“Why attending group therapy may be the best decision I ever made – even though it was scary!”
I’d like to tell you a story. This story started when I was in my 20s. As you can tell from the double spaces after my periods, that was a while ago. (And if you don’t have time for a story today, but found yourself here looking for information about accessing our Emotion-Focused Group Therapy training or because you wish to participate in an EFT therapy group, feel free to skip to the end. I won’t mind. 😉
In my 20s, I was struggling in a number of areas of my life. I found myself entering group therapy for help. At that time, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. Being vulnerable in front of so many other people was terrifying, and in some ways, lay at the heart of my struggles. I had learned to hide my struggles from others, and that led me to some not-great places.
“In many ways, group therapy changed my life.”
At that time, I struggled a lot with shame and often felt pretty alone. I was a second-year student studying astrophysics (hard to imagine now) and had not found my place in the world. Coming into a group space where others were talking about their own pain and struggles, in a safe space, was shocking. Learning I wasn’t alone – not from a therapist, a book, or a movie – but from seeing the real emotion on others’ faces as they sat across from me and told their own story broke my heart open and let me really feel that I wasn’t alone. This was my introduction to the magic of group psychotherapy. That experience, in conjunction with my own individual therapy, also left me curious about the science of human change.
I went on to volunteer as a peer leader in a support group for women, then to add a new major to my degree (psychology, of course), and then to act as a junior facilitator in an outpatient open-ended psychodynamic psychotherapy group over a two-year period in grad school. Watching the group process between members unfold week after week captivated me. Seeing individuals struggle with their demons, sometimes slowly working up the courage to open up to another human being, sometimes becoming triggered – their hurts and anger coming out in a sudden rush, all while witnessing and helping to facilitate the human reactions that followed was a fascinating and touching roller coaster ride.
Around the same time, I was introduced to Emotion-Focused Therapy with Dr. Jeanne Watson at the University of Toronto. Early in my supervision career, a young graduate student named Laura Girz introduced me to some early studies looking at EFT in group contexts. I was fascinated and together we launched our first EFT group at Toronto Metropolitan University. This group would go on to run annually for over 10 years (continuing today), typically with wait lists as word of mouth spread through clinicians and students about the changes participants were experiencing. We chose to collect some data, tracking changes in scores on measures of depression, anxiety, and emotion regulation over the course of each group. What we learned was that group members tended to experience significant reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety over the course of the group, while improving their scores on measure of emotion regulation. We also heard from group members themselves who shared with us their experiences – one of the ones that still lingers in my mind came from our very first group where a young woman with serious social anxiety shared the following:
“Before group, I walked around campus knowing that everyone was judging me and I thought that was true of other group members too. Now I know that everyone has a story, just like me, and I feel compassion for them. ‘It’s like this group teaches empathy.’”
In 2019, we decided it was time to begin to share what we were learning. We wrote a brief and informal “manual”, published a paper, and developed a four-day training institute to help teach other therapists how to run this group. Shortly afterwards, we expanded the group out of the university, offering it through my practice, Transforming Emotions, here in Toronto. To this day, EFT groups are one of the highlights of my clinical practice. I can’t tell you how often the hairs on my arms stand on end as I witness the healing that can follow the sequence of vulnerability, followed by genuine acceptance and compassion from peers, followed by making meaning of these new experiences. It is a privilege to witness each and every time, and it continues to inspire my love for therapy and healing.
Are you a therapist interested in learning our Emotion-Focused Group Therapy model?
We think this model is great for therapists interested in providing any evocative experiential individual therapy (e.g. AEDP, IFS, EFT, EFIT) in a group setting. To learn more, click here: https://www.transformingemotions.ca/eft-group-training
Are you looking to participate in Emotion-Focused Group Therapy?
Head to our contact page and let us know that you are interested in our EFT Group. One of our team members will reach out with information about our next group cycle!
