Why a group? Great question! Sometimes in your life, you must have been debating about whether to join a group (weight loss, class, trips, etc.) and immediately you have the following concerns: What if the people there are not nice? What if I was not treated well? Maybe I will not feel comfortable there? Is the instructor professional or pleasant? Again I have to tell about myself to strangers? What will they ask me to do there?
So first let me tell you that you are completely normal. No one comes to a new group without fear and wonder. These fears are important and protect us, they sharpen our senses and allow us to feel safe. Sometimes when we establish trust and confidence in a group we can separate from them, Open up and benefit and enjoy.
We belong to groups from the moment we are born, the family, groups of friends, work groups, tour groups and more. In moments of crisis and difficulty, a group is a place that enables us to receive support, listening, acceptance and mainly help.
What makes us join a group? The need for belonging, the desire to expand relationships in our lives, acceptance of love and support, the desire to learn more about ourselves and our relationships in life, the need for personal growth and change, improving perceptions and skills, searching for a place that will provide us with knowledge and understanding. But why join a group? a one-on-one treatment provide the same answer for our needs.
Irwin D. Yalom, an American Jewish writer and psychiatrist, is well known for his contribution to the study and understanding of group therapy and its benefits. "Group therapy is as beneficial as individual therapy, and in some cases even more so when social support and learning about interpersonal relationships are important goals … The group is like a social laboratory, in which the participant acquires skills to create meaningful and satisfying relationships in his or her life. "
The group facilitator enables a supportive and safe working environment, serves as a mirror to the participants, and brings his knowledge and experience to the extent necessary to help the group progress towards the goal for which it was established.
Throughout my life I have learned various approaches and methods used to facilitate groups. In the groups that I facilitate, I use a variety of methods, in order to enable everyone in the group to choose a method that suits them and to use them. The variety of tools in the group enables them to experience a range of feelings and thoughts that intensify the experience and deepen the work. Most of all, I believe that learning comes through the experience and I personally learn and develop through humor and pleasure.
The work itself, in fact, is carried out by the participants in the group, who through the relationships that are woven between them here and now receive the opportunity to get to know themselves better and to help each other make a difference in their lives. "The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts" and you are welcome to join a group and discover it yourself.