6 Month Childhood Trauma Groups
Are you looking for a sense of comradery on your trauma healing journey? Are you interested in working towards healing in a group environment? Are you hoping to meet others who have had similar experiences and understand what you’re going through? If so, group therapy may be a good fit for you!
This structured 6 month* group follows the RRP (Relationship Recovery Process) method popularized by Patrick Teahan. In this group, we'll be going through handouts, comparing and contrasting the healthy vs the dysfunctional family system, talking about triggers, and getting to know our inner child. The group is made up of three different parts, or phases:
PART 1: Healthy vs. Dysfunctional Family Systems
In the first couple months of group, we will be comparing and contrasting the healthy vs. dysfunctional family systems so that you can begin to process what happened (or didn’t happen) for you during your childhood, and also get a sense of how things should have been. This portion of group is very handout heavy, and participants typically have homework most weeks.
PART 2: The Genogram
During the next few months of group, you will get a chance to prepare and present your genogram to the group, which is an opportunity for you to tell your truth about what happened in your family. I think of genograms as a mental health/trauma focused family tree where we get to tell our story from our perspective. During this exercise, we look at the impacts of intergenerational trauma, trace patterns through the family, and aim to gain new insights on how trauma has impacted the family system. Please note that this activity is about YOUR experience and perspective of your family system, and you do not need to speak to family members to gain more information about your family (unless you have safe relationships and desire to know more).
PART 3: Triggers & Connecting with Your Inner Child
In the last month of group, you will participate in a mindfulness challenge to help you become more aware of your triggers and start to connect more with your inner child. The goal of this activity is to practice creating awareness on a daily basis and begin to notice patterns in your triggers. This portion of the group also tends to be more homework heavy as members are tasked with daily awareness activities.
*Upon successful completion of the 6 month group, there are opportunities to continue with group work if you so choose/if it makes sense for what you’re needing in your healing journey.
Is now a good time for me to join a group?
Do you feel generally stable and have some basic coping skills or tools to manage dysregulation when you get triggered?
Our first group can often mirror our family - which means that things that trigger us in our family may come up in group too. We don’t have to be in a perfect place with this, but it’s helpful to start group with some tools in place in case we do get triggered during group. Sometimes clients like to get started in individual therapy with me (or another therapist) first to get more of these skills in place and then start a group a few months down the road. If you’re interested in joining a group and/or are curious about the possibility of starting individual therapy together first, click here for more information about getting started and how to apply.
Are you established with (or plan to establish with) an individual therapist?
I strongly recommend that all clients who participate in my groups also see an individual therapist (preferably someone who is trauma informed) - whether it’s me or someone else! Why? Well, as I mentioned above, group can be triggering at times - and the nature of the group is such that we don’t have time or space to do individual therapy during it. So if triggers come up, it’s important that you have a container (individual therapy) to process it. I also find that participating in both a group AND individual therapy at the same time can help maximize the benefits from this type of therapy.
Do you feel like you can generally get along with others and can be a safe person for the other participants?
Safety is paramount in trauma therapy, and especially in groups. As such, I aim to be very intentional about how I put together my groups to make sure that the potential members of the group mesh well together and have good cohesion, which means not every person will be a fit for every group. Do you feel like you’re in a place in your healing journey where you can show up as a safe person for other people? In the context of groups, when I say a safe person, I mean to the best of your abilities:
Being able to show up in a non-judgmental manner
Being able to take accountability for our words and actions when triggered or projecting (or when you’re made aware that that’s happening)
Being respectful of others thoughts, feelings, opinions, life choices, etc.
Being able to refrain from invalidating others or giving advice
Are you in a place in your life where you feel ready to make a 6 month commitment?
While I never prevent anyone from terminating group if they so choose, I do request that members join a group with the intention of seeing it through to the end. If something comes up (I get it, life happens), or if you decide after some sessions that it’s not right for you, that’s okay! However, these groups are closed groups - meaning we don’t add more people after it has started - so we want everyone who starts the group to at least be in the mindset from the get go that they plan to complete it. If you know you won’t be able to complete a group due to work, an extended vacation, big life event coming up, etc., I ask that you consider waiting and join a future round of group when you have more availability to complete it.
Group Details
Start Date: TBD
I tend to start new groups approximately 2x per year (once in the fall and once in the spring), but could have more or less depending on how much interest we get - and if we’re able to get the right mix of people together!
Frequency: Weekly
Groups meet weekly for approximately 6 months. Exact duration of the group may vary +/- a few weeks - I try to pace each group based on what members need, so we may spend more or less time on certain topics as needed.
Duration: 90 minutes
Group sessions are 90 minutes each. The day and time of the group will be decided based on what works best for everyone’s schedule, but I tend to aim to schedule groups around lunch time or late afternoons/early evenings for convenience.
Participants: 6-8 members
I like to keep groups small and intimate, so there will not be more than 8 members in a group at any given time.
Fee: $75/group session
See my Fees and Policies page for more information.
Why should I consider group work and not just individual trauma work?
Group work is a really unique (and important!) modality for healing childhood trauma. When we’re talking about childhood trauma, we’re usually talking about attachment or relational trauma. The trauma happens in relationship - and we heal in relationship. Individual therapy gives us a space to heal in relationship with our therapist, which is helpful and very important! In addition to the healing that happens in individual work, group work allows us to heal in community with other trauma survivors. Sometimes in group, triggers to our family of origin come up - and because we aim for group to be a safe space, it gives us a place to work through these triggers together - hopefully with a different outcome than what we’re used to. It can also be so powerful to share your story and hear it reflected back to you through other’s eyes - which is what can happen in groups. Seeing our own experiences from someone else’s perspective can allow us to gain a new sense of compassion for ourselves, or an understanding about how hard/awful/inappropriate/terrible/not okay that thing that happened to us was. If you’re still wondering if individual or group is right for you, check out my FAQs.