• To improve unsatisfying, frustrating, or disappointing relationships
• To find support
• To increase self-awareness
• To enhance self-esteem and mastery
• To enhance social and intimacy skills
• To increase self-awareness
• To decrease loneliness and isolation
• To learn to deal with losses more effectively
• To diminish feelings of helplessness
• To resolve feelings of shame
• To experiment with changing the behaviors that get in your way
• To instill hope
• To get multiple perspectives
• To have an opportunity to help others, who in turn help you
• To discover that you aren’t the only one who … (fill in your issue here)

Our groups are intended for students who want to change something about their lives. They offer an opportunity to explore important personal issues within an environment that is safe, supportive, and focused on shared concerns. Most groups meet for 1-1.5 hours, last the entire semester, and have about eight members. Some groups emphasize skill building and information sharing. Other groups offer you insight into your usual patterns of relating to others. Group counseling is a very effective way to learn about yourself and how others experience you. Unlike individual counseling where you get input from only one person, in group counseling you have the opportunity to ask for and to share genuine, immediate feedback from other students, as well as from counselors. In the supportive atmosphere of the group, you might also want to experiment with new, more rewarding ways of relating to people. The interactions and relationships with other group members are what make group counseling work. Group facilitators are professionally trained to provide a safe environment in which to explore relationship and other personal issues. Group members have told us that they have felt safe to talk in group about things that they had not told even their closest friends.

Confidentiality  is essential to the group process. Your right to privacy is respected. NO OTHER PART OF THE UNIVERSITY HAS ACCESS TO OUR RECORDS, and counselors are ethically bound to respect students’ confidentiality. We ask group members to promise to not reveal others’ names or what they discuss to anyone outside of the group.

Groups For Fall 2008

At this time we are in the process of setting up groups for the Fall semester. Some of the groups under consideration are Interpersonal Issues Therapy Group, Women’s Experiences Group, and Grief Group. Please check back as we will post the dates, times, and places for these groups when they are finalized.  

The following group is set to start:


Yoga and Healing For Sexual Assault Survivors
October 9,16,23, and 30
Thursdays, 12:00-1:15 p.m.
Facilitated by Cathy Connors, Psy.D. and Tamara Standard (yoga instructor)

Meetings will combine a brief yoga session followed by discussion. If you are interested, please contact Cathy Connors, at 278-3367 or connorsc@csus.edu, by 9/29/08 for a brief screening.

If you cannot make the times or dates listed, please email her your name and availability so that we can include you in future groups.

This group is sponsored by the Student Health Services, The Women’s Resource Center and Psychological Counseling Services.