and the price is the same: $500 per couple.
Or book it for just the two of you — a private four-hour session, same material, $1,200.
Email admin@renacounsel.com or call 214-242-9401 and we'll find a date.
ABOUT RON
Ron Johnson, Renaissance Counseling Center
My wife and I have been together since 1986. We'll be married thirty-eight years this fall. We have two children in their thirties, and a house that got very quiet a few years ago.
I'm a licensed couples therapist in Dallas and a Gottman Approved Member, and I've spent years in a room with couples. None of that prepared me for standing in my own kitchen on an ordinary Tuesday, realizing I had no idea what my wife and I were supposed to do with each other now that the job was finished.
We figured it out. It took work, it wasn't obvious, and almost none of it happened by accident. This workshop is the short version of what I wish someone had handed us.
THE DETAILS
One Saturday morning. Three couples.
6750 Hillcrest Plaza Dr, Suite 304
Dallas, TX 75230
Founding-cohort rate for the first three groups, increasing after that.
Not sure yet? Call 214-242-9401 and we'll talk for ten minutes with no obligation. I'd rather you asked than guessed.
Ready to talk about it?
There is no online payment. Everyone speaks with Ron privately first.
Frequently asked questions
How do we sign up?
Fill in the request form and I'll call you both — separately, about fifteen minutes each. That call is how I make sure the workshop is right for you before anyone spends anything. If it is, I'll send you a link to my client portal, an invoice for the $250 deposit, and a few forms to fill in beforehand. Nobody pays anything until we've spoken.
Why do we have to talk on the phone first?
Because there are only three couples in the room, and a group that small is the wrong setting for some situations. I'd rather find that out on the phone and point you somewhere better than take your money for the wrong thing.
Do we have to talk about our marriage in front of the other couples?
No. The great majority of the morning is the two of you talking to each other, physically apart from the other couples — different corners, and for the hardest part of the day, different rooms. When we come back together, you're asked for one sentence, and “pass” is always fine. Nothing private is ever asked for in the group.
My spouse thinks this sounds terrible. What do I do?
Show them the “What this is not” section above — that part is written specifically for them. Then be honest about why you'd like to go. If they're still a no, don't drag them; a partner who feels coerced makes it worse, not better. Call me and we can talk about it.
Is this therapy? Will it end up in a medical record?
No. It's an educational workshop. There's no diagnosis, no assessment, no treatment plan and no progress notes, and nothing about it is documented as a course of treatment. I do keep ordinary business records — your registration, payment, and the forms you fill in — the same as any other business would.
Can we use insurance, or an HSA or FSA?
Not insurance — this isn't a medical service, so there's no diagnosis code and no superbill. HSA and FSA plans differ, so check with yours rather than assuming either way.
Who else will be in the room?
Two other couples and me. Everyone is screened by phone beforehand and everyone signs a confidentiality agreement.
What if we know one of the other couples?
Tell me on the phone. Dallas is smaller than it looks and I'd rather move someone to a different Saturday than have anyone spend four hours being careful.
Can we book it privately, with friends of our own?
Yes, and a lot of people prefer it that way. Two or three couples of your choosing, the same four hours, your own Saturday — same price, $500 per couple. Or just the two of you, privately, for $1,200. Email or call and we'll find a date.
Is this a religious workshop?
No. Faith comes up if you bring it up, the same as anything else that matters to you.
Our marriage is genuinely good. Is this a waste for us?
It's arguably the best use of it. Good marriages have the most to gain from this stage and the most to lose from drifting through it on autopilot.
Our marriage isn't good right now. Is four hours enough?
Maybe, maybe not — that's what the phone call is for. Four hours is a strong beginning and it isn't a substitute for ongoing work. I'll tell you straight which one you need.
Is $500 for each of us or for both?
For both of you, together. That covers the phone calls beforehand, the four hours, your workbook, food, and a group follow-up call thirty days later.
What if we have to cancel?
Full refund more than fourteen days out. Between seven and fourteen days, the deposit rolls to a future date. Inside seven days the seat can't be resold, so the fee stands — but talk to me.
Is there food, and do we get a break?
Coffee and something to eat when you arrive, two breaks, and a real snack at noon. You'll be home for a late lunch.
What if one of us gets emotional?
You might. There are tissues in every room and nobody will make anything of it. Twenty-five years just ended — some feeling about that is the appropriate response, not an embarrassment.