Considering Group Therapy?
Group therapy can address many concerns.
Whether you are struggling with anxiety, depression, eating concerns, trauma, substance use, or how you relate to other people, group therapy can be a helpful resource for you. Group therapy can be either skilled-based, psycho-educational, and/or process-oriented. It can provide a safe space to develop skills and at the same time, develop deeper and healthier connections with your peers, creating a sense of community.
Group therapy is a unique setting to explore concerns.
Many group members tend to address similar concerns, which can create a safe space to explore and examine why we are stuck in certain patterns. Group therapy can become a supportive environment, a place for honest feedback, and connecting with peers in a new way.
Through this process, new skills and adaptive coping tools can be developed, creating a better awareness of feelings, thoughts, and reactions in social situations.
Some concerns are particularly well-suited for group therapy.
Challenges with self-confidence or self-acceptance, balancing the needs of self and others, developing trust and intimacy, assertively setting limits, and openly expressing one's feelings and reactions are especially well addressed in group therapy.
What does a therapy group look like?
Size
Our groups tend to be relatively small, with about 5-8 members and 1-2 group facilitators. This is an ideal size for members to become comfortable, to interact with one another, and to get to know one another in a meaningful way.
Duration
Groups tend to meet weekly for 60–90 minutes and run for the course of the semester. Group members are certainly welcome to continue in group from one semester to the next (and often do so), but there is no pressure or expectation to do so.
Format
The initial group meeting tends to be relatively structured, as facilitator(s) assist group members in the beginning to discuss what brings them to group and agree on group norms. As the group progresses in subsequent sessions, the focus is on strengthening skills and/or discussing relevant and pressing topics in the here and now. Central themes can develop and/or are established at the beginning of group, and are worked on over the course of the group.
Confidentiality
In group therapy, it is important that members feel safe to discuss difficult and challenging topics. As such, group confidentiality is discussed at the beginning of the group where members agree to not disclose other group members' information outside of the group space.
Finding out if group is right for you:
Speak to your individual therapist about group therapy.
Your individual therapist could provide you with information about the current groups and workshops that are available and offer insight into how groups can be specifically helpful to you.
Schedule a pre-group meeting with the group facilitator(s).
A pre-group meeting is a great opportunity for you to meet the group facilitator(s), learn more about the group, and ask questions about how group therapy might be helpful. It can also help you and the group facilitator(s) decide if the group is the best match to meet your needs, and if not, help you find resources that could be more helpful to you.
Give group a try!
It never hurts to try group therapy at least once. It might just be the best thing you do this semester!