Bring to mind the last time you felt a true sense of belonging in a group. What feelings come up? For many of us, belonging to a group brings a sense of warmth, being connected to a larger purpose, and a shared sense of responsibility. Belonging to a group helps us feel supported, heard, and safe.
Group courses and therapy bring many of the same benefits. While there is meaningful connection and growth in individual therapy sessions, the cumulative power of working towards your shared goals in a group has its own unique, healing properties. Here are a few more reasons groups are a valuable place to grow and heal.
4 Powerful Reasons to Consider Group Therapy:
- Grow your social skills. In a group, you will learn how to communicate, listen, grow and adjust to the different social patterns in a group. You learn how to share your own experiences and how to hold space for others’ experiences. There may be things you hear that you’ve never considered before, but, after experiencing the cohesiveness of a group, you might be willing to consider a different perspective. Experiencing the cohesiveness and trust of a therapy course or group may increase the ability to take social risks. It can even help you take a closer look at yourself; the openness to accept criticism is higher with people with whom you have formed a collective bond.
- Feel safe taking real life risks. The trust built within a group allows you to express or try out ideas that you may not try otherwise. Just as in individual therapy, groups are a confidential, safe space to share what is truly on your heart. You can come into a group and be your authentic self with no risk of judgment or sharing of your personal information. You can also use the space to try things you may never have thought you’d feel comfortable trying; the group can be a safe environment to test out some of your new skills.
- Gain accountability & see results. Group therapy or group courses help you stay accountable to the skills you are learning and the tasks you want to achieve. People are often successful in these group settings because we know we will be reporting back to our group members each week. And we know they will be sharing their experiences, too! It is exhilarating to hear about our group members’ successes and how they are making strides in their own lives. This will often motivate you, too! When we celebrate our successes together, we are all more likely to feel hopeful and achieve our goals.
- Connect with others experiencing similar challenges. I would imagine you often feel empathy for people who are struggling in life, but when that struggle is similar to your own, the potential for connection is unlike any other. Group courses provide a sense of connection and collective experience as you relate over topics that not many others outside the group share. We learn so much from those who have similar lived experiences to ours.
You deserve to feel belonging, safety, and connection. Group courses or therapy are a powerful setting in which you can develop those feelings and gain skills that will serve you throughout your life. Here is a real life example:
I teach a group course called “Cultivating a Mindful Life with Your Daughter.” Just this past week, one of the pre-teens shared that she is struggling with social media and her friend group. Another member of the group was having the exact same experience! The adults in the group sat back and watched in awe as the two of them connected, related, and shared in such an authentic way. It was truly beautiful. Perhaps these two pre-teens would have never connected in “the real world,” but the safe and secure setting of the group course allowed them to relate on a healing and nurturing level.
If you are interested in joining the Cultivating a Mindful Life class for girls/those identifying as female or non-binary (ages 9-15) and their parent or other adult, another course is starting March 28. You can find more information here: http://mindfulstl.com/courses/cultivating-a-mindful-life-with-your-daughter/
To see all the courses and groups offered by the center, please check out these two pages: http://mindfulstl.com/courses/ & http://mindfulstl.com/groups/
