1018 N Bethlehem Pike Suite 201 A, Lower Gwynedd, PA 19002
Often healing and growth come through connections. Group counseling empowers you to share your story and learn from others in similar life circumstances.
We all know life is hard, and feeling alone in our challenges often makes things worse. The truth is, everyone hurts. Everyone has struggles and challenges. When you keep those feelings plugged up inside you, and don’t ever connect with others who face similar pain points, you are actually blocking healing for yourself.
Our human brains were made for connection to one another. A foundational element of trauma recovery is healing in relationships. Group counseling offers a unique opportunity to do just that – be honest with yourself and other people about your struggles. The people in the group will share similar experiences. When these stories are shared, everyone will benefit from connecting together, encouraging each other in new skills and ways of thinking, and no longer feeling alone.
Research shows that healthy social relationships not only help us emotionally and mentally, but physically as well. Loneliness is a crisis in our society – and going through anxiety, trauma, difficult relationships, grief and loss – any of the hard stuff – is not meant to be done alone. Our bodies know it and feel it. Group counseling gives us the opportunity for meaningful, healing relationships with others that give our bodies what they need to heal and grow.
No one is immune from hard things in life. No one. Even the people you think have it easy, definitely have something going on you don’t know about. We begin to grow in strength and healing when we allow ourselves to share our pains with other people, learn from them, allow others to learn from us, and support each other. This is how life is meant to be lived. Anxiety, trauma, depression, all grow in strength until we are bold enough to let others into our experience.
Perhaps the idea of sharing your story is scary. We understand that. You won’t be asked to share beyond your comfort level. However, in group therapy, you will be nudged to share something – for your own healing as well as others. Your story will help others in your group too!
Tired of feeling alone and misunderstood? Wishing for someone else to just “get it”? Our team at Lime Tree Counseling knows how lonely people are these days. We offer groups that meet this need, create spaces for people to share with each other, be honest, and support one another. Life is a team sport! You need other people, and other people need you!
Group counseling creates space for this kind of healing connection in ways individual therapy cannot. Your group sessions are a place to truly get to know others who already have something in common with you – shared challenges. Your group therapist will guide each session, teach you new skills, and allow group members to share and encourage one another. Group rules will be agreed upon in order to create a sense of safety among members.
To start, you will meet one on one with the group counselor. During this initial meeting, the counselor will get to know you, your history and your goals to make sure you are placed in the group that best fits your needs. After that session, you will meet with your group weekly for one hour. During each session, the counselor will guide discussion on a particular topic and then facilitate group discussion and sharing. Group counseling also allows for each particular group to shape their own goals, have flexibility to adapt to each group’s needs.
Our society is very isolating. Many people find group counseling very helpful for several reasons, including:
All counseling is an investment in yourself, your relationships, and your quality of life. Group counseling is actually more affordable than individual therapy. While you do pay an individual therapy rate for you one on one meeting with the group counselor, after that you pay a reduced rate for each group session.
Everyone can benefit from group therapy, no matter what they are facing. However, if you seem to need more time to discuss and process your own concerns, your group leader may recommend you seek individual therapy in addition to your group.
Every group member will have had a one on one intake session with the group therapist, in order to ensure a good fit for the group. If once the group starts you are uncomfortable with other group participants for any reason, you simply need to let your group therapist know. We will help you problem solve and make changes if necessary. Our goal is a positive experience for everyone.
Yes! Research shows group therapy is often the ideal fit for some clients.
Group therapy is led by a trained, professional counselor who will provide education on relevant topics to the group. Also, a professional therapist has training in facilitating the group effectively. Participating in a group with new people will also give you new perspectives and more objective insights than your friend and family can provide.
You watch your partner laugh easily with strangers at a party, remembering everyone’s names, offering to help with things before anyone even asks. On the drive home, the warmth disappears. By the time you walk through the door, you’re already bracing yourself.
Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse in which one person systematically causes another to doubt their own memory, perception, and judgment. It happens gradually, often in small moments that are easy to dismiss on their own, until the person on the receiving end no longer trusts what they know to be true about their own experience.
You can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong, but something is. You leave conversations feeling like you somehow failed, though you’re not sure how. You’re constantly trying to manage the other person’s feelings, walking carefully around their moods, making sure they’re okay.
He’s sitting in the same room. He took out the trash. He showed up to the kids’ game. By every visible measure, he’s present. And yet you feel completely alone.
Codependency is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, but when you’re the one wondering if it applies to you, it doesn’t feel like a buzzword. It feels like a real question.
You pick up your phone to unwind for a few minutes. Twenty minutes later, you set it down feeling worse than when you started. Your life suddenly feels smaller, duller, less than. You’re not sure exactly when it happened, but somewhere in the scroll, something shifted.
