It’s been a little while since I’ve written in this blog. Dear Readers, I haven’t forgotten you nor have I forgotten how much I enjoy this new hobby! I’ve been busy. When I say busy, I mean bought my first house, got my private practice up and running and have continued my work at the Outpatient Clinic. I thought that it would be easiest to get back into the writing groove again by writing about one of my favorite, most loved, therapeutic modalities- Group Therapy.
Many counselors balk at the suggestion that they run Group Therapy. I think this is because they’re intimidated by the idea of sitting with a Group of possibly mandated clients, awkward feelings and hostility in the air. This has been the experience, I believe, of those who have run Groups within the substance abuse counseling agencies. One of the things that is awesome about the Outpatient Clinic I work for, is that we are not entirely focused on substance abuse counseling and therefore NONE of our Groups are mandatory!
Clients attend because they want to attend. They want to improve their mental health or increase their self-discovery. Several of the clients I have referred to in my Process Group want to prevent the anxious, depressing symptoms that come with social isolation. Others are striving to improve their communications abilities. Their life struggles and joys are a privilege to bear witness to. I look forward to our meetings every Friday and try my best to provide feedback, ask questions from a place of gentle curiosity and to use my own self-disclosure as a way to enrich the Group experience.
One of the most beautiful things about Group therapy is that the client gets to experience their own growth reflected back to them from the mirror of the other Group members’ eyes. What I mean by that is a counselor can be working one-on-one with a client for years and the client might not have a therapeutic response. Hearing that they are, in fact, doing a good job from a Peer, within the Group, however, can be a much more powerful and corrective experience. The same thing goes for constructive criticism. An individual therapist might bring up negative client behavior in a one-on-one session (habitually being late, for example) and this might get easily blown off by the client. But when someone is invested in being part of the Group, and several Group members are supported in saying to them “Hey, we like you. You’re a great person, but when you’re late it bothers me, and Joe, and Tina, because it means less time for us to do Group work” it hits home more deeply.
I have seen clients that were very challenging in individual counseling behave and support others in Group therapy in ways that have been deeply touching. Redeeming, even. We are social creatures. We need to feel like we belong to Groups in our life in order for our mental health to thrive. It is crucial, however, to have the proper training in how to facilitate Groups in order to offer it as part of a therapeutic milieu. If you are reading this and are a counselor, and perhaps want a refresher/go deeper into this modality, I highly recommend “The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy” by Irving Yalom. If you’re not a therapist, but are still interested in Groups, I’d encourage you to join one and experience its healing power for yourself.
