Group Counseling: One Tool for Helping Students Succeed

College is an inherently stressful time that places heavy emotional and intellectual demands on its students. Kennesaw State University understands this and provides a wide range of services aimed to support your student. Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) is one of the largest student support offices on campus and its mission is to facilitate student development and achievement, and assist in alleviating any barriers to academic or personal success. Counseling and Psychological Services is staffed by licensed psychologists, licensed professional counselors, post-doctoral residents, and graduate student trainees who provide psychoeducational outreach to the campus as well as a wide range of counseling services. One of the key ways that CPS seeks to assist students is through its group counseling program. Participation in a group can provide your student with a unique opportunity to learn and grow with their peers.

At CPS, we provide three types of groups. First, we offer groups whose primary purpose is to provide information about specific topics; for example, reducing test anxiety. Second, we offer groups that focus on assisting individuals with specific issues, such as sexual orientation, building healthy relationships, and increasing self-esteem. Lastly, we offer general groups that allow students with a variety of concerns to garner support and learn better ways of managing their life and relationships.

In my work with students, I find that there are a lot of misconceptions about group counseling that results in students being hesitant to participate. The primary misconception is that group counseling is not as helpful as individual counseling. There is substantial research that suggests that group is equally or more effective than individual counseling for most problems, and especially the types of problems most commonly reported at CPS (e.g., depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and relationship concerns). Another misconception is that talking with a group of peers will be scarier than talking with a single professional. In my experience, students become comfortable in groups very quickly, usually sooner than they expect, and find it to be a very rewarding experience. The bottom line is, groups are tremendously helpful for the vast majority of students and concerns, and they offer things that individual counseling cannot, such as being a part of supportive group of peers, realizing that everyone has problems, reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation, and providing the opportunity to not only grow but to contribute to the growth of others.

Ultimately, we know that parents do not send their students to KSU solely for academic knowledge; rather, the goal is that students will gain both the personal and intellectual resources they need to be personally and professionally successful. Groups are one tool that can assist students in being their best. To learn more about the groups offered at CPS, please visit our website or give us a call.

Here's to a great spring semester,

Josh Gunn, PhD

Assistant Director, Counseling and Psychological Services
jgunn6@kennesaw.edu
(770) 423-6600
Student Services website