Joyce & Barry Vissell, a nurse/therapist and psychiatrist couple since 1964, are counselors near Santa Cruz, CA. They are widely regarded as among the world's top experts on conscious relationship and personal growth. They are the authors of The Shared Heart, Models of Love, Risk To Be Healed, The Heart’s Wisdom, Meant To Be, and A Mother’s Final Gift.

Joyce and Barry Vissell started out in the field of medicine. Barry received his MD from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1972. Joyce added her MS in child psychology from the same university to her previously earned BS and RN from Columbia University in New York City. Her main preceptor (and an influential teacher for them both) during her graduate work was Leo Buscaglia, who later became a close friend and contributor to their second book.

The couple then moved to Portland, Oregon, where Barry trained in psychiatry at the University of Oregon, and Joyce taught pediatric and psychiatric residents the subtleties of play therapy. Unsatisfied with the rigidity of traditional psychiatry, the Vissells undertook an intensive exploration of holistic and alternative disciplines, as well as a spiritual pilgrimage that led them half-way around the world and into meaningful training with teachers and leaders of the East and West. How does a woman really need to be loved? How can her partner help to bring out her deepest passion, her sensuality, her creativity, her dreams, her joy, and at the same time allow her to feel safe, accepted and appreciated? Would you like your relationship to reach a new level of love, healing, intimacy and commitment? Couples describe these weekends as a safe and loving place to learn and practice new skills for their relating. Limited indoor accommodations, so please call early. What you will learn: ●Tools for deeper appreciation ●Communication building including healthy communication of feelings ● Parenting Your Partner’s Inner Child ●Understanding and respecting each other’s differences ●Conflict resolution ●Healing past hurts ●Sexual wellness ●Taking responsibility ●Developing a true inner connection