Don’t Go It Alone: Increasing Connections Group Therapy Spotlight

“If you nourish your body and mind but neglect your relationships, your overall health may be compromised. In contrast, prioritizing your connection—in addition to habits that support your physical and mental health—can help you live longer, healthier, and happier.”
 — Kasley Killam, UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center

Most of us accept that exercise and balanced meals keep us well. Yet the “third pillar” of health, social health, can often slip to the bottom of the priority list. Social scientist Kasley Killam reminds us that feeling cared for, understood, valued, and like we belong is crucial to well‑being. For anyone who senses a gap between themselves and the people (or purposes) that matter most, our Increasing Connections group therapy was designed for you.

Why We Created the Group

Modern life can leave even the most outgoing person feeling isolated: demanding schedules, social‑media fatigue, or the fear of showing up authentically can all erode meaningful bonds. Increasing Connections helps members:

  • Identify personal and external barriers to relationships and connection
  • Practice new ways of relating, both to themselves and to others, inside a supportive, space
  • Build a toolkit for sustaining those connections long after group ends

Who Should Join?

  • Anyone who feels disconnected from friends, family, community, spirituality, or their own authentic self
  • Individuals noticing loneliness despite a “busy” social calendar
  • People whose anxiety, self‑criticism, or conflicting values make it hard to show up fully with others

What Happens in a Typical Session?

Each session starts with a check-in where members share their current emotion and note any successes or challenges from the past week. Participants then spend a few minutes journaling on a prompt before coming together for a group discussion. During these discussions, members practice building connections with peers in real time while exploring common barriers to connection, such as conflicting values, anxiety, compromised self-care, overuse of social media, assumptions, fear of authenticity, and self-criticism. The meeting ends with a check-out, during which everyone names one specific way they plan to apply what they learned over the next week to build their relationships.

Meet the Facilitators

Emily Clark, LCSW
A licensed clinical social worker with 10 years’ experience across ages and diagnoses, Emily has seen one constant: authentic connection is the thread that raises life satisfaction. She brings a warm, structured style that gently nudges members past their comfort zones.

Mina Dailami, PhD
Mina is a postdoctoral fellow who’s passionate about helping people connect more to the people, values, and practices that bring a deeper sense of fulfillment. She invites members to practice together with a person‑centered, culturally sensitive lens.

Voices from the Group

“The journaling prompts generated a very insightful discussion.”

“They really prompted some deep thought for me.”

Even brief written reflections can unlock surprisingly profound dialogue, and the group’s safety net lets members test new ways of sharing without judgment.

What You’ll Take Away

  • Awareness of the personal habits and beliefs that block connection
  • In‑the‑moment skills for staying present, even when anxiety flares
  • Experiential confidence from practicing authentic relating in session

If you’re ready to move from feeling separate to feeling supported, we’d love to welcome you to the group.

Ready to Increase Your Connections?

To learn more, contact our front desk at (415) 945 -9870 or leave us a message.

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Group Spotlight

Just because you have a thought doesn’t mean you have to believe it. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) teaches you how to recognize unhelpful thinking—and how to shift it. CBT is a widely respected, evidence-based approach to understanding how our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are deeply interconnected. Pioneered by the late Dr. Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s and 1970s, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a form of structured talk therapy that helps individuals learn to recognize and change negative patterns of thinking and behavior. The goal is to improve how they cope with challenges and enhance their overall quality of life.. Since then, more than 2,000 outcome studies have scientifically proven the effectiveness of CBT in treating a wide variety of health and mental health conditions. Learn more about CBT at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

What Is the CBT Group at Mind Therapy Clinic?

Our CBT Group focuses on the core principle that while we may not be able to control every situation we face, we can learn to recognize and shift unhelpful patterns in our thinking and behavior. The group explores the bidirectional relationship between thoughts (cognition), actions (behavior), and emotions—helping participants understand how one affects the others, and how to intervene when that cycle turns negative.

Because our thoughts and behaviors are more within our control than our emotions, this group teaches practical strategies for reshaping those patterns—leading to more aligned, value-driven behavior and emotional well-being.

Who Is This Group For?

This group is especially valuable for individuals struggling with:

  • Anxiety and worry
  • Panic attacks
  • Depression
  • Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders

That said, CBT principles can benefit anyone who wants to better understand their inner world and respond to life’s challenges with more clarity and resilience.

What to Expect in a Typical Session

Each session is structured to build insight, teach practical tools, and foster peer support. Here’s what the group generally looks like:

  • Check-in: Share your current emotional state and reflect on how you’ve used CBT tools in the past week.
  • Review: A quick recap of the previous session’s content.
  • Psychoeducation: Learn a new CBT concept—examples include core beliefs, cognitive distortions, reframing thoughts, worry, gratitude, or managing anger.
  • Discussion: Participate in large or small group discussions about how the concept shows up in daily life.
  • Skill Practice: Engage in hands-on activities to apply the concept in real time.

A Closer Look: How We Learn Together

One of the reasons this group resonates with so many people is the variety of learning formats. Whether you process best through reflection, discussion, structured exercises, or take-home materials—you’ll find multiple ways to connect with the content.

For example, during our Cognitive Reframing session:

  • You’ll learn the principles behind identifying and challenging distorted thoughts.
  • Practice using Socratic questioning techniques with a partner.
  • Complete an individual reframing exercise.
  • Leave with a practical worksheet to reinforce the skill during the week.

This multimodal approach supports real-world application—and many participants find that they begin using these techniques in daily life without even thinking about it.

Meet the Facilitator

Emily is a licensed clinical social worker with over ten years of experience in the mental health field. She looks forward to facilitating this group every week as she has seen the effectiveness of CBT in helping folks of all ages and from various walks of life to cope with stressors and reframe unhelpful ways of thinking. Emily brings a sense of humility to the room as she learns something new every week from the rich discussions and each person’s unique ways of implementing CBT techniques.

Why Join?

Many people walk away from CBT Group with the ability to:

  • Understand the origin of their core beliefs
  • Identify and reframe distorted thinking
  • Use grounding techniques to manage anxiety and worry
  • Understand and respond to anger in healthier ways
  • Face fears through exposure strategies
  • Make behavior choices more aligned with their values

In short, you’ll gain practical, proven tools you can start using immediately—not just in session, but in your everyday life.

If you’re curious about your thought patterns or ready to start shifting how you respond to life’s challenges, this group offers a welcoming and structured space to begin that process. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, low mood, or simply want to develop more helpful mental habits, CBT Group could be the next right step.

Interested in joining or learning more? Reach out to Mind Therapy Clinic today. Leave us a message or call us at (415) 945 -9870.

The Role of Family Therapy in IOP

Emily Clark, LCSW headshot

What is the difference between IOP and outpatient therapy?

Intensive Outpatient Programs, or IOPs, provide wraparound services for folks needing extra mental health support. Unlike outpatient therapy, which typically consists of one hour-long session per week, IOP takes place 3-5 days per week for a total of 6-20 hours. These supportive services include individual therapy, group therapy, case management, medication management, and family therapy. For many folks, simply hearing “family therapy” can elicit feelings of fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, and skepticism. We receive messages from media and other cultural influences that family therapy is centered around finding who is to blame and “fixing” this person. I want to assure you that this is not the case.

Why family support is so important.

For individuals in IOP, many of whom are taking a leave from work or school, having their support system directly included in their treatment is invaluable. Family support can help to minimize feelings of isolation, shame, and anxiety while building connectedness, validation, and gratitude. While it is the therapist’s job to facilitate a safe and supportive family therapy space, we ask that clients and their support systems come to family therapy with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to be honest and vulnerable. At Mind Therapy Clinic (MTC), family therapy can take many different forms and include a variety of members.

Configurations of family therapy.

Below are some examples of themes and configurations of family therapy:

1. MTC client and family-of-origin members (parents, siblings, grandparents)exploring and understanding the family system, including:

      • How to modify longstanding communication or attachment patterns that might be compromising self-efficacy/independence and connectedness
      • How subsystems (ex. child/parent, parent/parent, sibling/sibling) impact the entire family system
      • The impact of intergenerational trauma

      2. MTC client and chosen family (partner, children, in-laws, friends) exploring and understanding the family system, including roles and dynamics that are keeping the unit from flourishing.

      3. Family-of-origin members or chosen family receiving coaching and/or psychoeducation on how to support their loved one at MTC as well as take care of themselves.

      The configuration of family support is developed intentionally between the treatment team and the MTC client and can morph over time as one’s needs change. A significant part of IOP care is developing a robust mental health relapse prevention plan for maintaining treatment gains and ideally mitigating a future spike in distress. While a notable component of this plan includes identifying one’s triggers along with effective and accessible coping skills, the other piece is building a support system and taking steps to maintain these connections. This is why family support in intensive outpatient programs is so important – therapy is not an independent process as we are social creatures who thrive from authentic connection. As folks graduate from IOP and increase demands in other areas of their life, perhaps education or work, having a support system to fall back on is crucial.

      Learn more, take the next step.

      If you are interested in family therapy or joining our Family and Relationship Issues process group, give us a call or text us to learn more.

      If you have questions about family support options at MTC, feel free to contact me.