Group Work: just as effective as individual therapy
When offered the chance to participate in a therapy group, many people will decline the opportunity for a variety of reasons, including and not limited to: social anxiety, fear of judgment, social awkwardness, difficulty being vulnerable, lack of trust, belief it won’t help, not knowing what to expect, difficulty with the time commitment, and/or worry about talking too much or too little.
The amusing thing is, research on group therapy shows it is helpful and effective, just as effective as individual therapy in many cases, for things like social anxiety, learning social skills, practicing vulnerability, learning how to trust, learning skills for depression and anxiety, managing neuroddevelopmental disorders like ADHD and Autism, and improving relationships with others and oneself. Group therapy is generally more cost and time effective, too, while helping connect people with others who are experiencing similar difficulties and types of suffering.
Groups I offer (when there is enough interest):
– Anger Management
– Beginning Mindfulness
– CBT Skills for Anxiety & Depression
– DBT Skills: Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance, and Interpersonal Effectiveness
– Mindfulness for ADHD and Executive Dysfunction
– Skills for ADHD and Executive Dysfunction
– Teen Group: Skills and Interpersonal Process
– Women’s Group: Skills and Interpersonal Process
– Understanding Shame and Building Resiliency
My role as a group therapist is to help create a safe environment for participants to be able to find willingness and curiosity to be vulnerable, learn, explore, experiment, and practice new skills, ways of functioning and behaving, ways of thinking, and/or ways of connecting with themselves and others.
Groups generally meet 1x/week for 1.5 hours at a time over the duration of 8-13 weeks depending on the group.