Group Services

Many of the groups offered have elements from each of the descriptions listed below, creating a combined process/support group, for example.  The group facilitator(s) can help you better understand how a group fits with your specific needs.  

Identity-Based Groups

Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

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• Lavender Connection: LGBTQIA+ Undergraduate Students Support Group

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  This group is a support group for undergraduate students who are looking for a safe and confidential space to discuss issues related to being LGBTQIA+. The group provides a supportive and affirming environment where students can share common experiences and increase their sense of understanding regarding their own gender and/or sexual identity, relationships with others, and sense of empowerment. Areas of focus may include how an LGBTQIA+ identity intersects with influences of cultural background and ethnic identity, self-acceptance, stress management, coping skills, career, relationships in all forms, spirituality, campus climate, graduate school experience, career, and family.        
        
  All identities within the LGBTQIA+ spectrum including those questioning are welcome!
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

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• Adelante Mujeres

• This group is designed to provide a safe and supportive environment to explore personal experiences on campus, gain emotional support, promote culturally satisfying self-care, and enhance community among students identifying as Chicana, Latina, gender fluid, gender nonconforming and two spirit. Participants are encouraged to self-reflect and share as comfortably as possible, keeping support and empowerment in mind as the theme of the group.

  Weekly topics will be decided by the group, but may include:
  -  Adjusting to college
  -  Getting connected on campus
  -  Managing mood and self-care
  -  Navigating multiple identities
  -  Chicana/Latina mental health
  -  Navigating relationships… and more
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Adelante Mujeres - An Informal Support Space Completamente en Español!

• Adelante Mujeres is a group designed to provide a safe and supportive environment to explore personal experiences on campus, gain emotional support, promote self-care, and enhance community among Chicana/Latina students. As an informal support group, there is no commitment to therapy and you will be invited to share as comfortably as you wish.
  
  Este grupo es gratuito y sera un compromiso de seis. El compromiso de asistir las seis semanas ayuda a crear una mejor experiencia grupal y brindar apoyo colectivo. Es preferido que las participantes se sientan comodas expresandose en Español ya que el grupo sera facilitado completamente en ese idioma.
  
  Los temas semanales serán decididos por el grupo y pueden incluir:
  -  Adjusting to college
  -  Getting connected on campus
  -  Managing mood and self-care
  -  Navigating multiple identities
  -  Chicana mental health
  -  Ancestral knowledge and cultural mental health practices
  -  Relationships, etc.
  
  Students who identify as transgender female, gender fluid, and/or cisgender female are welcome to join.

• Guys Group

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  Guys Group offers a supportive non-judgmental environment for male-identified students from all backgrounds to come together to share their experiences while receiving support and feedback from other group members. Guys Group assists students as they develop insight into themselves, build their emotional intelligence, and strengthen their relationships with others. 

  Topics can include general issues that men face such as self-esteem, stress management, relationships, gender role expectations, body image, masculinity, life transitions, and any individual concerns that might come up within the group. We encourage each participant to express themselves and share their stories in whatever way feels right to them while prioritizing community, diversity, feminist allyship, and mutual respect. 
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• "The Journey" Undergrad Therapy Group

• College is hard. Multiple demands, expectations, assumptions, misperceptions. It also might feel isolating. The journey is different for everyone, but it is helpful to have a space to come together to honor connection, communication, and differences. Our group benefits from a diversity of identities and encourages students to support each other in building a meaningful experience and community. 

  Journey Group is a quarterly “process group.” Process groups are designed to build connection, strengthen interpersonal communication, work through interpersonal conflict and gain support from peers. Each week, we will focus on whatever topics emerge, addressing the interests and responses of members. We will always pay attention to what happens in session among ourselves and what themes and dynamics develop.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Living with Chronic Medical Conditions and Disabilities Group

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  This weekly group is a safe, confidential space for undergraduate and graduate students who have physical chronic illnesses and/or visible or invisible disabilities to come together to give and receive support. Common themes discussed include self-care, celebration of accomplishments, coping skills, fostering self-acceptance, empowerment, and enhancing quality of life.  Group discussions may also explore experiences related to how chronic conditions impact academics, relationships, and interactions with medical providers. This group space encourages participants to explore concerns and issues important to them, with other students who have similar experience.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Neurodivergent Group

• Perhaps you’ve experienced the challenges of trying to navigate a neurotypical world. The anxiety of being accepted… of comprehending social norms and not standing out…of saying something and noticing that it was not received how you intended it. This is a group designed for those who selfidentify as neurodiverse (ADHD, Autism, etc.) students. It is a space to process the traumas and challenges inherent in living in a world that functions differently than our brains. Co-facilitators Ralitsa Georgieva, LMFT and David Murphy, PhD have intersecting identities and experience working with the neurodivergent community. They are offering an in-person group on Mondays at 3 p.m. in North Hall.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• BIPOC Support Circle

• This support space is offered for self-identified Black, Indigenous, People of Color who want to build community through shared solidarity, discuss ways to be rooted in resilience, and explore challenges of navigating life at UC Davis; including our intersecting identities, microaggressions, “ isms”. academics, career, family, relationships, and maintaining a holistic well-being.

  For more information or to sign up, e-mail to Chitize Igwe ccigwe@ucdavis.edu

• South Asian Support Group (virtual) - Reservation Required

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  This group is intended to be a safe, culturally mindful, supportive space to help students build community, share experiences, and navigate the intersections between their life experiences and their South Asian identities. This is an Undergraduate support group open to registered UC Davis students who identify as South Asian.
  
   Meets weekly Tuesdays 2:10 pm via Zoom, starting Fall Quarter 2023
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

Coping Skills Groups

Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• From Surviving to Thriving: For Students with Depression

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  This cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) depression group isn't your typical therapy – it's a dynamic, culturally sensitive, and supportive space tailored for students just like you. We're all about mixing evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy with a vibe that'll enable you to share your unique experience of depression and support others who've also been struggling. In this program, you'll dive into the world of CBT for depression, but don't worry, we keep it real and relatable. We're here to help you understand those tricky depressive patterns and equip you with the skills you need to replace them with healthier coping strategies and symptom management. But that's not all! We'll also celebrate what makes YOU awesome. We'll highlight your strengths and resilience, giving you the power to take control of your mental well-being. The college years can be a rollercoaster, and we're here to help you ride it with confidence. Join us and make your mental health a priority!

   

  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Building Social Confidence

• Group members learn how to increase confidence in social situations by building social skills, the foundation for successful interpersonal relationships. Members develop effective communication skills, assertion skills, and social support--”community.” Members also address their own individual goals, such as developing/maintaining friendships, dating, and confidence with academic assertion and public speaking. 
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Hey it’s me, Anxiety
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  This skills group is open to students that struggle with general anxiety. Sometimes the demands of school, work, and relationships can feel overwhelming and this is a good time for anxiety to creep in and take over. Do you ever feel like sometimes your thoughts are racing, your body starts trembling, or you start sweating out of the blue? Anxiety is actually a healthy part of our life, but sometimes when experienced in excess can make us feel like we’re “going crazy.” This group is designed to learn how to have a better relationship with anxiety by learning how to understand and examine how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected.  
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

Theme-Based Groups

Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Inside Out: Women’s Body Wisdom and Self-Empowerment Through Expressive Arts

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  Inside Out is a safe space for self-identified women to improve their self-esteem, heal their relationship with their bodies, and create healthy connections with others using expressive arts-based activities. Through visual art, writing, movement, sound, and other creative modalities, you’ll learn how to establish body integrity, self-express the magic inside you, and find your inner voice. Inside Out teaches participants how to manifest trust and safety, communicate effectively with others, and secure healthy boundaries in relationships. Come build self-care into your daily routine and form wholesome bonds with others. Dare to jump into this journey of personal healing and self-discovery.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Engineering Small Group Process

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  Join this therapeutic small group of 4-6 members to explore, along with your fellow Engineering students, how to get more from your connection with others. All group members have spent time in individual therapy and existing/dual relationships are explored and addressed in the group. We will meet each week through the quarter to develop a reliably safe and trusting confidential “social lab" or "sandbox” in which each member will be encouraged to: - have greater access and expression of  feelings and thoughts as they happen - receive and give feedback with others - recognize similarities and differences within the group - work with others to skillfully share group time and attention

  Please reach out to Chris Le, LPCC at chdle@ucdavis.edu with interest. The group is open to new members at the beginning of each quarter as spots become open.

• Pre-Health Professions Support Group for Undergraduates

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  Pursuing a health profession is stressful and competitive. Being a successful healthcare professional involves collaboration, communication, empathy, and compassion, however, it’s common to get caught up in the competitive culture on the way to reaching your career goals. Prioritizing competition over cooperation can become increasingly isolating and destructive over time. Around 45% of medical students feel burnt out before graduation and starting their professional careers. Compared to the general population, suicide rates are significantly higher among medical students, physicians, nurses, veterinarians and other health professionals.  

  What if the key to sustaining success is INSPIRING one another rather than COMPETING against each other? By joining a supportive space where you can be real about what you’re experiencing & receive encouragement from peers who can relate, you can move forward together and forge constructive, sustainable paths to success. Undergraduate students pursuing any health profession are welcome to join.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Family Differences

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  Do you feel like you and your parents live in two different worlds? No matter how hard you try to convey your perspectives, you don’t feel heard? Your parents attempt to support you, but you want to be supported differently? You disagree on fundamental values with your family members?

  If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, consider joining the Family Differences Group where you canSeek support for the unique struggles you face growing up in a family sharing different cultural and/or generational values.

  - Provide support to others expressing unique family concerns.

  - Connect with others who share complex family upbringings.

  - Share and learn about varying cultural and generational dynamics.

  - Explore methods to develop healthier relationships with family members.

  - Explore methods to improve communication among family members.

  - Explore ways to take care of yourself when feeling impacted by family interactions.

  This space welcomes individuals with all immigration status. Space is limited to 8 people
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Grief Support Group

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  Death of a loved one is a major life event.  When school demands, social/ family expectations, and jobs/internships don't seem to stop, they can compete for your attention and make it difficult to grieve. This online support group is open to undergraduate students who have lost a loved one and would appreciate a designated time and confidential space to focus on the mourning process. The goals of this group are to process loss and grief, learn coping strategies through a multicultural lens, and build community with peers in a similar situation. Those new to grief are especially welcome. If seeking support for loss of your pet, feel free to consult with the facilitator. Pre-screening will be conducted at the beginning of the quarter.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• HEAL

• Heal is a 7-week skills-based group for students struggling with problematic eating patterns. HEAL targets skills related to mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Students practice the skills taught each week to become equipped with strategies that work for them to cope with their problematic behaviors.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Nourish:  The Body & The Self
• 

  Concerned about your relationship with food or your perception of yourself? Are you in recovery or maintaining your recovery from an eating disorder?  You are not alone. Explore your recovery process, strengths, concerns and struggles while offering insight and support to others in a process-oriented therapy group. Nourish is a welcoming, supportive, member empowered process group for students who are in recovery or recovered from an eating disorder of any kind. It is an encouraging place where students can discuss concerns related to food and body image with other students who are also pursuing recovery. Group members will be asked to choose a recovery step that they want to be challenged on in the group.
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Phoenix Rising:  A Support Group for Undergrad Survivors of Sexual Trauma
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  This process-oriented group is open to students who are survivors of sexual abuse, sexual assault, and/or sexual trauma experienced in childhood or as adults. The goal of this group is to provide a healing, empowering, and safe space for survivors to discuss and receive support around a range of issues including relationships, intimacy, sexuality, safety, mind-body awareness, balance, sense of control, communication, and trust. Attention will also be given to providing some self-regulation and mind-body awareness skills as appropriate. 
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Thank You, Next - Rebuilding After Breakup

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  The end of a relationship can be particularly painful and heartbreaking. However, you don’t have to go through a breakup alone. In this process-oriented therapy group, you will explore both the loss and meaning found after a relationship ends in a safe and supportive space. The facilitators honor the experiences and diverse identities of the group while bringing their own diverse identities into the group process. If you are interested in participating in this group, please call Counseling Services at (530) 752-0871 for a group screening appointment. 
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Undergraduate Career Exploration Group (UCEG)
• 

  Career decision-making is an ongoing process made more effective within an interactive, supportive group approach. Group members are undergraduates who will identify how their values, interests, preferences and satisfying skills relate to occupations of interest and expanded career options. A focus on personal strengths and common experiences of uncertainty helps enable group members to better understand internal conflicts and external obstacles.
  
  Please note: total cost of assessments is $45 and expected time commitment for activities outside of the 6 session group times is approximately 1-2 hours per week. 
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Write to Thrive:  Expressive Arts Support Group for Survivors of Sexual Trauma (Reservation Required)

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  Write to Thrive is a healing support space using the medium of writing to provide a safe environment for survivors of sexual trauma. Participants are encouraged to practice self-care, create supportive community with each other, develop coping skills, and explore their personal healing journeys in a compassionate space. The group meets five times throughout the quarter and has life enhancing themes each session. Each participant is encouraged to share only to the degree they feel comfortable in pairs and group check-ins.
  
  In order to develop emotional safety, students are requested to commit to attend all meeting times to ensure the group experience is meaningful and cohesive to all of the participants.
  
  Weekly topics may include:
  -  Establishing safety in one’s environment and sense of self
  -  Developing a network of support
  -  Self-care and self-soothing skills
  -  Developing from surviving to thriving Healing and releasing difficult experiences
  -  Sharing and transforming one’s story
  -  Understanding common reactions and feelings of survivors All genders are welcome to participate.

  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Aggies 4 Recovery (Drop-In Support Group)

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  7:00 – 8:00 pm, Thursdays and Sundays 
  Location: Student Community Center, Room A and Zoom
  
  https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/recovery_resources

  This is a peer-led support group. Aggies for Recovery’s mission is to promote recovery in institutions of higher education. The group aims to enhance the student experience by facilitating exciting and engaging activities for recovery-minded individuals. We also aim to educate students about the benefits of a recovery-based lifestyle.
  
  Objectives include:
  -  Education 
  -  Recovery
  -  Abstinence
  -  Open-Door Policy

Graduate and Professional Student Groups

Schedule your screening appointment  by calling (530) 752-0871 or via Health-e-Messaging

• Lavender Connection: LGBTQIA+ Graduate and Professional Students Support Group

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  This group is a support group for graduate and professional students who are looking for a safe and confidential space to discuss issues related to being LGBTQIA+. The group provides a supportive and affirming environment where students can share common experiences and increase their sense of understanding regarding their own gender and/or sexual identity, relationships with others, and sense of empowerment. Areas of focus may include how an LGBTQIA+ identity intersects with influences of cultural background and ethnic identity, self-acceptance, stress management, coping skills, career, relationships in all forms, spirituality, campus climate, graduate school experience, career, and family.       
        
  All identities within the LGBTQIA+ spectrum including those questioning are welcome!
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Healing Through Connections - Graduate Student Group

• This is a process-oriented therapy group.  The goal is to provide a safe and confidential space for you to express yourself with freedom, be more in touch with your thoughts and feelings, explore how you connect or disconnect from others and develop a meaningful support space.   
  
  Schedule your screening appointment via Health-e-Messaging or by calling (530) 752-0871

• Heart of Medicine: A Medical Student Support Group (Reservation Required)

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  A supportive space to connect around and explore the complexities of being a medical student. The goal of the group is to improve personal development while offering support and encouragement to your fellow students. All years are welcome to sign up. This group will be offered via an encrypted version of Zoom to improve access and safety of all participating.

  For more information or to register for this group contact Dr. Stephen Simonson at ssimonson@ucdavis.edu.

  Group is limited to first 15 students and after the second meeting of this 6-week series the group will be closed.