Group Therapy Services

What is Group Therapy?

Group therapy is when a therapist, or multiple therapists, work with a select number of clients, in the same age group. These groups typically target a specific problem that the clients share, such as anxiety, trauma, or depression, or they focus on improving certain skills such as social skills, emotional regulation, or self-esteem. Group therapy is designed to instill the client with the necessary tools and coping skills to use when faced with their specific problems. Clients can either participate in group therapy in accordance with individual therapy or a part from it.

What Are the Benefits of Group Therapy?

There are multiple benefits of group therapy, aside from individual therapy, that can be very valuable for children and adolescents. Here is a list of group therapy benefits:

• Group therapy provides children and teens with the sense of comfort in knowing they aren’t alone in the struggles and emotions that they're dealing with. Children and teens experiencing mental health issues can often feel isolated, and being surrounded by peers who share similar problems, allows them to feel supported and understood.
• Group therapy gives children and teens the space to share their feelings among their peers in a way that otherwise might be difficult for them to share with an adult.
• Group therapy allows children and teens to build healthy relationships with their peers in a safe and structured environment. Creating relationships with peers in group therapy helps the child or teen build relationships with their peers outside groups, in their everyday lives.
• Group therapy provides an environment for children and teens to learn through social interactions. This exposure to social interactions allows children to develop age appropriate social skills that they're able to implement within group therapy and in their daily lives as well.
• Group therapy provides children and teens with relevant coping skills that they're able to practice within their groups, and then, with time, incorporate them into their daily lives when faced with struggles.

How Effective is Group Therapy?

Group therapy is a very effective tool, especially for children and teens. Elementary-aged children don’t have a full understanding of emotions yet, and therefore have a difficult time regulating the emotions they feel, often resulting in reactive outbursts. Group therapy helps children gain emotional intelligence and teaches them socially appropriate behaviors that equip them to reach their social developmental goals. Middle school children and teens tend to feel overburdened with their emotions and find it difficult to handle their feelings in a healthy way. Group therapy allows adolescents to share their emotions among their peers, which betters their communication skills, increases their confidence for self-expression, and normalizes the emotions they feel.

How is Group Therapy Different for Younger Kids vs. Teens?

Since play is a natural language way for kids to express themselves, learn, and resolve conflict, our groups geared toward our youngest clients will often incorporate various forms of play into the sessions. Activities might include art, reading books, role-playing, or games.

Older tweens and teens tend to be better able to express their emotions and thoughts verbally. And we find they also like to utilize the group experience to gain feedback, validation, and/or support from their peers. Therefore, these older groups typically include more discussion. However, we also recognize tween and teens still appreciate hands-on activities involving art, music, role-playing, games, and other structured activities.

We even have therapy groups designed specifically for young adults and their unique stressors!

Does Group Therapy Replace Individual Therapy?

Group therapy can be an effective form of treatment. If your child is already engaged in individual therapy, we encourage you to speak with your child’s individual therapist to see what makes sense for their individualized treatment plan. For some groups, such as DBT, it may be a requirement for a child to continue in individual therapy during their group experience.

At WFP, all group members are required to complete a parent-child intake prior to enrolling in the group. This allows you and your child to meet with the group leader, discuss goals, and ask any questions you might have. The group intake also helps the group leader better understand the group dynamics, tailor session plans, and to help ensure it’s a good fit for all participants.