At Good Samaritan Ministries we are constantly facing the challenge of meeting the great need of counseling for individuals and families who are struggling to get through life. We have had a waitlist for years of such people waiting to see someone who can help them. Whenever we put someone on the waitlist, we offer them a list of groups & classes that we offer at the Beaverton, OR office that they can join while waiting to be paired with a counselor. The most common response is a strong no.
Of course, I understand why. For many, the thought of telling your problems to a whole group of strangers seems daunting. It's less scary to learn to trust one counselor versus a room full of people. However, what most people don't understand about group therapy, is it has a profoundly high success rate for helping people heal. The American Psychological Association reports that group therapy is just as effective for treating many conditions, and importantly, is efficient - one therapist reaching a group of people at once, versus a single individual. There are other great benefits:
Solidarity - most people who struggle with addiction, depression, mental illnesses, and painful pasts will often feel very alone in their struggle. By joining a group and making space inside to hear other people's stories, you can find that what once felt like an isolated path, is actually one full of empathetic sojourners!
Reduced stigma - similarly, when you learn that other people struggle like you do, you can begin to normalize your reactions and go from "I'm so messed up," (a self-shaming inner message) to "I am responding to my struggles like many people in my situation would." (stigma-reducing and normalizing).
Increased Coping Strategies and Reduced Symptoms - that's right! By telling your story in a group and hearing others, you are likely to develop more strategies for coping and reduction of symptoms because you see hope in other people's wins. "If Sam can do, I think I can too!"
At Good Samaritan Ministries, our successful group has been our Anger Management group run by skilled facilitator, Teresa Stroup, MSW, LCSW. Teresa brings over thirty years of counseling experience and group work to the topic and participants come from all over, including the court system. When talking to people about the benefits of the group, I have found over and over that one person's lesson, has become a lesson for many. For instance, Rebecca*, one group meeting mentioned that she doesn't know why she fights with her husband so much. She talked about how if there is nothing to fight about she will find something and push him until an argument ensues and she doesn't know why she behaves that way. Teresa's response was, "maybe you have been living your life in fight or flight so long, that you don't know what to do with peace. Maybe fighting is more normal to you than having a peaceful home so you subconsciously try to make an argument so that things feel more normal." Not only did this resonant with Rebecca, but multiple people in the room said a light came on in their heads!
This is the power of a group - we can learn not only from our own story, but from other people's stories. In fact, I believe that our best growth happens in community with other people. It changes our dependency on one authority figure (our counselor) to an interdependence with our peers. Then we can grow through the soft path of friendships - something that is overlooked in our isolated culture. This is the case for the Men's Group at GSM, where men are partnered with accountability partners - just to check in on each other with a text or call. This support is new to many men who are used to struggling alone. Here, their community is built on friendship and mutual support.
If you have not given group therapy a try - maybe it's time to reach out to GSM to join one of our groups. We have many to offer, from weekly on-going groups through the year, to 6-8 week groups. Groups include:
Anger Management (Tuesdays 5:30-7:00pm)
Men's Group (Resuming in April on Wednesdays 6:30-8:00pm)
Life Giving Group (Wednesdays 10:30-12:00pm)
Grief Group (8-week group resuming in March)
Women's Abortion Recovery Group (Starting January 21st Tuesdays 6:00-8:00pm)
Addictions Recovery Group (Fridays 10:00-12:00pm)
Call our office at 503-644-2339 to learn more or register for a group at gsmusa.org/groups-classes.
*Not her real name
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