for Group Facilitators, Therapists & Coaches

This is an Ongoing Online Group

Every other Wednesday 1:30 - 3pm - $75 a group

There is no better way to learn about group dynamics than to become a group member yourself. Over the last 30 years I have participated as a group member in a variety of process and training groups. Over the last ten years I have facilitated process groups, DBT groups, community support groups, consult/ supervision groups and trainings for group facilitators. One of the things I have witnessed from being a member in long term process groups is how people evolve in real time through relationship. As a facilitator I have found that the experiences I had as a group member invaluable for improvising and understanding how things ebb and flow overtime in groups and with clients in general.

There are many differences between short term training groups and longterm training groups. Both have value. And longterm intimacy is very different from short term encounters. In the short term groups there is an exhilaration of coming together, sort like dating in the first few months, intense feelings dramatic interchanges and notable silences. In a longterm group, that all exists, but over time the fluctuation of moods, relational configurations and membership all shift in unpredictable and  nuanced ways, more like a family where you might find your feelings shifting alliances depending on the situation and who is involved. The pace of these shifts, the feelings and dynamics that arise, can have a slowness that can sometimes feel tedious, certainly uncertain and sometimes change into something unexpected in less than a second. This stirs up tensions, like doubt and trepidation in facilitators (and the group members too) and if weathered can be fruitful.

Participating in this group will help you acclimate, tolerate and put language to the roller coaster of experiences that come up when facilitating long term or short term groups. Being a group leader is a vulnerable position and it can feel lonely at the helm, being a group member helps bridge that gap and allows you to experience group dynamics without the duties and responsibility of being a facilitator. 

In this training group learning occurs through readings and process. Each month we will explore a group dynamic concept and experiment with how that comes up in the process of the group itself. Presenting any theme, story, feeling, thought, norm… in a group has an influence on the group. Witnessing how that is taken up or ignored by the group, and the themes that arise unprompted is a way to study group dynamics.

In an ongoing group members come and go and intimacy builds up over time with those who stay. The group develops it own particular culture that takes on a life its own even when the original members have moved on.

Experiencing a group evolve overtime is magical experience. In the beginning it may seem that connections are fragile, there is a sense everything will fall apart, fears of rejection and abandonment, that no one will show up.

There are a lot feelings that can get stirred up in facilitators like shame, failure and a sense of ineffectiveness. And by consistently showing up to hold space for the group overtime it begins to gel.

If you continue to show up no matter what happens, continue to market your group while engaging in reflective contemplation around group dynamics something will happen. 

Organizing a training group around this process can help you form groups of your own. This experiential process of learning the language and getting a visceral feel for group dynamics in an ongoing group will benefit facilitators of both long term groups and short term groups.

We will address how groups form around content, view the group as a whole organism, bring awareness to the conscious and and unconscious motivations and resistances that can arise in all members including the facilitator, and many more topics ….. 

As a training group we will explore and experiment with group dynamics through reading what’s been written about groups and growing an awareness of the ongoing group dynamics in the training group itself.

While I encourage members to try out the group for 6 months it is not required, you may join or quit at anytime. Feel free to drop in for a few months and rejoin later to see how things are emerging. Joining at the beginning of this group will provide an opportunity to get a real time feel for how a group forms and evolves over time.