Groups/Workshops
Published on Student Medical & Counseling Clinic
(http://www.cwu.edu/medical-counseling)
Groups/Workshops
Counseling Clinic Groups
What is Group Counseling?
Frequently Asked
Questions
Process Group vs.
Psychoeducation Group
Current Group Offerings
What to Expect in Group Counseling
Confidentiality and Privacy
What is Group Therapy?
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Groups/Workshops
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Group therapy is a powerful tool for growth and change. For many emotional and relationship concerns
that college students face, group is the best treatment choice. It can, in many cases, be more effective
and produce quicker results than individual therapy.
In Group 5-10 individuals meet face to face to share their struggles and concerns with the facilitation of
1-2 group therapists. Groups meet weekly for 60 to 90 minutes. Some groups are focused on special
themes like anxiety, depression, grief or body image. Others are more general counseling groups which
assist individuals in resolving a broad range of personal issues, including setting appropriate
boundaries, challenges with communicating, self-esteem difficulties, and relationship problems.
Many times group can be more helpful than individual counseling because it is an opportunity to receive
multiple perspectives, support, encouragement and feedback from other individuals in a safe and
confidential environment.
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Current Group Offerings
Advanced Pathways
Bipolar Support Group
Non-Trad Support Group
Anxiety Support Group
Grief Support Group
Body Image Group
Interpersonal Process
TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle
Healthy Relationships
Group
Change) Group
Group
For more information on any of the below groups or workshops, please call
us at (509) 963-1391. Thank you!
Advanced Pathways
This group offers the opportunity to build on concepts of pathways in a group environment. Group
members have the opportunity to explore their concerns in terms of the balance of 'acceptance' of
concerns through ‘recognition’ and ‘understanding’ and 'commitment' to live a life of value to them
through ‘willingness’ to explore new behaviors within a supportive environment of group.
Bipolar Support Group
This group will help you see that you are not alone in dealing with Bipolar Disorder and that what seems
like completely unique and unimaginable experiences have actually been shared by many others who
have the disorder. The sharing in the support group can be enormously relieving and can decrease
social isolation. Our support group provides encouragement as well as education so that you can make
healthy living choices.
Anxiety Support Group
A six-session workshop that focuses on living life with anxiety. In essence, the workshop aims to help
the participants focus on what makes their lives meaningful and strategies to help them move forward
with a meaningful life, regardless of their anxiety. Each workshop session includes new anxiety coping
strategies, opportunities to share personal experiences, and recommended practice strategies.
Grief Support Group
This is an ongoing group that offers education and support for anyone who is grieving the death of a
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Groups/Workshops
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person. Participants are given an opportunity to share their experiences and to give and receive help in
a supportive environment.
Interpersonal Process Group
An ongoing group focused on interpersonal growth through self-disclosure and interactions with others.
This group offers you the opportunity to explore yourself and your relationships with others by offering a
setting in which you can learn to examine your behaviors. Through feedback from others, and
self-observation, you can become more aware of how you interact with others and thereby more able to
change self-limiting behaviors.
Non-Trad Support Group
An ongoing group for students who are 25 years of age or older, or married, or with a domestic partner,
or have children, or self-identity as a non-traditional student. This is an ongoing group focused on
interpersonal growth through self-disclosure and interaction with others.
TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Change) Group
The TLC group provides a wellness-based approach to treating depression that is supported by research.
You’ll get support to keep your motivation up as well as new skills to fight depression. You’ll be able to
share your experience, hear from others, and collaborate in a group atmosphere with people who want
to help each other out of the depressive cycle.
Body Image Group
This group focuses on looking deeper into your sources of negative body image, rather than simply
passing out positive affirmations to counteract your negative ones. Transforming negative body image
into body acceptance and peace often takes more than trying to give yourself complements. This group
will help you examine how your body image connects to your core beliefs and values in a safe and
supportive environment with other people struggling with body image.
Healthy Relationships Group
This group focuses on having healthy relationships with friends, family, and dating partners. The need to
belong is one of our most primitive human drives. We can love nature, our work, hobbies, etc., but they
can’t replace satisfying adult relationships. Building and maintaining healthy relationships can be
difficult. This group includes relationship support and education. We will focus on the components of a
healthy relationship, including healthy communication, boundaries, coping skills, managing anger and
building self-esteem.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. I am scared to talk to people in groups is this common for group members?
Answer: Most group members express this concern before joining the group. It can be very scary to
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Groups/Workshops
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talk to people you don’t know about your problems. Many group members have shared that although
they initially feared talking, within a few sessions they felt more and more comfortable talking. By the
end of the group many members share that they feel much more comfortable talking within the group
than when they started.
2. Do I have to share my deepest, darkest secrets with the group?
Answer: Group leaders will not ask you to share your deepest secrets with the group. Group leaders
will encourage members to share their difficulties and distress and as a member of the group you get to
decide how much you share with the group. Members of groups report getting more out of group as
they share more personal aspects but you get to set your own boundaries.
3. Is group confidential?
Answer: Everything that is discussed in counseling groups is considered confidential. It is not to be
discussed outside the group, even with other group individuals. Each member signs an agreement to
observe this rule.
4. What if I know someone in group—like they are a friend or a classmate?
Answer: This has happened before, don’t worry! Please let the group leaders know of this at the start
of group. In past groups the situations have been processed within the group, one of the group
members joined another group, or the group leaders decided how to best resolve it.
5. How much do I have to share in group?
Answer: No one will force you to share in group; if you don’t want to talk you don’t have to.
Unexpressed feelings are a major reason why people experience difficulties and distress. Sharing your
thoughts and feelings in a safe and supportive environment is an important part of group therapy and
strongly affects how much you will be helped. Most members are worried about sharing in group
initially and it might take a little time for them to feel okay about talking, but usually they eventually
start sharing in group even though they are uncomfortable.
6. How long is group and how many people in group?
Answer: Usually group runs for 6-8 weeks and groups usually have about 5 to 10 members.
7. How can group counseling be better than individual?
Answer: Many times group can be more helpful than individual counseling because it is an opportunity
to receive multiple perspectives, support, encouragement and feedback from other individuals in a safe
and confidential environment. In individual counseling you can talk about your interpersonal struggles
or personal distresses but in a group you could actually experience them and work through them in a
safe, supportive environment.
8. I am worried there won’t be enough time for me to share because there are so many
other members in the group?
Answer: If this is a concern and you find you are needing more time to talk, we recommend you bring
this up in the group. Group is an excellent place to work on assertiveness. You may also find you can
learn about yourself by listening to others. Group members may bring up issues that you connect with
but that you would not have thought to bring up yourself.
9. How can I be helped in a group when everyone’s problems are different?
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Answer: Each individual is unique as are their concerns. Still, as people we have a great deal in
common. (We all grow up in families. We all react to hurt in similar ways. We all have the same basic
capacity to grow and change.) These root causes of our problems in living have to do with patterns and
habits that we have learned during our formative years that are not working well for use now in our
current life circumstances or are holding us back. (For example, our families may have taught us that
certain kinds of emotional expression are to be avoided, but now as we deal with the normal stress of
adult life the pent-up feelings which result from this avoidance produce symptoms like depression,
worry or over-reaction.) The goal of counseling is to learn about our habits and patterns of feeling and
behavior and how they cause us problems. We can then learn new habits and patterns which will be
more successful for us.
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What to Expect from Group Counseling
Here is a short, helpful video about group counseling:
5 Important Things to Expect from Group Counseling
1.
The first few sessions usually focuses on the establishment of trust. Group therapists and
members work towards establishing a level of trust that allows them to communicate openly and
honestly. New members are often amazed at how much their contributions help other members.
2.
During the group meeting time, members are responsible for talking about what is troubling
them. Other groups rely more on observations and discussion from individuals with the counselor
providing consultation as necessary to facilitate the work.
3.
Members are encouraged to give support and feedback to others, and to work with the reactions
and responses that other members’ contributions bring up for them.
4.
As individuals begin interacting with other group members, they usually re-experience or recreate
some of the interpersonal difficulties that brought them to group in the first place. Under the skilled
direction of a group therapist, the group is able to point out troublesome interpersonal patterns by
providing feedback and support and offering alternatives, and in such a way that the difficulty becomes
resolved.
5.
Unexpressed feelings are a major reason why people experience difficulties and distress. Sharing
your thoughts and feelings in a safe and supportive environment is an important part of group therapy
and strongly affects how much you will be helped.
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Process vs. Psychoeducation Groups
Pscyho-educational Groups: In psycho-educational groups the focus is on a particular internal
struggle such as anxiety, depression, grief, or body image. Group members receive multiple
perspectives, support, encouragement and feedback from other individuals in a safe confidential
environment. Typically there will be an educational component to each session and then an opportunity
to process your difficulties and distress within the group.
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Process Groups: Process groups are usually unstructured. There isn’t a specific topic for each group
session, but some of the groups may be focused on a particular theme. The group may be a target to a
specific group of individuals (e.g., women, men, or older students). Members are welcome to bring in
any issues to the group they feel are important, and the primary focus of therapy in the group is on the
interactions among group members. Members are encouraged to give support and feedback to others,
and to work with the reactions and responses that other members’ contributions bring up for them.
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Confidentiality and Privacy
Everything that is discussed in counseling groups is considered confidential. It is not to be discussed
outside the group, even with other group individuals. Each member signs an agreement to observe this
rule.
Source URL: http://www.cwu.edu/medical-counseling/groupsworkshops
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