Beyond the Intensive - Extended Engagements
Some situations are bigger than an Intensive can finish: A succession that will unfold over years; A family office being built from scratch; An operational turnover, a sale, a closure, or a conflict with roots deep enough that naming it is the beginning, not the end. For those, the Intensive isn't the whole job — it's the right way to start it. What comes after is where the real work begins.
After the intensive
What happens when one intensive
isn't the whole story?
An intensive is often the best place to start. But some situations call for something more — more time, more threads, more room to build. Here's what that can look like.
The reality
An intensive opens the door.
Some families want help to walk through it.
Most people come in with a presenting problem. Two siblings who aren't getting along. A founder who wants to retire but doesn't know how to hand off. An estate that's gotten complicated. A family that keeps having the same conversation without getting anywhere.
An intensive is designed to surface what's actually going on — to give you a clear diagnostic and a concrete path forward. For many families, that's exactly what they need, and the intensive stands alone as a complete piece of work.
But sometimes what the intensive surfaces is that the work is bigger than three days can hold. There are multiple threads. Multiple decisions that can't be made until other decisions are made first. Relationships that need more than a roadmap — they need time, coaching, and space to practice doing things differently.
"We don't know everything we'll need to know until we start. That's not a gap in the process — it's the reality of what you're navigating. My job is to help you make good decisions as the picture gets clearer, not to pretend the picture was clear from the beginning."
When the intensive reveals that more is needed, there are a few different directions the work can take — depending on what you need and how intensively you want to engage.
Your options
Three ways to continue
Not every family needs the full architecture of an extended engagement. Some just need a consistent point of contact. Others need facilitated time together on a specific occasion. Others need the whole thing — sustained, structured, multi-phase work that takes their situation as seriously as it deserves.
A candid word
This work is genuinely demanding — for everyone in the room.
Extended engagements can run anywhere from six months to three years. The investment is substantial — commonly in the range of $30,000 to well over $100,000 over the full arc of the work, depending on scope and the pace the family sets. That's worth saying plainly, up front, rather than discovering together at month three.
It's also worth saying that this kind of work can only be done well with a small number of active engagements at any given time. The quality of it depends on genuine familiarity with your family system — not familiarity with a category of family, but with yours.
If the investment or the timeline gives you pause, an intensive is still a complete and valuable engagement on its own. It will give you clarity, a diagnostic, and a roadmap — and from there, you can decide whether to continue, take a break, or simply hold what you built. There's no pressure to do more than what's right for your situation.
Not sure where you fit?
Start with a free 30-minute call. You'll leave with a clear sense of what makes sense for your family — and whether now is the right time.
Book a free 30-minute call