PRESENT MOMENT PROCESS

In this inaugural episode, Chris and Sarah talk about the first process groups they were members of, and how that experience inspired them to start running groups of their own. Listen here.

In this episode we provide some background on the Asheville Group Psychotherapy Society and why we started this podcast. On the heels of another weekend training intensive through the Center for Group Studies, we talk about CGS and why we love it so much. We discuss the very powerful fear of hurting other people's feelings and how that keeps us quiet in group, along with the common aversion to "taking up space." Lastly, we reflect on our experience of hosting a free three-session process group and the important role that bridging plays in connecting group members. Listen here.

In this episode we discuss the difference (?) between feelings and emotions, and how a good portion of the feelings wheel (which Sarah owns in pillow form) consists of neither and is therefore not terribly helpful. So much of the work we do in process groups is about identifying feelings in the moment, and there tends to be some confusion around what actually IS a feeling. Join us as we discuss what people might actually mean when they say they "feel judged," for instance, and why it's so important to get precise, while also keeping things simple, when naming the emotional aspects of our experience. Listen here.

In this episode, we prepare for an experiential webinar we were planning to offer to Asheville therapists and then never did, due to lack of sufficient interest, even though the webinar was free. But at least we got a podcast episode out of it! We explore how being a member of an ongoing process group is beneficial for therapists and also outline some of the theory informing process-group leadership, as well as the techniques that we find especially exciting. Listen here.

This episode begins with "I don't know" and eventually finds us exploring enactments, inducements, the unconscious mind, why it’s good to be in group long term (we need repetition!), and why consistent attendance is so important. We also spend some time discussing narcissism (comparing the modern-analytic definition of that term to the one that's more demonized by popular psychology), and intrapersonal versus interpersonal feelings. We end by reflecting on some great quotes by May Sarton and Bruce Tift. Listen here.