SZN 2. Ep. 6/ Group Therapy

Oct 8

Maggie Dix, MSW, LSW of Jessica Sweet Therapy Services in Schaumburg, IL discusses group therapy.

Maggie Dix is a Licensed Social Worker, and serves as Team Lead of Group Therapy at Jessica Sweet Therapy in Schaumburg, Chicago, and online. She is certified in Military Social Work, is a Level One Trained Gottman Couples Therapist, and was trained in LGBTQ Affirmative CBT by The Yale School of Public Health. Maggie's interview about accessing virtual resources for substance use recovery, with local National Public Radio station WBEZ can be found here: https://www.wbez.org/stories/struggling-with-addiction-during-covid-19-youre-not-alone/cb51be31-9f73-42dc-90b2-78f5278d2b55

Group Therapy

By: Maggie Dix, Msw, LSW

Here's What Groups Do:

They banish stigma.

They help people see they’re not the only one, and they think, "if all of these other people can be perfectly nice people and have this disorder, then maybe it’s okay that I have this disorder."

They allow people to give encouragement and get encouragement, and both are equally healing.

They provide a sense of belonging, or "cohesion." That thing of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

I personally, loved being in groups so much, and got better so fast when I was in a group, I decided I wanted to become a group therapist. First, I had to do some additional kinds of healing, and then at age 42 I started a masters of social work program, and graduated at age 44.

The Power of Groups

Groups are one answer to the mental health crisis because:

They are highly effective, especially groups where the it's been shown through research, that the specific group therapy is effective for the disorder the group is for.

They are inexpensive, some people’s copay for a group is between zero dollars and $30 per week, or if you’re paying out of pocket, between $25-$50 (some are higher, I’ve seen $65 per week)

But that's much less than one-on-one therapy, which can cost $130 or more, per week.

So, if you’re on a waiting list for one-on-one therapy, sometimes you can get in to a group within a few weeks, and get started on recovery while you’re waiting for a one-on-one therapist.

Last, given how many people need mental health services, group therapy is efficient. What I mean by that is, a one-on-one therapist can help 1 person per hour, while a group therapist can help 10 people per hour. A one-on-one therapist can help 25 people per week, a group therapist can help 150+ people per week.

Where I work at Jessica Sweet Therapy Services in Schaumburg, Chicago and online, we offer the following groups:

We offer 4 Hybrid Groups For Illinois Adults

LGBTQ+ Affirming CBT
Neurodivergents United
Anxiety Management for adults
Substance Abuse Recovery Treatment: From Different Angles

We offer 3 In Person Groups for Anxiety:

Kids age 5-7
Tweens age 8-13
Teens age 14-17

Here are two more groups, where we are "gathering interest" meaning we have started a l,ist of people who may be interested but haven't started running the group yet:

Support group for healthcare professionals using the Unified Protocol for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders.
Group therapy for older adult trans women and non-binary people, using WRAP (Wellness Action Recovery Plan)

If some readers want to check out what therapy groups are available, they can go to www.sweetjtherapy.com or call 847-701-4191

Or go to www.psychologytoday.com

The “Find a Therapist” button is a drop down menu
Click the drop down menu, the menu will say “Therapists, Psychiatrists, Treatment Centers, Support Groups.”
Click Support Groups, then enter ZIP code

When I did a search just for Schaumburg, I found 20 groups: