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Counseling & Psychological Services
Groups & Outreach
Group Psychotherapy
CAPS staff offers free confidential group psychotherapy to students who desire it. Group can function either instead of individual psychotherapy or as a useful supplement to it.
Notably, in order to ensure confidentiality groups are limited to 8 students each. Once these spaces fill up we will put students names on a waiting list. If enough students are interested we will open up additional groups.
Group psychotherapy functions differently than our personal counseling services. In group, students work not only with an individual therapist but also the other group members to address the issues that are bothering them. They talk openly about the issues pertaining to the group (i.e. social anxiety, or feelings about relating to other people), soliciting feedback, support, and encouragement from not only the therapist but the other members. Through validating their experiences as well as other group members, students gain opportunities to practice different ways of behaving and develop new capacities to relate. In this respect, group has the potential to be powerfully transformative and therapeutic.
Prior to joining a group, students are required to attend an individual screening interview to ensure they are a good fit for the group.
Ongoing sessions beyond the dates listed will depend on student interest and will continue to be free of charge.
Fall 2020 Groups
Groups are contingent upon interest. Sign-up required. Interested students should contact Philip Rosenbaum (prosenba@haverford.edu) or Jon Krigel (jkrigel@haverford.edu) with questions, to learn more about these groups, or to schedule a brief group intake.
Note: All group meeting times will be determined.
Therapy Groups
For the past few years CAPS has provided therapy groups on a wide range of topics, including those that have focused on connecting and relating, living with anxiety, and social skills; as well as groups geared toward welcoming specific communities, such as LGBTQIA+, Women*s (non-binary and female-identified), and FGLI students (First-Generation, Low-Income).
As therapy groups, these confidential sessions have prioritized emotional expression, deriving shared meaning, giving feedback, and depth. Semester-long commitments are requested to ensure a sense of trust and reliability. Out-of-group socialization is discouraged to protect confidentiality and to imbue a sense that what is said in the therapy room stays in the room.
CAPS will continue to offer these groups remotely. Although the experience of the shared physical space is lost, our goal is that members, along with the help of CAPS facilitators, will still join a shared emotional space that can provide meaningful change and interpersonal warmth.
Current Therapy Groups
- Living with Anxiety
- Connecting & Relating
- LGBTQ+
- FGLI Students (first-generation, low-income)
- Coping with Grief
Social Support Groups
In an effort to minimize the presence of COVID on campus and to prioritize the health of students, the school has implemented many social restrictions that may feel encumbering and isolating to some students. At CAPS, we are responding to our expectation that there will be an increased need for social contact and emotional support by offering Social Support Groups.
These will differ from our therapy groups, in that there will be fewer traditional therapy-oriented restrictions asked of members. Friends will be permitted to inhabit the same space, regular attendance will be less emphasized, and members can use the meetings as a step toward making new friends outside of the group.
In these support groups, CAPS leaders will actively operate as facilitators of meaningful conversation while cultivating a helpful supportive framework.
Importantly, these groups are not simply “hangouts.” Some important tenets of group therapy will be emphasized by group leaders and experienced by participants, such as: self expression, altruism, imparting and sharing of information, and instillation of hope.
All interested members of the Haverford student community are welcome to join these social support groups at any point in the year.
Current Support Groups (all are drop-in)
- Social Support Group
- Social Isolation Group
- Student Leaders Group
- Athlete Support Group