GROUP WORK
"The world doesn’t change one person at a time. It changes as networks of relationships form among people who discover they share a common cause and vision of what’s possible. Rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections." —Margaret Wheatley
Why Group Work?
Group work stirs up all of our fears about belonging. It is in this place that we can practice ways of being together that support our interpersonal growth. Transformative justice takes root when we learn to move through things like rupture and repair. The power of group work lies in its ability to magnify our individual strengths, transforming them into a formidable force that dismantles oppressive systems and paves the way for liberation.
Supportive Environment: Sharing experiences, struggles, and successes with others who are facing similar and/or different issues can be incredibly powerful. Breaking up isolation and cultivating more understanding promotes healing and growth.
Feedback and Perspective: Having spaces to give and receive feedback from others supports new insights and perspectives which can be difficult to achieve in individual work. Additionally, group members can provide each other with encouragement and accountability which can be motivating in achieving goals.
Cost-Effective: Group is often more cost effective than individual work and can make therapy and self-growth work more accessible to those who might t not be able to afford individual sessions.
Diversity: Being in a group can often provide a diverse range of experience and perspectives from members who have various life experiences. This can increase and broaden one’s relational capacity to navigate conflict and differences.
Currently Recruiting for The Social Laboratory 8 Week Process Group.
You’ve done the insight work.
Now it’s time to practice it in relationship. Individual therapy helps you understand your patterns. Group therapy helps you change them.
This online 8-week interpersonal process group is a live relational laboratory. Instead of talking only about what happens in your life, we explore what happens right here, between us.
Do you:
Over-function in groups?
Go quiet when you feel exposed?
Struggle to ask for what you need?
Feel unseen but unsure how to step forward?
Intellectually understand your attachment style but still repeat the same dynamics?
This group is ideal for people who:
Have done significant individual therapy
Are psychologically minded
Want deeper relational capacity
Are ready for honest, real-time feedback
OFFERING DESCRIPTIONS
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(8 week online workshop)
Who is it for: This workshop is designed for anyone who is interested in unraveling the ideas and experiences of masculinity in their own life. So many of us live under pervasive and unspoken rules of ‘manhood.’ Compulsory masculinity lies at the heart of disconnection and contributes to the cycles of violence that impact everything and everyone on our planet. This workshop is for folks who want to learn how to share power, cultivate trust, practice accountability, and stay with the discomfort of vulnerability all while in connection with others who are committed to doing this work too.
What to expect:
This workshop is based on works from JJ Bola, Allan G. Johnson, adrienne maree brown, Brene Brown, ALOK, and various others. It is a mix of lecture, support, and experiential process. This is not a therapy group, however, you will work with others in a structured way and through facilitated discussions each week on a different topic designed to unbox your own patriarchal conditioning. You will receive homework assignments to explore more of these concepts outside of the group. These reflections and practices will inform the discussions and process the following week.
Commitment: Be able to attend all 8 weekly 90 minute sessions. Please factor in an additional 1-2 hours a week to engage with the materials between sessions.
A maximum of 10 registrants per group
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Who is it for: Mental health clinicians, peer support specialists, and other healing practitioners that want an experiential group practice from a Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) framework. This intensive is ideal for people who want to better understand how their own strategies of connection and disconnection impact others and practice new ways of relating.
What to expect in a GPGE: General Process Group Experiences (GPGE) are immersive and process oriented groups that provide participants an environment in which to obtain and expand their skills in facilitating therapeutic groups. This intensive is focused on small group teaching primarily in the experiential mode. This is not a therapy group, although members will be encouraged to explore core tenants of RCT, with a focus on developing relational resilience. In this process, we will continually activate, illuminate, and process the here-and-now dynamics of relationship formation between group members and the facilitator. This may require practicing presence and engagement in the midst of relational tension and discomfort. The content of the group is driven by group members' wants/needs/desires as it relates to their experiences as a clinician and also as a human being navigating a complex world. This workshop is based on the institute model used by the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA).
A maximum of 8 registrants per group.
Friday 9am- 4:45pm 1 hour lunch
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(10 week Program)
Who is it for: This 10 step program is for anyone who is having trouble coping during painful and unprecedented times. This program has been proven to help folks re-discover their personal agency and re-invest their energies in meaningful ways.
What to expect: This is a 10 step peer-to-peer support group inspired by 12-Step family groups, specifically Adult Children of Alcoholics. This program is where people come together for 10 weeks to build community, process our heavy and painful feelings about the state of the world, and identify meaningful actions each of us can take. Each week we will meet for 2 hour sessions and focus on one of the steps. This is not a therapy group. Using embodiment exercises, journaling, and group sharing, we will create a brave and emergent space that serves as practice grounds for new (and ancient) ways of being with ourselves and each other during chaotic times.