Benefits of Group Therapy

I personally believe everyone could benefit from therapy. However, knowing what type of therapy would be best for you can lead to greater success in your mental health journey. The two types of therapy Snow Lake offers are individual and group therapy.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy allows a therapist to help an individual work through their thoughts, concerns, emotions, and situations. Thus, individual therapy differs from getting advice from friends, family, and acquaintances, since it is a professional service provided by a trained professional. Most clients meet with their therapist once a week for several months or several years. When starting with a therapist it is important to meet on a regular basis so the therapeutic alliance can be formed and the client can start to experience progress.

Advantages of Individual therapy

1. Confidentiality

2. One on one attention

3. Customized to the individuals needs

4. Flexible scheduling

Group Therapy

We all have different experiences, backgrounds, and personalities, which leads us to our own unique perspective on the world. Working with a group can help clients see things from a new perspective, which may illuminate new ways to take on old problems and new strategies to overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable.

Advantages of Group Therapy

1. Universality. Just being part of a group of people who understand what you are going through and have experienced similar problems will help clients see that they are not alone, and that suffering is universal.

2. Development of socialization techniques. The simple experience of working in a group provides excellent opportunities to socialize, practice new behaviors, and experiment in a safe environment.

3. Instilling hope. Since group therapy often includes clients at different stages in their treatment, some of the newer clients can find encouragement from seeing the positive impacts on clients further along in their treatment.

4. Imparting information. Group members can be a great resource for information.

5. Altruism. Group therapy gives members a chance to practice altruism by helping others in the group, an experience that will likely help them as well.

6. The corrective recapitulation of the primary family group. This wordy principle refers to the process of clients learning and exploring their childhood experiences, personalities, behaviors and feelings, and learning how to identify and avoid destructive or non-helpful behaviors.

7. Imitative behavior. Clients can observe and imitate or model positive and helpful behaviors toward others in the group, including the therapist.

8. Interpersonal learning. Interacting with the therapist and other group members and receiving feedback can help a client learn more about themselves.

9. Group cohesiveness. Group therapy sessions can facilitate a shared sense of belonging and acceptance of one another.

10. Catharsis. This principle is based on the healing powers of sharing with others; talking through your feelings and experiences in a group can help relieve pain, guilt, and stress.

Two types of groups

At Snow Lake we practice both psychoeducation and process-oriented group therapy.

1) Psychoeducational – These groups are intended to provide members with the information they need to address or cope with whatever it is that brought them to the group; they are usually structured with specific topics or modules to cover.

2) Process-Oriented – These groups are more focused on experience, sharing with one another, and making connections; discussion among the members dominates this group rather than a set agenda.