By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

Group therapy can be very helpful.

The group really helped me, sharing made me a new person. The client was trying to describe the way that being in group counseling had benefited them. I am a believer in group therapy. I have seen the things that happen when a group is on task and working. The clients can see it also.

There is a saying in groups that “we are only as sick as our secrets.” One powerful way in which groups can help people is to allow them to tell their stories in a supportive environment.  When it works it can be magic.

Twelve-step groups are self-help group’s not professional therapy. But in the addiction field, we quickly learned the value of being in a group that understood what you are going through and who were all supportive of your recovery. In mental health groups, we see the same results. People all sharing about their life struggles makes us feel more connected and less alone. Powerful things happen in peer support groups.

Some professionals are leery of groups. They have suggested to me that group counseling is a lesser sort. They tell me that “real therapy” takes place with one client and one therapist in the room. I try to avoid arguing. Then why do we do couples counseling and family counseling if it is best done in an individual session I ask? I try to listen politely to their answers.

Most of life is about relationships. We are wounded in our relationships and most often we are healed by a helping, supportive relationship. Sometimes that relationship is a counselor, sometimes it is a group.

Not all groups are safe places to tell your most painful life events. In therapy groups, it is up to the leader to make groups a safe place. In self-help groups, it can be riskier. We talk about confidentiality and anonymity but that is no guarantee that someone will not break the rules and repeat what another person said. The longer the group has been together the safer people feel but it is never without risks.

What I often see happen is that people try to keep things secret in group, that everyone else in the group knew already. When someone is arrested for a DUI it is in the paper but when they come to a group, they hint vaguely about a self-control problem and demand confidentiality.

More than once a client has told me something in a private session and then a few weeks later their courage now turned up a notch, they tell the whole group. In almost every case the result was that the group understood and supported them in their disclosure and the person, now having publicly admitted their defects of character, finds they have unburdened themselves and are no longer kept in pain by that secret.

Some of us have spent our whole life’s trying to hide our true selves from others. There is something very freeing about opening up and sharing about our total selves, warts and all. People who have to hide themselves from others not only cover up their flaws, they cover up their endearing qualities also.

Sharing who you really are can indeed make you a whole new person.

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

Want the latest blog posts as they publish? Subscribe to this blog.

For videos, see: Counselorssoapbox YouTube Video Channel