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"Helping families, children and adolescents
grow well."
Therapy Groups
Group psychotherapy provides support for people with similar problems and challenges. A psychotherapy group is different from support and self-help groups because, in addition to helping people cope with their problems, it also promotes personal change and growth.
Participating in a group is useful because it provides opportunities to learn with and from other people. Often many people are experiencing and struggling with similar issues. In group therapy you learn that perhaps you are not as different as you think or that you are not alone. As group members get to know each other and work on shared problems together, everyone benefits.
Finally, another benefit of participating in group therapy is its lower cost. Typically, group therapy is about half the cost of individual therapy. Insurance companies tend to provide similar coverage for group therapy and individual therapy.
Mothers of Extra-Challenging Children Support Group
Dates to be announced later.
Please check back again soon.
I periodically offer therapeutic support groups for mothers of children who are extra persistent, oppositional, demanding, clingy, angry, etc. These groups have a maximum of 5 members and are limited to eight weeks. Below is a description of group guidelines. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about participating in one of these groups.
What are the goals of the group?
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Providing and finding mutual emotional support and encouragement, and counteracting the isolation and social criticism mothers of challenging children sometimes experience.
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Sharing the typical emotions often present when parenting a challenging child, such as anger, resentment, dislike, frustration, and discouragement.
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Learning more about how our differences and similarities between ourselves and our challenging children make it easier and make it more complicated to parent this child.
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Reinforcing the importance of self-care and self-relaxation necessary in order to maintain the energy and self-discipline required to be an affectionate and effective parent.
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Exploring and practicing the aspects of effective parenting that are the most difficult for each mother, and exploring the personal changes that would most improve their parenting.
How will this group help me or change me?
Everyone's experience will be different as a result of participation in this group, of course.
However, you can expect to feel new encouragement, feel less isolated, and feel more
self-acceptance after participating in the group. In particular, you will probably understand yourself better, as a unique person and as a mother to your child. This improved understanding will help you to recognize your own emotional triggers, recognize how your challenging child provokes your most intense emotional reactions, plan how to sidestep the situations that prompt those reactions, and learn new ways to keep yourself calm in volatile situations.
What will happen in group therapy sessions?
In the beginning, we will get to know each other by talking about the experiences which have brought us to this group. In later sessions, we will discuss some of the problems we face and what we could do differently to solve those problems. Each week, we will talk about the problems or progress we saw in the previous week, and find the encouragement we need to continue.
Who can join this group?
Group members are required to participate in an initial interview with Emory in order to determine if
participation in this type of support group will be appropriate and helpful for each member. The
group size is limited to five members, and the group is closed to new members joining after the second week.
What are the expectations of group members?
Group members are asked to commit themselves to attending regularly, because each
participant makes an important contribution to the group experience. Members are
asked to respect the confidentiality of the group, so that each member feels safe and
free to be completely honest with themselves and others.
Each person is encouraged to participate to the greatest extent possible. No one is
required to answer any question or to participate at any point in the group session
when they feel they cannot do so. If there is an issue or concern which is troubling a
participant and is keeping them from participating fully, please bring this to my attention so that we might address it privately.
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