Date: 07/06/2023

Title: The High School Girls Group at CTC with Olivia Sung

My name is Olivia Sung. I'm a marriage and family therapist trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling, and I facilitate the high school girls group. Well, during my own high school experience, it was one of the most challenging times of my adolescence, and I felt very alone in what I was dealing with and my experiences, and I really wish that I had a safe, supportive place where I could talk to other people my age to gain perspective and to just know that I wasn't struggling by myself. I think a lot of the current issues that a lot of girls bring to the group are shared, like bullying, self -esteem issues, issues navigating maybe toxic friendships, navigating autonomy and independence at their age in terms of family dynamics. Whatever we say in group stays in group, just to build trust among group members. and also I really like to explore being active listeners and letting room, giving room for people to talk about their experience and also getting room to share our experiences as well. So I think a group provides support in a way that individual therapy can't. I think that a lot of people in the group can build confidence from hearing one another's story and provide a source of understanding that maybe a therapist that is a different age or has a different experience in life can't really empathize with. Hearing and having support from individuals your own age with similar experiences in a similar life stage can be very healing and therapeutic.