Who is this for?

This T-group is designed specifically for pre-licensed clinicians of all kinds (MFT, LCSW, PsyD, LPCC, PhD) who are already working with clients in practicum, internship or a post-doc. Since this point in training is usually very taxing, with long days, hard work, little pay and scarce recognition, it is a time where many need support and crave like-minded community, as well as additional training. Since this group is for clinicians it also means that a certain baseline of psychological mindedness, psychological interest and skill will be present in the group.

What is a t-group?

“T-group” stands for Training Group or Sensitivity Training Group. It is a group process model, where members are engaged in their own personal growth by processing personal and emotional material with others in the group. A T-group is guided by a few important principles:

• It is a closed group that meets at a regular ongoing time with a facilitator present.

• Group members share about the impact other individuals in the group have on them. There is emphasis on expressing feelings both honestly, compassionately and with integrity. Sharing feedback, emotions, projections and challenges between group members is the heart of the process, where members are supported by the facilitator and the group to work through friction points, pain, shame and other complicated feelings that may arise.

• Group members work to stay in the present moment experience.

• Processing in the group is not about maintaining group harmony, but intended to further each member’s own personal growth and aim to work through unresolved relational patterns in a supportive environment.

There are many benefits to being a group member:

• Group members have a unique opportunity to uncover parts of themselves that are often hidden in relationships. Anger, jealousy, fear, love, admiration, pain and other emotions can be present and yet under the surface in many of our relationships. Many of these feelings were present when we were young and developing our relational models, but these feelings were not able to be spoken or shared about in our families and therefore went underground in our psyches.

• Receiving feedback about how we come across to others gives us a huge opportunity to explore, process and integrate parts of ourselves that have been hidden or split off from our awareness.

• Group members also often use the group to share personal challenges (not just interpersonal) and get support and acknowledgement from other group members.

There are also many invaluable skills honed (especially for clinicians):

• Communicating honestly and with compassion

• Maintaining the ability to think and not collapse while experiencing strong emotions or while confronted with someone else’s

• Sharing feelings that are often not spoken

• Taking risks

• Exploring one’s own tendencies to project and stereotype

• Self-regulation

• Working on either containing more or coming forward more

• Learning about the psychology of group dynamics

practicalities

location

All meetings will take place at 444 34th St. Oakland. Located in the Pill Hill neighborhood of Oakland, with ample parking and a 14 minute walk to MacArthur BART.

day/time

Thursdays, 7:00-8:30pm, starting in February 2020.

cost

$50 per person, per session.

comittment

The group requires a weekly commitment and is a closed format, meaning that people will not be coming and going. It will be a set group of no more than 10 people. There will be some breaks for holidays and vacations.

Contact jessica@jessicabrowntherapy.com