You know that you or a loved one can benefit from therapy, but what will it be like? You imagine what you see in the media (sprawling out on a couch with a therapist who rarely even cracks a smile or says very few words. All eyes and ears are on you.). You think that therapy will be too awkward.
Group Psychotherapy
Maybe your family is going through a financial hardship, and you cannot fathom adding another expense. You might have a teenager who refuses to have another adult in life “telling them what to do” and discussing “embarrassing” thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
You then see an ad for a mental health practice running group therapy services. Groups, you wonder? Can therapy be done in a group format? You think that working with others might be less intimidating, and you bet it can’t possibly cost as much as individual services.
So here you are, wondering if group therapy might be the right service for you or your loved one.
Benefits of Group Therapy:
- Support System. Maybe people believe that they have few, if any, people in their lives who truly understand them. Group therapy participants often feel understood because they can physically see that others are struggling with similar issues.
- Less Intimidating: Group therapy is a great way to get a sense of topics discussed without having all eyes and ears on you for the entire duration of the session. You can talk as little or as much as you want and still gain knowledge while listening to the psychotherapist educate and respond to others.
- Less Expensive: If you want to get an idea of what therapy is about and/or don’t want to add the financial commitment of private, individual sessions, group therapy is a great option. It may not always be as personalized as individual sessions, but for many, it’s a wonderful way of working through mental health concerns.
- New Perspectives: Learning from others in your situation often gives you different ways of interpreting and understanding others and events in your life.
When You Seek Support from the Center for Anxiety and Behavior Management
- You will learn how to structure your thoughts, actions, and environment to help you overcome stress and anxiety
- You will grow in self-confidence
- You will learn effective coping skills to manage troubling symptoms
- You will learn how to function better in your life
- You will feel more peace and gain a sense of focus and calmness
- You will see your world as less threatening
- You will find more joy in your day-to-day life
The Group Therapy Process
Group therapy is intended to help you gain the skills and tools necessary to more effectively manage your fears, feelings, and thoughts in a group format. Together, you, your fellow group members, and your group psychotherapist will work with scientifically-backed, evidence-based therapies to help you gain control over your stress, worry, and doubts.
Here’s what to expect…
FIRST CONTACT: Free phone consult
Prior to beginning treatment with us, we want to make sure that we are a good fit for your needs. For this reason, we offer a free 15-minute initial phone consult to learn more about your current circumstances and to determine if we are the best resource for you. Assuming that we are a good match, you would then set up an intake session.
WEEK ONE: Intake Session
During this initial 90-minute session, the assigned therapist will meet with you to gather background information and have you fill out rating scales to provide an assessment baseline upon which to build our treatment plan and goals.
Please note that, if the group is meant for teens, the first appointment is likely to be for parents only, and a second session will be scheduled with the teen. All of the other weeks will proceed as outlined below.
WEEK TWO: Feedback Session
Now that we’ve thoroughly assessed your needs, we will meet with you to discuss the diagnoses, to identify starting goals, and to provide education on the apparent causes and factors which are leading to your symptoms. It’s at this point that the therapist will go over if group therapy is an appropriate service for your unique situation. Not all diagnoses are best treated in a group format. If the therapist does not recommend group therapy, other options will be discussed such as individual therapy, family therapy, couples therapy, etc.
WEEK THREE and Beyond: Group Therapy for Teens or Adults
Depending on the details of your specific group, you will attend regular weekly group therapy sessions. Often, groups run for 12 weeks with each session lasting an hour. However, groups can run for a shorter or longer duration, and for some groups, 90-minute sessions are better suited to meet the goals of the participants. This information will be provided to you before your intake appointment so that you know ahead of time what the commitment will be.
Group therapists will use evidenced-based therapy models to help participants learn to identify trigger situations and thoughts that contribute to symptoms. This typically includes the integration of techniques from Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP), or other evidence-based modalities.
TERMINATION: The Final Group Sessions
As the group gets closer to its end, you and your therapist will develop a plan for your next steps. If you’ve met your goals, then no further sessions will be recommended. If you’ve made progress but still have things on which you’d like to work, the group therapist may recommend continuing with individual sessions so that your unique situation can be the focus.
Are we the right providers for you?
Click below to request more info, and we’ll be sure to give you all the details about how we can help you take back control of your life.
More About the Center for Anxiety and Behavior Management
As a team of licensed therapists, we are experts at teaching you to make the behavioral choices that get you closer to your goals.
We work from an evidence-based perspective. This means that our job is to help you understand your struggles and provide solutions proven to be very effective. Negative thoughts, distressing feelings, and unhelpful behaviors don’t have to be part of your life, and group therapy at The Center for Anxiety and Behavior Management is about changing the way you think, recognizing how your beliefs are holding you back, becoming informed, seeing the world more accurately, and engaging in behaviors that you won’t regret later.
We make it our mission to help you regain control of your life by providing effective strategies supported by science. We are dedicated to being on top of the most recent knowledge and helping you solve problems based on what the research says is effective. It is our passion to educate you on what is and isn’t working in your life so that you can get back in the driver’s seat and take yourself where you want to go.
What Does Group Therapy Cost?
Group therapy is a fee-for-service program which means that we require payment at the time services are provided. We would be considered an out-of-network provider and would be happy to provide you with receipts which include all of the information you’d need for submitting directly to your insurance company for your own reimbursement. The cost of group therapy depends on the length of each session and the duration of the group; this information will be given to you before you begin services with us.
When and Where are the Group Therapy Sessions?
Our office is conveniently located at 259 Main Street in Chester, NJ, 07930.
Sessions are currently held by appointment only Monday – Saturday.
Your Next Steps
You absolutely can learn to manage your bothersome thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Freedom from these symptoms may feel impossible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start to take back control. You just need the support of a caring professional and evidence-based treatment to help you figure out how to best manage it all.
You will get the tools you need to be more successful in overcoming your stressors. And you’ll also grow in your ability to self-manage with the use of good coping skills.
Ultimately, you will know that even when things aren’t going your way, you will get through them. We can help.
Call 908-914-2624 or email us (info@anxietyandbehaviornj.com) to schedule your 15-minute phone consult to see if we’re a good fit for your treatment needs today!