Group Counseling
The University Counseling Center offers a variety of therapeutic, educational, discussion and support groups.
Group counseling provides an opportunity for small groups of students to meet and share common concerns, explore personal issues, and learn new skills under the guidance of group leaders. Group members help each other by making suggestions and giving feedback. Group members are not forced to reveal more about themselves than they feel comfortable with, but they are expected to maintain confidentiality out of mutual respect for other group members. The counselors are there to make observations from a caring, objective position. Group counselors recognize that individuals have different ways of expressing themselves and strive to create an environment that is safe, respectful and inclusive.
To inquire about available groups, call the University Counseling Center at (717) 477-1481.
Confidentiality within individual counseling is fairly straightforward. However, the responsibility for maintaining confidentiality is one that is shared among all participants in group counseling, both members and facilitator(s). In your initial meeting with a counselor to discuss the particular group you are considering joining, they will explore what confidentiality means in a group and how everyone shares in responsibility to maintain it out of respect for one another. All group members will be asked to sign a statement to pledge their commitment to confidentiality. Any questions or concerns about confidentiality can be brought up within a group meeting so that everyone can share in the responsibility of dealing with this concern.
The groups that are offered at the University Counseling Center vary in length. Some groups are considered time-limited, which means that the group members contract to meet for a given number of sessions (anywhere from 6 - 10 sessions.) Other groups are ongoing and meet all semester; most of these also continue from semester to semester during the academic year. If you join an on-going group, we ask that you make a semester commitment. We realize that sometimes circumstances come up which interfere with continuing in counseling, whether it is group counseling or individual counseling. However, we ask that you regularly attend group meetings, and if you find that you cannot come to meetings consistently, that you express your difficulties during a group meeting to determine other options.