Here at Melbourne Wellbeing Group, we of course offer therapy in the one on one space, and for our clients this is a highly effective therapeutic process. However, there are many other ways to access therapy, and an additional option we offer here is group therapy. If you are interested to read about how group therapy works, here is a blog written by Dr Victoria Miller - Associate Director and Clinical Psychologist here at MWG: https://www.melbournewellbeinggroup.com.au/the-wellbeing-blog/group-therapy
A new and exciting group therapy program starting here at Melbourne Wellbeing Group has been developed for adults who experience Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviours (or BFRBs). I wrote a blog post explaining what BFRBs are back in July (https://www.melbournewellbeinggroup.com.au/the-wellbeing-blog/what-are-body-focused-repetitive-behaviours) if you would like to know a bit more, however for those of you who experience a BFRB, you are probably familiar with what they are!
We know, from extensive research, that group therapy has a huge range of benefits. In this blog I want to talk in particular to the benefits of group therapy if you live life with a BFRB.
Firstly, the group will include lots of opportunities for learning about BFRBs, how they may develop and are maintained, what treatment looks like, skill development for reducing BFRBs, and the opportunity to practice these newly learnt skills. The difference between group and one on one therapy is that group therapy has the added bonus of hearing the other group member’s reflections and thoughts, which can also contribute to greater learning.
In addition to this, and arguably the most powerful part of group therapy, is the connection one can make with the other group members. In the context of BFRBs, we know that they can bring up feelings of shame, loneliness, hopelessness, and helplessness. We have purposely named the group ‘Shoo the Shame’ for this reason. As American professor Brene Brown says, “If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive”. This is really at the crux of what group can offer - the opportunity to meet others who are going through very similar things, who will really be able to understand and empathise what you are going through. Once we can start to break down the shame, we can start to work towards achieving the desired goal of reducing the BFRB.
If this is sounding like something you or somebody you know may benefit from, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team on (03) 9882 8874 or email admin@melbournewellbeinggroup.com.au. Our next group is scheduled to start on Monday 17th October.
This blog was written and prepared by Hannah Gersh – Psychologist at Melbourne Wellbeing Group.