Groups
Welcome to my group page where you can learn more about the groups being offered.
I am currently interviewing for a 6 month group focused on healing childhood trauma. Please read more about it below and reach out to me through the form on my Contact Page if you are interested.
Reparenting Group
Group Description:
This group has three primary objectives:
Tell the story of your past
Practice intimacy
Reparent yourself in the present
Many of our current experiences can be traced back to childhood. What happened to us as kids (or what didn’t happen) has a profound impact. Wounds from the past reverberate in the present in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that can show up as anxiety, depression, self-doubt, or emptiness.
Relationship Recovery Process (RRP) is a model developed by Amanda Curtin LICSW, trauma specialist and group therapist, to establish a healthy, connected relationship with ourselves by understanding the origins of our past hurts and healing them through building an inner relationship between our child self and our adult self.
RRP provides a framework for looking at the ways our needs didn’t get met as children, and the ways that they continue to not be met in our adult life because we didn’t learn how to offer that to ourselves. Learning that we are repeating old patterns is so important because, without the awareness, we won’t be able to make different choices on our own behalf. This work is about changing the program that got cemented in from childhood. Not only will this group offer a place for reflection, there will also be opportunities to grapple with the questions that arise, practice new ways of being and relating, and witness and be witnessed by others through sharing our stories of what it was like to grow up in our families. From that place, we can uncover hidden messages we’ve been unconsciously toting around and decide if they are holding us back from the lives we truly wish to be leading.
I often hear from the people that I work with things like, “other people had it way worse than I did, so I shouldn’t really complain”. It is absolutely true that we will always be able to find people who had and have it worse. However, this doesn’t mean that our own struggle isn’t valid and deserving of care. Unprocessed pain does not benefit anyone. Tending to our own suffering is good for us and good for the collective.
This group is a good fit for people who have already begun to question the role that their upbringing has had on their life. If you already know you’d like to be kinder with yourself, but need some help getting there, this group may be for you. This group will invite you to embody tenderness toward your most wounded parts and inspire behaviors that match up with your values and sense of integrity. From this group, you can expect to learn more about the differences between healthy and unhealthy family dynamics so that you can more clearly see how you were parented and make informed decisions about how you are parenting yourself in the present. You will be invited to give and receive support to and from group members who also value personal growth and alignment. If you’ve been working on untangling family stories in your own individual therapy, this group may be a helpful way to bring an additional dimension to your inquiry through the collective wisdom of the group. Since shame thrives in secrecy, sharing ourselves with others can help release the grips of toxic shame and help us feel less alone and more connected.
This group will not be a good fit for folks who don’t feel personally motivated to explore their childhoods because that will be this group’s primary focus. This group will also not be a good fit for people who are adverse to experiencing their feelings because our inner kids have rich emotional lives, and this group is about really meeting ourselves and being with what comes up. For you to benefit from this group, you will need to be in touch with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to practice vulnerability and healthy risk-taking.
Details:
This group offering is for residents of California or Michigan (I am licensed in both states) who are interested in participating in a 6 month group focusing on the impact of childhood trauma.
The group will take place weekly over Zoom, and group sessions will be 90 minutes each.
The group will be part educational and part experiential.
Payment for group will be $75 per session. Please be aware that I do not take insurance.
I’m conducting interviews now, so please reach out if you’d like to join.
Start date as well as day and times of group TBD.
Once the meeting day and time is set, please try to attend all meetings as there won’t be a way to “make up” what you missed- while there is a structure to this group, this isn’t like an academic lecture with pre-made notes; it’s a more organic process. To protect confidentiality, group meetings will not be recorded.
About the Facilitator:
Hi, I’m Jessica Weikers, (rhymes with Bikers) and I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in San Francisco, California. I aim to bring a sense of open-heartedness to all I do. I’m offering this work because of my firsthand experience with it, which has been very transformative. This work has helped me come back to myself and become the strong, compassionate, loving adult that my inner child needs to feel safe and cared for. I am passionate about sharing this powerful process with others. It requires courage to look within ourselves, and it requires looking within to heal. Please get in touch through my Contact Form if you’re interested.