Group Therapy & Counseling in Austin

What Is Group Therapy?

Group therapy occurs when a group of people meets with a therapist to discuss problems, process interpersonal interactions, and support one another’s emotional growth. Often, participants are encouraged to share moments of strength as well as personal challenges with other group members as a mechanism for exploration and ultimately to experience insight, group cohesiveness, and reparative experiences within the group.

Group Therapy at Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S & Associates

Group therapy at our practice is not only convenient, it’s also affordable!

Group therapy is $40-$70 per session
We offer group therapy at convenient times, including evenings and weekends

Why Should I Join Group Therapy?

Group counseling serves two purposes:

It serves as a venue to bring together multiple people who have been through similar experiences
It provides a chance to explore the dynamics of interpersonal interaction in an experiential way

Participants in group therapy have the opportunity to explore not only “who they are” but additionally “how they are”. The other members of the group can provide insight and support while reinforcing the idea that no one within the group is alone in his or her struggle.

Group therapy offers guidance alongside a sense of community that may not be present in other types of counseling. Therapy in a group also offers the same level of confidentiality and affirmation that can be found in individual counseling, but the counseling happens among other human beings with experiences that are relatable.

Phase 1: History Taking

Before beginning EMDR, your trauma therapist will get to know more about your experiences and symptoms. This step is for you to share about events in your past that may be affecting your current mindset.

Phase 2: Preparation

This stage is about ensuring your readiness for EMDR. Even though EMDR therapy for trauma is completely safe, it can be problematic for individuals who commonly experience dissociation. As a safeguard, your trauma therapist will work with you to create your own “calm place” to concentrate on if you feel distressed.

Phase 3: Assessment

It’s now time to choose a target to be reprocessed during your next few sessions. In doing so, you’ll need to identify a vivid image related to the memory, a negative cognition about yourself associated with it, and emotions and bodily sensations that accompany both. Your therapist will then have you challenge that negative cognition with a cognitive one. They will have you rate how true your positive cognition feels and how much distress the target memory causes you on a scale from 1-10.

Phase 4: Desensitization

This is where Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing comes into play. When you feel ready, your therapist will guide you to process your negative feelings and memories using bilateral eye movements to facilitate the brain’s healing process. This will help to ground you and take more directed focus on the thoughts, feelings, and images associated with your target. Every minute or so, your therapist will check in on what you’ve noticed and ask you to rate how much discomfort you’re now feeling. When you no longer report distress related to your targeted memory, you move onto the next step.

Phase 5: Installation

Next, your attention will be brought back to the positive cognition you identified earlier. Your trauma/PTSD therapist will recheck how true this belief now feels. The goal is to get this belief to feel like it’s 100 percent true.

Phase 6: Body Scan

You will now be asked to check your body for any areas of tension in your body caused by the target memory. Are your teeth clenched? Is your chest tight? Any uncomfortable physical sensations will be reprocessed using the same procedure as before until you can think of the target memory without feeling any tension.

Phase 7: Closure

At the end of every session, your trauma counselor will make sure that you are leaving feeling more relaxed than when you arrived. If you are feeling agitated, they will lead you through self-calming techniques until you regain your sense of control.

Phase 8: Reevaluation

At the beginning of each subsequent session, your therapist will ask you questions to ensure your positive beliefs have been maintained. This will also help them to identify any new problem areas that may need to be targeted.

EMDR therapy for trauma is considered a success once you are able to bring up memories of trauma without feeling the distress that brought you to therapy. Your trauma therapist will also provide you with the techniques and skills you need going forward to deal with upsetting feelings.

What Are The Benefits Of Group Therapy?

A Place To Sound Off

Saying your thoughts and problems aloud gives other group members the chance to offer a fresh perspective on your situation. Your peers may be able to see places for healing or improvement that you are unable to see currently. Opening your experience to the viewpoint of others can be a step towards life-affirming feedback.

Ongoing Motivation

The trials and successes of fellow humans are an incredible source of validation and motivation. Others can serve as a reminder that success is possible. Those participating in group therapy may be more inclined to push themselves beyond stagnation when they bond with others doing the same.

Support From Multiple People

Group therapy provides the rare opportunity to reach out to others in need and let others reach out to you. A truly cohesive group led by a talented therapist can support you in ways that few other therapeutic modalities are able.

Helping Others

Groups of people can help you learn things about yourself you may not have known before. However, In the open and honest atmosphere of group therapy, you are in a unique position to also support others, help them see their own blind spots and share your unique experiences with those who may appreciate the normalization and support surrounding their own struggles.

Social Skill Building

Group therapy sessions are the perfect place to engage with others. People who understand your conflicts can often be more open to socialization and better understand your boundaries, creating more interpersonal safety than in most other social situations.

Affordability

Group therapy can cost less than the average individual counseling therapy. If money is a barrier to addressing your mental health needs, consider the advantages of receiving therapy among others.

Psychodynamic Adult Process Groups

These are ongoing, adult process groups for individuals with different presenting concerns and backgrounds, orienting around the shared goals of deepening relationships with self and others, and using the relationships within the group for therapeutic growth and change. This group acknowledges the influence that relationships have in shaping who we are and how we are, and thus believes the possibility for deep healing and change happens within the context of the group environment.

In these groups we explore our feelings, thoughts, impulses and defenses that arise in our relationships with other group members. Carl Jung once said that “everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” In group, we seek understanding and awareness of ourselves and others. Members do this by building what we call an observing ego; a silent observer that registers our emotional state without judgment of right or wrong, sane or insane. That, in turn, allows change to occur and expands our capacity for awareness and acceptance.
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These groups benefit those who are:

Wanting understanding of themselves in relationships with others
Wanting healthier relationships in their lives
Wanting to have a deeper sense of self
Struggling with anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, trauma, and interpersonal skills

We offer a Tuesday group at our north location from 12-1:20pm, a Wednesday group at our central location from 5:15pm-6:45pm, and a hybrid online/in-person group on Thursdays from 6:00pm-7:15pm.

Tuesday and Wednesday groups are facilitated by Kalee Gower, LCSW, and Robbie Price, LPC - Senior Associate. Thursday groups are facilitated by Emily D. Harrington-Cheney, LPC, IRT, and Robbie Price, LPC. Kalee has extensive training and practice in psychodynamic group therapy. Robbie is trained and practiced in psychodynamic and interpersonal group psychotherapy. Emily has training and practice in psychodynamic and modern analytic group psychotherapy.

For more information or to schedule a group consultation, please contact Robbie Price, LPC - Senior Associate at (512) 537-8002.

Group Therapy In Austin, TX

What Is Group Therapy?

Group Therapy at Louis Laves-Webb, LCSW, LPC-S & Associates

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