Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which therapists treat a small group of clients together depending on their mental health symptoms. Most groups are offered in 6 or 8 week sessions. 

 

Types of Group Therapy:

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• Psychological Skills Training/Mental Skills Training groups: Psychological skills training (PST) or MST refers to the systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills to enhance performance, increase enjoyment, or achieve greater sport and physical activity self-satisfaction (Weinberg & Gould, 1996). PST/ MST involves training athletes or other disciplines to learn skills (e.g., relaxation skills, imagery, self-talk, goal setting, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance) to help regulate their psychological state (e.g., feelings of confidence) to enhance performance outcomes. This group offers PST/MST coupled with cognitive-behavioral techniques to help reduce performance anxiety and the ability to perform at a peak level.

• Emotional Regulation Skills (ER): ER is the ability to recognize how our mood, emotions, and general affect influence every aspect of our behavior during competition or practice. Effectively managing emotions is critical for every discipline, and this group is designed to help utilize strategies to initiate, maintain, modify, or display emotions (Gross & Thompson, 2007). Further, the emotion regulation group helps us reframe our thinking, which will change the toxic emotional reaction response (avoidance or confrontation) and physiological responses such as non-verbal or breathing patterns).

• Distress Tolerance Skills (DTS): Individuals can become overwhelmed by stressful situations which in turns result in unhealthy or even destructive behaviors. These stresses can range from minor annoyances to major life events such as a job loss, divorce, or trauma. Whether the stress is large or small, this group is designed to help individuals effectively manage distress, handle difficult emotions, or perceived emotional distress in a healthy way the situation. 

• Cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT): enables individuals to correctly identify and change inaccurate or distorted thinking patterns, emotional responses, and behaviors. CBT further helps individuals understand how toxic thoughts can affect how we feel, which influences our feelings, behaviors, choices, and ultimately outcomes. Individuals will learn to alter unhealthy toxic thoughts to improve their mood, self-concept, behavior, and overall physical state. 

• Managing Stress and Anxiety: Stress is your body’s reaction to challenges or demands placed on yourself or by others. In some ways, stress can be normal and helpful when avoiding danger or planning events. It stems from any event or thought that causes frustration, anger, or nervousness. However, it may harm your health over time, as the body is not designed to be in a stressful state for long periods. Anxiety is a normal stress reaction and can often be beneficial in alerting us to dangerous situations. However, anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or anxiousness and involve excessive fear, the most common form of mental disorder.

• Managing Depression: Depression is a common but serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, thinks, and behave. Depression can cause feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, leading to a variety of emotional and physical problems. This group is designed to help recognize signs of depression and focuses on the three channels of how depression/distress can be experienced.

• Detox Your Thoughts: Negative or toxic thinking can keep individuals in a stronghold which can lead to emotional addiction. This groups helps you to understand the biology behind our thinking and teach various techniques such as mindfulness, relaxation, cognitive reframing, imagery, and positive self-talk to help detox your thinking.

• Anger Management: Anger is a normal reaction and feeling that happens when you are frustrated, traumatized, hurt, annoyed, or disappointed. This anger management groups offers various approaches to recognizing signs of and different techniques to control and manage your anger in a productive way. 

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