What Being Part of a Counseling Group Brings

            I’m excited to have a couple of groups on deck ready to run this spring!  Groups are a fun way to provide counseling and also offer some benefits that individual therapy does not.  In a group setting there is opportunity for feedback from fellow group members, different ideas and points of view, opportunities to connect with others who are walking along the same path as you, and a time to be able to share the same space with a group of people to offer support to one another.  Counseling groups are led by trained professional counselors who are able to moderate, mediate, and facilitate.  It’s the counselor’s role to make sure that all feel safe and welcome in the space.  Sometimes groups include specific activities that are being done in order to learn about or explore a specific concept and other times they are less directed which allows participants to take the group activity and discussion in the direction needed by the group.  Choosing to be part of a counseling group can open doors for you in your process of healing and growth that may not be accessible or as accessible in an individual session.

            So why choose to participate in a counseling group?  It may feel risky and sometimes even scary (or terrifying- this is okay to acknowledge) to think of participating in a group.  Sometimes clients have the thought of something being hard enough to share it with one person who happens to be a trained professional bound by HIPAA laws let alone to consider sharing something with multiple people who are participating for the same/similar reasons.  As with any fears we experience, learning how to manage the fear so we are able to do whatever it is we need or want to do anyway is extremely beneficial (and some may even go as far as to say necessary) to our wellbeing.  Allowing more people in opens us up to the possibility of a stronger, more varied, and more available support network.  Have you ever tried to be a whole team of baseball players by yourself?  Yeah- doesn’t work.  You need a team on the field (or court, or in the pool, or on the track, or wherever) because you can’t go it alone.  Yes, there are times when you need to fly solo but it is going to feel better and be safer to do that with a support team behind you.  Participating in a group is a great way to develop the ability to do that and you may even find yourself meeting additional team members in the process.            I’m excited to have a couple of groups on deck ready to run this spring!  Groups are a fun way to provide counseling and also offer some benefits that individual therapy does not.  In a group setting there is opportunity for feedback from fellow group members, different ideas and points of view, opportunities to connect with others who are walking along the same path as you, and a time to be able to share the same space with a group of people to offer support to one another.  Counseling groups are led by trained professional counselors who are able to moderate, mediate, and facilitate.  It’s the counselor’s role to make sure that all feel safe and welcome in the space.  Sometimes groups include specific activities that are being done in order to learn about or explore a specific concept and other times they are less directed which allows participants to take the group activity and discussion in the direction needed by the group.  Choosing to be part of a counseling group can open doors for you in your process of healing and growth that may not be accessible or as accessible in an individual session.

            So why choose to participate in a counseling group?  It may feel risky and sometimes even scary (or terrifying- this is okay to acknowledge) to think of participating in a group.  Sometimes clients have the thought of something being hard enough to share it with one person who happens to be a trained professional bound by HIPAA laws let alone to consider sharing something with multiple people who are participating for the same/similar reasons.  As with any fears we experience, learning how to manage the fear so we are able to do whatever it is we need or want to do anyway is extremely beneficial (and some may even go as far as to say necessary) to our wellbeing.  Allowing more people in opens us up to the possibility of a stronger, more varied, and more available support network.  Have you ever tried to be a whole team of baseball players by yourself?  Yeah- doesn’t work.  You need a team on the field (or court, or in the pool, or on the track, or wherever) because you can’t go it alone.  Yes, there are times when you need to fly solo but it is going to feel better and be safer to do that with a support team behind you.  Participating in a group is a great way to develop the ability to do that and you may even find yourself meeting additional team members in the process.