Group Counseling
Fall 2021 Groups
We offer a diverse variety of therapy and support groups to meet your needs. All of our groups are led by experienced counselors. By participating in group counseling you may benefit from the mutual support and feedback you get from meeting with a small group of individuals who have similar concerns. Group counseling also provides the opportunity to practice new behaviors and assert yourself in ways that might not be possible in individual counseling. In fact, most research has shown group counseling to be equal to or more effective to individual treatment.
Please call the Counseling Center for more information about any of our group offerings and/or to schedule a pre-group consultation for a group you're interested in. You may also complete the group interest form(opens in new window) if you would like to be contacted about joining a group.
Counseling Center
530-898-6345
Located in the Student Services Center office 430
Coping with Minority Stress
Facilitators: Essie Marchiano, LMFT
Day/Time: Mondays 1-2:30pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
We live in interesting times and living as a minority isn’t easy. Coping with minority stress is a group for addressing issues like experiences of personal prejudice, navigating the minefield that is the evening news, and building supportive relationships with others who have similar if not shared experiences. This group is intended to be intersectional and inclusive in supporting minority students who want a place where their voice can be heard, and they don’t feel as alone.
Making Peace with Food & Body
Facilitators: Melissa Harter, LCSW
Day/Time: Wednesdays 3-4:30pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
This group is designed to support students who experience challenges with food and/or body image issues. If you have ever blamed your body for not being “good enough”, if you have ever found yourself obsessing about your weight, food, or exercise this group will help you explore your relationship to food and your body. You will also learn skills and strategies start to making peace with yourself, your body, and food.
Journey to Healing
Facilitator: Roxy Eberhardt, LMFT
Day/Time: Wednesdays 3-4:50pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
This process group is designed to empower female-identified sexual assault survivors. This confidential group will enhance your resiliency and regain your sense of self through shared experiences with other group members along this healing journey.
Anxiety & Stress Reduction
Facilitators: Stephanie Chervinko, PhD & Shannon Slemrod, LPCC
Day/Time: Wednesdays 3-4:30pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
Feeling stressed, overwhelmed and anxious? Join the club, or in this case, group! This group is for students who want to feel better and gain positive momentum to ride this current stressful wave of life. Students will learn coping skills and tools to reduce stress and anxiety, have opportunities to connect with other students, and will be taught mindfulness, self-care, and self-compassion techniques.
Manage Your Moods: A Bipolar Support Group
Facilitator: Lana McKnight, PhD
Day/Time: Wednesdays 4-6pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
This is a group for students diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Learn personal strategies that will help with everyday living and add to your success in a college environment.
Immigration Journey
Facilitator: Tao Xiong-Thao, LCSW
Day/Time: Thursdays 2-4pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
This group is design to provide support to students struggling with personal and/or family related immigration issues. The goal of this group it to provide students with a confidential space to share their story, experiences, challenges, and successes with one another.
Ecotherapy Group
Facilitators: Angie Hensley, LMFT & Melissa Harter, LCSW
Day/Time: Fridays 10-11:30am, 10/1-12/3
Location: Eco Reserve about 2o minutes from campus
This group will meet IN PERSON, on the Eco reserve 20 mins from campus, to explore our understanding of self and of others through our connection with nature.
Gender ID
Facilitator: Essie Marchiano, LMFT
Day/Time: Fridays 1-2:30pm, start date 9/10/2021
Location: Via Zoom
Gender is complicated and confusing but luckily, we aren’t alone. Gender ID is a group for exploring your gender identity, finding support with fellow gender travelers, and seeking out what’s true for you. We aim to support each other, build each other up, and commiserate when times are hard for us in this world. This is a group for people who believe that gender isn’t and has never been a binary and that chromosomes don’t define who we are. Welcome <3
Anxiety & Stress Reduction (Closed for FA 2021)
Facilitator: Tara Donnell, LMFT
Day/Time: Fridays 2-3:30pm, start date 9/24/2021
Location: Via Zoom
Feeling stressed, overwhelmed and anxious? Join the club, or in this case, group! This group is for students who want to feel better and gain positive momentum to ride this current stressful wave of life. Students will learn coping skills and tools to reduce stress and anxiety, have opportunities to connect with other students, and will be taught mindfulness, self-care, and self-compassion techniques.
Queer Enough?
Facilitator: Lana McKnight, PhD
Day/Time: Fridays 3-4:30pm, start date TBD
Location: Via Zoom
Queer Enough? is a group designed to provide a safe space for LGBTQIA+ identified students to get support around the unique experiences related to being a member of the Queer community. The group welcomes students at all levels of sexual and/or gender identity development, and group discussion is driven by the priorities and needs of its members.
Peer Lead Groups
Creative Writing
Facilitators: Celeste Tomasulo
Day/Time: Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm starting 9/16/2021
Location: Via Zoom
Creative writing is immensely beneficial in the fact that it allows people to gain perspective about themselves and is a safe space to write down and process emotions. Through narrative techniques, writing can bring strength and healing by addressing trauma or emotional barriers. Writing also acts as a healthy and productive cathartic release. It helps you to tap into your authenticity and allow for vulnerabilities to be brought into view. Emotional healing can begin to take place when these vulnerabilities and overwhelming emotions are brought out into the open and faced head on. The purpose of this workshop is to help you dive into a deeper level of perspective through emotional exploration, and enhance your emotional wellbeing through cathartic prompts and activities.
Grad Student Support Group
Facilitators: Celeste Tomasulo & Danie O'Donnell
Day/Time: Thursdays 3:30-4:30pm starting 9/16/2021
Location: Via Zoom
Are you looking for a little extra support this semester with school, personal, or other areas of your life? Peer coaches working with Angie Hensely, MFT, of the WellCat Counseling Center are excited to announce the grad student support group. This group is peer-led and is available to any and all graduate students looking for community and support. Join us on campus as we navigate various topics, help with accessing resources, and provide peer connection in a relaxed and supportive setting.
Thrive Workshop
Facilitators: Celeste Tomasulo & Angie Hensley, LMFT
Day/Time: TBD
Location: TBD
Inspired by the Wildcats Thrive Initiative, we are hosting monthly holistic wellbeing workshops for students, faculty and staff. We offer tools and resources for cultivating health, resilience and community. Each month focuses on a specific dimension of wellbeing: Emotional, Environmental, Financial, Intellectual, Physical, Relational, Spiritual, and Vocational. This workshop takes a dive into each aspect of holistic wellness and includes teachings, activities, and resources for enhancing and maintaining areas of your own wellbeing.
Yoga for Psychological Flexibility
Facilitator: Danie O’Donnel
Day/Time: TBD
Location: TBD (in person/on campus)
Come join in a group exploration of what it means to be psychologically flexible through a weekly yoga practice. We will do gentle yoga, journal, and have space to share and form community. As students we hold many roles. Together we can work toward balancing our lives, exploring our passions, and achieving our goals. No experience necessary and all are welcome to join.
Identity, Understanding & Action
Facilitator: Nhoua Xiong
Day/Time: Tuesdays 5-7pm
H.A.T. (Healing After Trauma)
A self-care group dedicated to providing a space to support students' hollistic wellbeing using the six domains of self-care, adapted from Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization by Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff.
If you are interestedin joining the group please email safeplace@csuchico.edu