Spring 2022 Group Options

CAPS groups for Spring 2022

All groups, except for Managing Your Moods and Multi-Faiths One Friendship require a pre-group appointment with the group leader. Call CAPS at (909) 537-5040 to schedule your pre-group appointment.

Groups will be offered virtually unless indicated otherwise.

If you are in need of a disability-related accommodation to participate, please contact Counseling and Psychological Services three working days in advance at (909) 537-5040 or psychcounseling@csusb.edu.

Managing Your Moods
3-Week Group -- Offered 2 times this semester!

February – Fridays – 2/11, 2/18, 2/25 – 12:30-1:30 pm
Register Here

April – Thursdays – 4/7, 4/14, 4/21 – 12-1 pm
Register Here

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your emotions? Are you finding it difficult to control feelings of stress, sadness or anger? Feelings cannot be eliminated, but this workshop series can help you learn strategies to manage overwhelming emotions. Choose the three-week sequence that works for your schedule and register above. Note: This group does not require a pre-group appointment.

Overcoming Anxiety Group

Mondays
10:30 - 11:50 a.m.

Do you find yourself constantly worrying, stressed, overwhelmed, or in a panic? You’re not alone! This group is for you to find new ways to manage anxiety (including overthinking, social anxiety, and panic attacks). Come check it out!

Depression Support: You Are Not Alone

Mondays
1:00 – 2:20 p.m.

Have you been struggling with feelings of sadness, numbness, or loss of interest in what you previously enjoyed? This group will help you recognize you're not alone, enable you to process and understand your feelings in much more depth, and provide you with the tools and resources necessary to cope and heal.

Multi-Faiths One Friendship

Six Mondays: 3/7, 3/14, 3/21, 4/4, 4/11, 4/18
4:00-5:45 p.m.
Location: SMSU South 217/218

What do other faiths and religions believe and practice? Come to this safe, respectful, interactive interfaith group to learn more about the major world religions and belief systems: Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Listen, ask questions, and dialogue with leaders of these religions/belief systems along with your peers as you grow in understanding of the belief systems that have shaped our global world.

AMAC (Adults Molested as Children) Group

Tuesdays
10:30 – 11:50 a.m.

This group provides a safe, empowering, and supportive environment for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to continue to grow along the path to increased self-empowerment. This group will decrease feelings of isolation while building collective inner strength, self-worth and healthy coping skills to thrive in life.

Graduate Student Support Group

Tuesdays
12:00 – 1:20 p.m.

Let’s face it - Graduate School can be challenging on many levels, especially now! This group is a place to share and receive support from fellow students navigating these challenges. We will explore strategies to balance academic pursuits, home life, relationships, work, and self-care. This confidential group is provided by CAPS in partnership with the Office of Graduate Studies.

Domestic Abuse Survivor Support Group

Tuesdays
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.

This group provides a safe and supportive environment, for survivors, supporters, or witnesses of any form of interpersonal violence to come together and build self-empowerment while learning healthy coping skills. To sign up for this group, email the Campus Survivor Advocate: Cortni.Alexander@csusb.edu

Note: if you need individual support, please call CAPS for an individual appointment or see the Advocacy Services Resource page for additional resources.

Building Resilience After Trauma

Tuesdays
4:00-5:30 pm

If you have experienced or witnessed a life-threatening situation, you may still find yourself struggling in many ways. You may have difficulty moving on with your life – regardless of whether it happened years ago or even in the past year. Join this interactive, safe, and supportive group to engage in evidence-based practices to heal, build resilience, and work through the traumas that keep you from living your full potential.

LGBTQ+ Group

Wednesdays
10:30 - 11:50 a.m.

This group provides a safe, empowering, and confidential space for those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, or pansexual to receive support with identity, coming out, and relationship issues.

Meditation Group

Wednesdays (Starts 2/23)
4:30 - 5:50 p.m.

This group aims to introduce you to various forms of meditation that will increase awareness and compassion for self and others as well as reduce feelings of anxiety and disconnection. No prior experience necessary! Take part in this ancient practice that has been shown to improve both mental and physical well-being!

All-Gender Empowerment Support Group

Thursdays
1:00 -2:30 p.m.

For survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, and child abuse. Receive support, take part in healing activities, and increase coping skills. Share your story - or feel free not to. This group is confidential. To sign up for this group, email the Campus Survivor Advocate: Cortni.Alexander@csusb.edu

Befriending Yourself

Thursdays
2:30-3:50 p.m.

Many individuals know how to extend love and kindness toward others but find it difficult to provide compassion towards themselves. This group is about practicing self-compassion and speaking kindly to yourself. You will become aware of how and why we talk to ourselves the way we do. You will learn ways to turn love inward and embrace who you are, rather than who you think you should be.

Veterans Support Group

Fridays
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: VSC

Veterans Support Group provides a space for former and current service members from all branches (including current Reserves and National Guard and those who have deployed and those who have not) to come together to support each other with whatever life concerns they may have. Group provides an opportunity for veterans to serve other veterans.

Man II Man

Fridays (every other week): 2/11, 2/25, 3/11, 3/25, 4/15, 4/29, 5/13
3:30-4:50 p.m.

Come and share your experiences of being a man in today's world. Learn together in this group about the challenges and pressures facing men and the tools we use to improve the quality of our relationships with others and with ourselves, with our academic success, our work, our health and our lives.

Brothers Together: Men of Color Support/Process Group

Fridays (every other week): 2/18, 3/4, 3/18, 4/8, 4/22, 5/6
3:30-4:50 p.m.

A biweekly gathering for Men of Color to safely and openly discuss topics related to our identities and experiences, to gather and process how current events and life experiences impact our mental health, and to explore how to be successful as a MOC in our lives emotionally, academically, and professionally. Within a supportive and brave social context of respect and empowerment, we will process experiences related to racism and discrimination, empowering self-expression, development of healthy relationships, while addressing mental health concerns. This safe, brave space is designed to explore the intersections of identity being MOC in today’s world at CSUSB.

What is group therapy?

In group therapy, approximately 4-10 individuals meet with trained group therapists. During the group meeting time, members decide what they want to talk about. Members are encouraged to give feedback to others. Feedback includes expressing your own feelings about what someone says or does. Interaction between group members is highly encouraged and provides each person with an opportunity to try out new ways of behaving; it also provides members with an opportunity for learning more about the way they interact with others. It is a safe environment in which members work to establish a level of trust that allows them to talk personally and honestly. Group members make a commitment to the group and are instructed that the content of the group sessions are confidential. It is not appropriate for group members to disclose events of the group to an outside person.

Why is group therapy helpful?

People tend to recreate in the group the difficulties that brought them there. With the direction of the group therapist, the group is able to give support, offer alternatives, and comfort members in such a way that these difficulties become resolved and alternative behaviors are learned.
People can learn new, healthier ways of relating to others in group.
One of the most helpful aspects of group is for members to learn that they are not alone and that there is hope and help. It is comforting to hear that other people have a similar difficulty or have already worked through a problem that deeply disturbs another group member.
People feel free to care about each other because of the climate of trust in a group.
As members gain comfort in being in the group, they will be able to speak more freely. The psychological safety of the group will allow the expression of those feelings which are often difficult to express outside of group. Members can then more easily ask for the support they need.