Do you wish to belong to something bigger than yourself? Do you find yourself struggling with important relationships in your life? Do you want closer connections with others? Do you feel disconnected from your own feelings? Do you avoid conflict or have trouble saying no? Do you want to feel less alone or isolated?
You may find relief from these challenges through participation in group therapy.
Participating in group therapy is probably unlike anything you have ever done before.
A well run therapy group is enlivening. It is full of feelings and opportunities to learn and to connect. Groups are a space where you will gain insight about yourself, receive feedback about your impact on others, and are a place to take risks. Groups holding, soothing, and empowering. With the help of other members, you will be encouraged to explore and express all of your difficult feelings with and towards others.
Group therapy is also a space to learn about navigating conflict, especially if you’re someone who prefers to avoid it. It is a space to get honest feedback from others, to build trust, and to learn how to say what you’re thinking so that you can heal and grow.
Difficulty with identifying how you feel about others and expressing yourself
Difficulty / anxiety with depending on others
Difficulty with conflict
Dissatisfaction in relationships
Feeling lonely, isolated, left out, or disconnected
Feeling anxious in social situations
Feeling misunderstood or neglected
Low self-esteem
Trouble being assertive
Trouble asking for help
Feeling like the only one or “othered”
While joining a group may be anxiety-provoking to consider, it is precisely for this reason that participation in a group is so powerful and effective.
Learning how to better tolerate and express your feelings is a necessary component needed to improve your satisfaction in your relationships.
Therapy delivered in group format offers a number of benefits, serving as a unique space to help you explore, take risks, and use information from your interactions with other members to better understand yourself.
A space to explore and take emotional risks
A way to understand relationship patterns and how they relate to your family
A space to learn about your anxiety and its triggers
Deep connection with others on a regular basis
Gaining feedback about how you come across to others
A place to gain confidence
To paraphrase Dr. Lou Ormont, If you can handle being in a group, you can handle life
Learning to ask for help from others
Discovering things about yourself you never knew!
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Dr. Joseph is a Licensed Psychologist, Certified Group Psychotherapist, PSYPACT approved provider, and a graduate and an adjunct faculty member of the Center for Group Studies. She offers group therapy using modern psychoanalytic techniques.
You’ll be pushed to better understand your thoughts and feelings and how they motivate you, digging into the ways your thoughts and feelings impact your actions and your relationships.
In group, we encourage you to practice expressing and exploring feelings like anger, shame, disappointment, etc. in a way that won’t destroy yourself or others.
Tapping into these powerful feelings that have been kept at bay, and learning to channel them constructively in group sessions can give you the tools to do the same in the other important relationships in your life.
Group therapy is a brave space, not necessarily a comfortable one. You will be encouraged to be spontaneous and share your honest, constructive thoughts.
This push past your comfort zone will include witnessing conflict, conflict resolution or repair, withstanding discomfort, and learning new things about how you come across in relationships.
Doing this work in a group setting allows your therapist to see you in action, versus just hearing what you have to say about yourself. This adds depth to your therapeutic encounter, and provides more information and points of reference for creating the change you are working towards.
Participation in group therapy enhances your individual work.
When:
Thursdays 10-11:30am
Who:
Clinicians
Frequency:
Once a week
Location:
Online
This process oriented group is for Psychotherapists and allied professionals. We are a group of clinicians who explore how our interpersonal patterns translate into our personal lives as well as how these patterns affect our relationships with (and the treatment of) patients. We are the Real Deal. A process-oriented group with some conversation about professional issues, made just for clinicians.
When:
Mondays 3:15-4:45pm EST
Who:
Open to anyone
Frequency:
Every other week
Location:
Online
This is a diverse group of adult women who want to explore a variety of interpersonal and personal issues. Members talk openly and honestly about our lives as well as the experience in the here-and-now with one another. Members offer feedback and support to one another, and afford each other opportunities to experiment with new ways of relating. Group members also learn how to better express themselves in the moment.
When:
Mondays 5-7pm EST
Who:
Open to anyone
Frequency:
Once a month
Location:
In person
This is a diverse group of adults who want to explore a variety of interpersonal and personal issues. Members help one another learn how to change what limits them in relationships. Members talk openly and honestly about their lives, in an emotionally significant way, and practice expressing their feelings in the moment. Group members also offer support and feedback to one another, experiment with new ways of relating.
Group therapy may be the best therapeutic setting for you if you have issues with trusting people and/or getting what you want or need from your relationships. Group therapy encourages sharing, which can be an effective space to practice trusting others in a structured setting. It is highly useful for people who feel anxious in social settings, for people who have a hard time depending on others, for people who have anxiety about conflict or being assertive, and for people who have trouble asking for help. Group therapy is a supportive and constructive place to build trust and meaningful connections with others.
You can choose how much you share in a group therapy session. There is as much to learn from silence and observation as from participation.
If you’re highly motivated to see changes in your life, try going to both individual and group therapy. You can attend individual and group therapy with the same therapist if schedules allow, or you can have a separate individual therapist while attending a group therapy with Dr. Jen.
Your individual therapist and your group therapist can be seen as partners who will work together (and with you) to facilitate the mental health and life changes you’re striving to implement.
The best group for you is one where there are other members with whom you feel both drawn towards or identify with, and other members whom you feel some aversion to. Why? Because this affords you the most opportunity to learn about yourself and your ways of relating to others.
Additionally, if you are afraid of conflict, groups can help you to build this muscle and learn conflict resolution skills. If you have conflict with another group member, the therapist, and other group members will help to mediate the conflict so the two of you can work constructively to resolve any issues and deepen your understanding of yourself and your needs..
Group therapy is intended to replicate everyday life; there will be people with whom you don’t get along with initially, and people whom you like very much. What makes it unique is the group’s structure, boundaries, and shared goals among members. Groups are a place where boundaries are enforced to prevent attacks, and a place where conflict can be explored and processed safely.
If you feel that a process therapy group would be right for you, contact us today to learn more!
Contact Us For Your Free 15 min Consultation