Consider creating a professionally facilitated group.
A less expensive than individual consulting, yet powerful way to engage in psycho-spiritual problem solving, healing, and growth is through group work. The way to make this happen is to gather a group of like-minded friends, and decide together on your venue. Although education, discussion, and practice are part of every group, you may choose the basic emphasis you would like your group to engage in.
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Consider creating a professionally facilitated group. |
What are the advantages of professional facilitation?
-The facilitator keeps the group focused on what is truly meaningful. Often when we are with our friends, we drift from subject to subject in superficial ways.
-The facilitator can offer mini-lessons, where appropriate, in skillful communication and in other strategies for helpful coping. Often when friends give advice, they speak only out of their personal experience that may not be the same as the friend's.
-The facilitator guides group members in building trust. Often, even with our friends, we are afraid that we will be judged and hurt.
What would work for you?
-You decide in advance
for how many sessions you'd like to contract. It usually takes 4 to 6
sessions for a group to begin to feel comfortable with the process.
Most ongoing groups prefer to contract for 5 sessions at a time. Most
ongoing groups prefer to meet on an every-other-week basis or once monthly.
• An individual presentation -- Mary Jo will spend time with your group on a one-meeting basis making a presentation on some topic of interest and facilitating a sampling of practical application.
• A support group -- This type of group allows time for members to vent and tell their stories to a sympathetic and supportive group. Sharing is the heart of what goes on. Mini-lessons may be given and practiced about skillful communication and other topics that arise. The arts of both saying authentic feelings and being an empathic listener are developed.
• An educational group -- The consultant presents lessons and fields discussion on given topics, usually those given in The Inner Workbook. Because lasting learning only happens when it is integrated into everyday life, part of the learning is centered on the actual practice of skills and integration of theory.
• A dream group -- Most attention is paid to the interpretation of individuals' dreams, though some mini-lessons may be suggested by what comes up in the discussion and in the dreams themselves. Dreamers should understand upon entering this process that dreams reveal the unconscious and therefore things about ourselves we are not necessarily comfortable with. Building trust in the group and being honest about our feelings can be great sources of growth as the process unfolds.
•A book discussion group -- For these I usually prepare a kind of summary/study guide of the book being discussed. Members are helped not only with understanding but also with interiorizing messages. People who have read the book themselves usually add more insights. However, because of the outline and presentation format, it is possible to learn about and discuss the ideas in the book without having or completed reading it.
•A spirituality group -- It is my experience and belief that there is a central Creative Force in the universe and in our individual lives which is traditionally called God but which you may give any other name. Among the many things we can say about It is that It is Transpersonal. That is, though it manifests in all that is, it is not defined by any particular or personal manifestation. Our trying to connect with this transpersonalness is what many call practicing spirituality.
It is the purpose of a spirituality group to give participants an opportunity to learn and practice together in order to deepen their spiritual lives. Although my approach is non-sectarian, I do integrate the teachings and practices of many religions and disciplines. Members working in such a group must be willing to do this, though it does not mean they need forsake a particular dogma or practice that has meaning for them. There is truth everywhere and a central part of our work is making helpful correspondences among what seems at first glance to be separate and different.
Although certainly having a spiritual practice throughout all developmental stages of our life is helpful, it is important to understand in doing this deepening form of work, that ego aggrandizement is not what we are seeking. If your ego is not yet strong enough to make this commitment, I encourage you to begin with an Inner Work Group (See description of "Educational Group" given above").
Prior to committing to a spirituality group, make sure you can answer each of the following questions with this sentence: "I have been and will continue to work on this aspect of my evolution."
-Do you feel secure and stable enough in your ego-presence in the world that you need not insist righteously on it?
-Have you done a good deal of Inner-Child healing work?
-Are you humble enough to face and work through whatever remains of defenses and resistances?
-Are you disciplined enough to follow through with the commitments and practices this work asks?
-Do you make time each day for meditation and other inner work?
If you still feel the need to begin work on any of these aspects, I recommend studying my The Inner Workbook, individually, in connection with therapy, or most helpfully in a group situation.
I see the work of each spirituality meeting being at least,in part, a response to what came up in previous meetings, so I do not want to impose a hard and fast schedule upon it. In general, however, a session might follow this time sequence. An initial sharing of experiences since the last meeting followed by background and instructions for this week's practice, a meditation period of increasing length as time goes by, a concluding sharing and Q & A.
There are two very general forms of meditation: one which tries to drop images and another which uses them. There are also two forms of prayer: praying with words and silently lifting the mind and heart to God. Actually, these four flow into and out from one another in many enriching ways. We will explore, understand and practice this interaction.
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How to get things started for forming any group: |
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1. Talk with your friends and decide what you'd like to do and what would be a workable meeting time for you. As for the number of people in your group, if individual attention is to be given each as, for example, in a therapy or dream group, the amount of time allotted each should be considered. For example, in a two-hour meeting time, each of five people would be given about twenty-four minutes; each of eight, fifteen minues.
2. Call or email Mary Jo and discuss your needs with her. She contracts with groups (represented by a contact person) for as many sessions as desired with the option to re-contract when those are finished. Non-refundable payment in full must be made during or prior to the first meeting. Payment is for the total number of contracted hours. Group members share the total cost. For example, a five week commitment for two hours per session would be $600. Four people in the group would mean each member would be responsible for $150. Most of the groups I work with contract for two-hour sessions, either every other week or once a month. Most contract for five weeks at a time.
To make arrangements call me at 614-759-0111, or...
Email me at mj(at)maryjomyers(dot)org (clickable link disabled to prevent spam)
Other Consulting and Public Speaking services
Mary Jo Myers, Ph.D., mental health consultant in Reynoldsburg, OH, 10 miles east of Columbus, in central Ohio. Consultation from a Jungian perspective: individuals, groups, and classes. Dream interpretation, meditation, women's spirituality, healing, inner work. Self-help books and tapes. 614-759-0111
