Location:
Building 27,
Room 136

Hours:
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.,
Monday through
Friday

Phone:
(805) 756-2511

Group Schedule

Counseling Services: Why Groups Can be Helpful 

Counseling Services has a thriving group program. Why groups? Don’t students prefer being seen one-on-one? 

• Most students have relational issues: conflict with parents, a recent break-up, loneliness, social anxiety, issues of sexual identity. Group counseling gives students an opportunity to get feedback and practice new relational skills in a safe environment. In fact, group counseling can be more effective than individual counseling for many of our clients.
• Whether it’s a history of abuse, a serious drug or alcohol problem, or a traumatic event, it is very powerful to know you are not alone. Talking with peers helps us to know that others share similar concerns. We also learn that our peers can empathize, even with our most painful feelings, and this alone, can lead to a sense of relief, connection, and validation.
• Peer feedback is sometimes more relevant to a student and easier to hear than the same thing said by a therapist or parental figure. We find that students can be very caring, but also very direct in their feedback. In fact, learning to give feedback respectfully and compassionately is another benefit of group counseling. 

• Giving to others, in the form of listening, caring, and feedback may be helpful in fostering a student’s own healing. We all know how wonderful it feels to help someone else.

INSCAPES:    A Seminar for Self Discovery and Connecting With Others.