Next group begins: August 1, 2023
The importance of working together
Of course time spent one-on-one with a counselor holds endless opportunity for growth and self-realization. However, the importance of connecting with other members of within a group of peers, especially with shared trials and obstacles, cannot be overstated. In the arena of group work for teenagers, what I specifically work with is the tendency to have difficult-to-control emotions and the behaviors that they inspire. Especially in those moments when it feels like an impasse has been reached between parent and teen, it might be worth looking at an opportunity for growth in tandem with other TEENS.
How Group Work can be helpful
From a developmental perspective, teenagehood is marked by a partial break from the family in terms of self-identity. Instead of gaining a sense of self from the position within one’s own family, teenagers begin to gain their sense of identity from their position within their peer group. Therefore, the perceived stakes of interpersonal interactions begins to heighten outside the home and diminish within the home.
None of this is to say that teenagers necessarily reject their families during this stage (although sometimes it might feel like that). Instead, it means that there is a natural and significant shift to emphasis on what peers are doing rather than what the family is doing.
How the Group addresses such big emotions
One of the key components of feeling overwhelmed or blindsided by emotions is a disconnect with one’s own feelings. One way that I like to illustrate this is how we inherently react physiologically to certain feelings. For example, when we are overcome with sadness, we cry. Therefore, it makes sense that when someone sees us cry, they might assume that we are sad. However, sometimes we cry from pain. Sometimes we cry from overwhelming joy. This demonstrates how very easy to identify expressions can come from very different places within.
Now imagine that you are fairly susceptible to the influence of others (which most of us are when we are first developing in the world). Suppose that someone sees you crying and tells you that you are sad. Suppose that you make this connection completely regardless of what led to that reaction. Perhaps you grow up analyzing your tears only after you have shed them, each time drawing the conclusion that you are sad. In this example, the crying could still have come from any of the other sources of crying that exist. However, a rift between that reaction and whatever precedes it grows more and more. Now, it would naturally be very difficult for you to determine with great accuracy why you were crying.
This is a fairly extreme example, but it does show what happens to people when they continually analyze their own behaviors externally rather than internally. The group work that I lead aims to undo this tendency in order to better regulate one’s own emotions, to better negotiate interpersonal interactions, and to act out in a way that aims toward the mutual benefit of anyone involved in the interaction.
What to expect at the group
Each meeting will last 90 minutes. This provides enough time to get everyone engaged without running into a point of fatigue. Unlike other therapy groups, DBT groups maintain a level of structure. This ensures that the each member’s time is respected. You deserve to feel like you are continually working toward something.
The entire group is scheduled to run for 12 weeks, but it is broken up into three 4-week segments. Each segment offers different skills and strategies, but subsequent segments are not dependent upon previous ones. This structure is to acknowledge that schedules do change, and it does happen that group members have to reconsider how they spend their time on occasion.
Location
Meetings are held at 1401 S Taft Ave in Loveland. They will be on the second floor of the bank building.
cost and payment
The cost of each session is $65, which includes the handouts and worksheets for the meeting. After you are registered for the group, you have until one week before the first meeting to cancel your registration. One week before the meeting, you will receive a text message from IvyPay, a HIPAA compliant payment portal. The text will prompt you to input your billing information, which you will only have to input the first time. Unfortunately, refunds cannot be issued for groups, but unfulfilled fees can be used as a credit toward a future session.