Retrouvaille Phoenix, Arizona
602-254-6723 Get Help
Home About Retrouvaille The Program Upcoming Weekends Your Questions Stories of Hope For Clergy Contact and Register Community Planning
Call 602-254-6723 Register for a Weekend

For clergy, counselors and professionals

You are often the last person they tell.

Pastors, deacons, therapists, attorneys and physicians hear about failing marriages before anyone else does. Here is a resource to hand them, and the plain information you need to hand it over with confidence.

Timing

Refer earlier than feels necessary.

The most common thing we hear from couples is a version of the same sentence: I wish somebody had told us about this two years ago.

Retrouvaille tends to get treated as the last item on the list, offered once separation is already underway and the attorneys are involved. It works at that stage, and plenty of couples arrive exactly there. But it works better earlier, and there is no reason to hold it in reserve.

If a couple in your care is describing chronic disconnection, repetitive unresolved conflict, or the aftermath of a betrayal, that is already the right moment. You do not need to wait until someone has moved out.

Indicators

Situations where Retrouvaille fits.

Refer with confidence when

  • The couple has stopped communicating about anything substantive
  • The same conflict recurs and never resolves
  • One or both spouses have raised separation or divorce
  • They are separated or living as roommates
  • There has been infidelity and they are undecided about what comes next
  • They have tried counseling without traction
  • One spouse is willing and the other is reluctant. Only one has to want it
  • They are not Catholic. All faiths are welcome and the program does not proselytize

Direct them elsewhere first when

  • There is physical violence in the home. Safety comes before any program
  • There is active untreated addiction
  • There is serious untreated mental illness
  • Either spouse is in acute crisis. Refer to 988, or 911 if there is danger

These are sequencing issues rather than permanent exclusions. Couples frequently attend after treatment and do very well. Call us and we will talk through timing with you directly.

How to refer

Four steps, and none of them require you to explain the program.

Give them the phone number

602-254-6723. A volunteer couple answers, not an office. Encourage the spouse in front of you to call themselves rather than waiting for the other one to agree.

Name the two fears before they do

Almost everyone assumes they will have to share their problems with a group, and almost everyone assumes they cannot afford it. Both are wrong. There is no group sharing at any point, and confidential financial assistance is always available.

Point them at the site

Send them to the questions page if they want to research privately before calling, which most people in crisis do. It answers the cost, confidentiality and faith questions directly.

Follow up in two weeks

Couples in crisis lose the phone number. A single check in from the person they trusted enough to tell is often what converts an intention into a registration.

Language that lands

What to say, and what to avoid saying.

The wording matters more than it should, because a couple in crisis is listening for a reason to say no.

Useful framing:

  • "It is run by couples whose own marriages nearly ended, not by counselors."
  • "You never have to share anything with anybody but each other."
  • "Only one of you has to want to go."
  • "Couples come separated, and some come with papers already filed."
  • "Cost is not the barrier. They will work with you and it stays confidential."

Framing that backfires:

  • Calling it a retreat. It is not restful and the word sets the wrong expectation.
  • Calling it counseling. It is not, and the couple who has already failed at counseling will dismiss it.
  • Presenting it as a last resort. That tells a couple they are further gone than they thought.
  • Emphasizing the Catholic dimension to a non Catholic couple. Lead with the marriage, not the Mass.

Support for your parish or practice

We will come to you.

Printed materials

Brochures, business cards and pew or waiting room flyers with the Phoenix phone number and upcoming weekend dates. Tell us how many you can use and where to send them.

Request materials

Parish presentations

A presenting couple can speak briefly after Masses, at a ministry meeting, or to your staff. It takes a few minutes and it is the single most effective thing a parish can do to reach the couples already sitting in the pews.

Schedule a visit

Bulletin and newsletter copy

Ready to run announcements sized for a bulletin, a newsletter, or a parish social account, updated with the next weekend date. Ask and we will send current copy you can paste in.

Get the copy

Ready to use

Short bulletin announcement

"Is your marriage in trouble? Retrouvaille offers hope and healing for hurting marriages. The program has helped tens of thousands of couples, including those who were separated or considering divorce. It is confidential, and it is open to couples of all faiths. The next Phoenix weekend is October 2 to 4, 2026. Call 602-254-6723 or visit helpourmarriage.org/findaweekend."

Update the date before publishing. Current dates are on the upcoming weekends page.

For therapists and attorneys

Retrouvaille is not competing with your work.

For counselors: this is peer ministry, not clinical care, and it is not positioned as a replacement for therapy. Many couples do both at once. What the weekend tends to produce is a shared communication method and a willingness that makes the clinical work move again. Couples often return to their therapist with something to build on.

For family law attorneys: couples occasionally arrive at Retrouvaille after filing, and some reconcile. If you have a client who is ambivalent, or who says out loud that they wish there were one more thing to try, this is a defensible thing to put in front of them. It costs them a weekend.

For physicians and pastoral care staff: marriage crisis shows up as sleep problems, anxiety, weight change and depression long before anyone names it. A card in a drawer is enough.

Talk to us directly

Professional referral contact

For referral questions, materials, or to schedule a presentation.

Send a Referral Question

One card in a drawer

The couple you are thinking about right now.

Give them the number. You do not have to explain the program, and you do not have to be sure it will work. That part is not your job.

602-254-6723
Request Materials Current Weekend Dates