Curious About Our Teen Girls’ Group? We Have Answers.

Teen Girls Group at Denver Metro Counseling

Article written by: Denver Therapist Molly Ward, LCSW, LAC

Starting our teen girls group is one of the most exciting ventures I’ve been a part of at Denver Metro Counseling.

As a therapist who works with teens and their families, over and over again I kept seeing this foundational need to offer a different type of support for the teens I was working with, particularly teen girls.

The same issues kept presenting themselves, but clients would often express how alone they felt in their experiences and emotions.

I would think, if only they knew how normal their experiences were, and that they were not alone in the slightest!

This is something we sometimes have to feel rather than be told.

Thus, our wellness-based teen girls’ group was born.

Our main goal is to be able to provide a space for teen girls to be able to connect about some of the key presenting issues that they are all dealing with.

Some of these issues include healthy relationships, social media, and body image.

Talking about these subjects with your therapist or family can be one way to increase connection, but talking with peers about experiences that they are simultaneously going through can be one of the most powerful and healing tools. 

The Benefits of Group Therapy for Teens

Group work can be an impactful experience that ultimately can’t be provided through individual teen counseling.

Healing happens through relationships, and the peer-to-peer connection that happens through group work can be a different relationship than with your therapist.

With group work with other teens, there is mutual sharing and connecting that is occurring.

Teens in particular are at a unique developmental stage where they are trying to figure out their identity and find belonging.

Supportive group experiences as a teen can be incredibly grounding and aid in increasing self-esteem.

This is a great benefit as teen girls navigate this exploration period while managing their mental health. 

The goal of this Denver teen girl’s group is to help teen girls learn to navigate life challenges and relationships as they develop into who they want to be as an older teen and adult.

Our Wellness-Based Teen Girls’ Group

Here’s a breakdown about what our teen girls group looks like each week:

Teens and Coping Skills

Read More: “Connecting With Others: Exploring The Benefits of Group Therapy”

The foundation of the group setting incorporates coping skills throughout to manage the stressors that impact teens.

They learn about different strategies and ways to cope with each issue from their peers and facilitator and identify preliminary coping skills that can help them during each group and between sessions.

These coping skills will carry them through life, no matter what stage they are at.

Teens and Values

The girls are guided through exercises to learn more about values and identify their core values; what is important to them and how they show up in the world.

Space is made for exploring their values in relationships, boundaries with self and others, religion, sexuality, sense of duty, academics, managing conflict, navigating stressful situations, substance use, and interests or hobbies.

As information is shared and processed, the goal is for each teen to know what their values are and feel empowered to decide what works best for them.

These values can be something that they take with them when navigating body image concerns, social media, school, relationships, and all other areas of their life.

Exploring values is particularly important for a teen as they navigate their developmental stage and identity as they can help them feel connected and sure of themselves.

Once values and some coping skills are established, teens begin to explore some of the core issues that come up for them.

Teens and Emotional Regulation

Learning to understand and accept our emotions is the most important tool to learn!

Group members learn about emotions: what emotions are, how they show up, how to be aware of them, and what to do with them.

They have opportunity to explore their feelings about different emotions and what may lead to their stories about different emotions.

Emotions are impacted by several factors; relationships, stressors, hormones, and genetics to name a few.

Without an understanding of emotions, like anxiety, fear, agitation, anger, sadness, excitement, joy, hopelessness, and despair, teens may struggle to navigate triggering topics, build healthy relationships, understand and advocate for their needs, and communicate boundaries.

Exploring emotions allows teens to understand ways to manage them and protect their mental health and engage in healthy behaviors with other healthy people.

The goal is to learn to live with emotions that come up, according to their values; not to get rid of emotions.

Teens and Social Media

With the reality that social media and technology are not going anywhere, we want to empower teens to navigate their social media use in a healthy way.

Read More: “What Parents Need To Know About Social Media And Teens’ Self-Esteem”

In the group, teens are making connections with how social media is impacting their mental health.

Through conversations around social media, teens girls can learn more about healthy communication, what boundaries look like, and how social media can impact relationships.

Together, they learn tools to manage their use, what they consume, and what they want their relationship with social media to look like overall.

The goal of our group is to support teens with having a healthy relationship with their phone and other technology, as well as know how to handle issues should they come up.

Teens and School

As we know, school is the place that teens spend the most amount of time away from home and, a lot happens at school.

During the group the teens support each other in exploring both social and academic facets of school, as well as different strategies for managing issues that come up.

As parents know, asking “how was school” is a question that can only get so much information.

This supportive group setting provides teens the opportunity to explore concerns and how they manage them in a place where they can feel connected and understood by peers.

They explore their values related to healthy choices around using substances (or not), hooking up and having sex (or not), and who they chose to be friends with (or not).

They experience peer support through the group in navigating relationships and all that comes with school while being supported in their individual values.

Teens and Body Image

Struggles with body image are some of the most prevalent issues among teen girls.

Time is taken in this group to explore what factors contribute to these concerns and how teens can navigate our diet-obsessed society.

Read More: “Understanding Common Mental Health Challenges Faced By Teens”

Group members learn ways to increase acceptance and neutrality for their body and lean on their values as a way to ground in their self-esteem. 

They get in touch with how their relationship with their body may crossover into other areas of their life, such as how they show up in relationships, what they consume on social media, and how other behaviors that they might engage in.

The Goal of A Wellness-based Teen Girls’ Group…

Our overall hope at Denver Metro Counseling, is that teen girls will leave our group with a key foundation about their values, effective coping skills, and with more trust in themselves as they navigate their world and key issues that impact their mental health.

This group can be used in conjunction with individual therapy, as a starting point to getting involved in therapy, or on its own!

If you think our group would be a good fit for your teen, reach out for a free consultation to learn more and get started!

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Molly is a teen therapist and family therapist at Denver Metro Counseling.

Denver Therapist, Molly Ward

She strives to build connection and support for those she works with through identifying supportive relationships and resources and working collaboratively with clients to build these.

Molly has worked with teens for years and has a special place in her heart for all teens – female, male, non-binary and all identities.

Her specialties include: substance use, anxiety and depression, intuitive eating, self-esteem, trauma, family therapy, teen therapy. She also works with adults.

To learn more about Molly or her teen group, reach out to schedule a free-consultation.

You can also find Molly on Instagram: @therapy_with_molly