Group Therapy

Group therapy deepens self-awareness, fosters connections with others, and enhances hopefulness as members learn to identify their intentions and develop goals. Our group offerings are diverse and offer support for pursuing a range of goals, including moderation and abstinence.

Our groups are available to support individual psychotherapy and create a more intensive level of care, if needed. They can also be utilized in conjunction with services from outside providers. In order to ensure that each group member is placed in the best group to address their needs and goals, we ask every new group member to complete a personalized, individual assessment with one of our group leaders. All of our groups are not drop-in groups and participation requires an individual meeting and commitment to ongoing attendance.

For more information about our groups, please contact us at intake@cfol.org or call 212.213.8905 x104. You are also welcome to contact our group leaders directly if you have specific questions about their groups.

We work collaboratively with outside providers who refer clients to us to facilitate an integrative and meaningful treatment experience as possible.

WOMEN’S GROUP

Allison Mitchell, PhD

Mondays, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (EST)

This group is designed to be a supportive and safe environment for women at various points on the continuum of change to explore the function and meaning behind substance use and other problematic behaviors. Goals may be different for each member and include reduced use, moderation, and abstinence. As part of this group, members will gain a more nuanced understanding of how certain thought patterns, emotional states, and relationship dynamics may be impacting them.

Group members will explore the origins of their use while developing skills to identify and manage urges and cravings.  Members will learn to assess harm, understand ambivalence about change, and set personally defined goals for success.

Young Adult Women’s Process Group

Kaitlyn Murphy, LMHC

Mondays, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.(EST)

This group is tailored to the unique needs of young adult women ages 18-35, providing a supportive, safe and nurturing environment for members to address issues related to substance use and mental health. By creating a space for women, members can build trust, explore, and share openly in a collaborative treatment environment. In addition to assessing harm and setting goals around substance use, group discussions will focus on relationships, self-esteem, body image, gender, sexuality, shame, depression, anxiety, and trauma, helping clients gain confidence, build upon strengths, and adapt new skills in order to better identify and resolve problematic behavior.

HARM REDUCTION PROCESS GROUP

Adam Frankel, PhD

Mondays, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. (EST)

Members will explore how substance use and risk-taking may arise from the circumstances of one’s life or nature and how these behaviors relate to other life issues. Discussions will focus on how to assess harm, come to terms with ambivalent feelings about change, set harm reduction goals, and develop an individual plan for positive growth. Group discussions also focus on issues around personal identity, loneliness, and intimacy and learning about one’s interpersonal patterns when interacting with others.

Women’s Resilience Group

Kaitlyn Murphy, LMHC

Tuesdays, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. (EST)

This harm-reduction group for female and female-identified members provides a safe environment for them to process and seek support around mental health, substance misuse, and any related or problematic behaviors they wish to examine and change. This group is designed to support members in putting their thoughts, actions, and emotional experiences into words, allowing members to clarify the relationship and possible links between them and their relationship to substances. This group also provides an opportunity for members to bring forth their most authentic, honest, and vulnerable selves while discussing topics such as drug and alcohol use, intimate partner relationships, a family of origin, attachment issues, body image, aging, self-esteem, and self-worth, family and motherhood, trauma, and the related mental health and emotional challenges of existing as a woman in the world today.  This group operates from a strengths-based perspective by tapping into the resilience of the members and the power of the community in order to facilitate healing and personal growth. 

YOUNG ADULT PROCESS GROUP

Eddie Einbinder, LCSW

Tuesdays, 6:10 – 7:20 p.m. (EST)

This group is for teenagers in high school or early college. It will introduce harm reduction principles, including psychoeducation about substances, along with strategies to reduce risk and increase safety.  Members will be encouraged to share and reflect on their experiences and explore safer ways to manage substance use, including moderation, reduction in use, or abstinence. Sessions will be semi-structured, with special weekly topics introduced based on members’ needs and interests.

ADULT PROCESS GROUP

Eddie Einbinder, LCSW

Tuesdays, 7:30 - 8:40 p.m. (EST)

This group will provide an introduction to harm reduction principles, including psychoeducation about substances and strategies to reduce risk and increase safety. Members will be encouraged to share and reflect on their experiences and explore safer ways to manage substance use, which may include moderation, reduction in use, or abstinence. Sessions will be semi-structured, with special weekly topics introduced based on members’ needs and interests. Members can also choose to focus on a particular drug to learn about via discussion, literature, and film.

HARM REDUCTION PROCESS GROUP

Adam Frankel, PhD

Wednesdays, 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. (EST)

Members will explore how substance use and risk-taking may arise from the circumstances of one’s life or nature and how these behaviors relate to other life issues. Discussions will focus on how to assess harm, come to terms with ambivalent feelings about change, set harm reduction goals, and develop an individual plan for positive growth. Group discussions also focus on issues around personal identity, loneliness, and intimacy and learning about one’s interpersonal patterns when interacting with others.

WELLNESS SELF- MANAGEMENT PLUS

Izetta Briggs-Bolling, PhD

Wednesdays at 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (EST)

The focus of this group is to help participants gain knowledge and develop practical strategies to improve their overall quality of life. Discussions will address the intersection of mental health issues and co-occurring substance use and other problematic behaviors. By gaining awareness of how these issues interact, participants will develop tools to manage distress and reduce risky behaviors.

MEN’S HARM REDUCTION PROCESS GROUP

Eddie Einbinder, LCSW

Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. (EST)

This group provides a unique opportunity to receive multiple perspectives, support, encouragement, and feedback from other individuals in a safe and confidential environment. Members are welcome to bring any issues to the group they feel are important, including substance use and other problematic behaviors. Members will learn to assess harm and to understand their ambivalence about making certain changes. The group will help members set individual goals and work towards one’s ideal relationship to substances. Group members will gain a better understanding of themselves and what might be underlying their behaviors while also developing practical skills to manage urges and cravings driving their behaviors.

DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY GROUP

Kevin Braga, LCSW

Wednesdays, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. (EST)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) helps individuals who would like to improve their ability to manage emotions, tolerate distress and communicate more effectively with others. Problematic behaviors such as substance use evolve as a way to cope with a situation or as an attempt to solve a problem. While these behaviors might provide temporary relief or a short-term solution, they are often ineffective in the long term. Clients in the DBT group will learn valuable skills such as mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness techniques that can be applied in daily life and have been shown to have long-lasting effects in the treatment of addiction.

Men's Harm Reduction Process Group 

Eddie Einbinder, LCSW

Wednesdays from 5:30 pm-6:45 pm. 

This group is for men who are interested in gaining a better understanding of themselves and the role of substances and other potentially problematic behaviors in their lives. The harm reduction focus of the group is designed to help members define and create their ideal relationship to substances, whether that is safer use, moderation, or abstinence. Members will participate by working on and sharing with the group their individual goals for optimal use experiences. Members will have opportunities to speak about their experience and their efforts to make changes, and they will be supported in identifying what positive change means to them. Group members will learn to assess harm, create plans for optimal use experiences, and gain important support from others in their personal process of change-making. 

HARM REDUCTION PROCESS GROUP

Kevin Braga, LCSW

Thursdays, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m. (EST)

This group offers a unique opportunity to receive multiple perspectives, support, encouragement, and feedback from other individuals in a safe and confidential environment.   Members will explore how substance use and other problematic behaviors may be associated with personal and social/relational factors. Members will develop individual goals and work towards their optimal relationship with substances and other behaviors. Group discussions will also focus on how to assess harm and process feelings of ambivalence about making changes. Group members will gain a better understanding of themselves and what might be underlying their behaviors while also developing practical skills to manage urges and cravings driving their behaviors.

FAMILY GROUP

Izetta Briggs-Bolling, PhD

Saturdays, 11:00 -12:00 pm. (EST) | Starting February 5, 2022

This interactive group experience will provide education and support to individuals, family members, and concerned significant others impacted by the substance use/misuse and/or mental health concerns of a loved one. Participants will be invited to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences while learning techniques to develop effective skills to improve communication with the person of concern. 
There are three primary goals of the group:  

1. Provide an overview of the Integrative Harm Reduction Psychotherapy treatment model to enhance understanding from the family member’s perspective.

2. Concerned significant others will learn skills to manage emotions pertaining to loved one’s behaviors and change process.

3. Interact with others to express thoughts, feelings and practice new skills to decrease unintentional reinforcement of substance-using behaviors.
   

TEENAGE HARM REDUCTION GROUP 

Eddie Einbinder, LCSW

TBD

This group is for teenagers in high school or early college. It will provide an introduction to principles of harm reduction, including psychoeducation about substances, along with strategies to reduce risk and increase safety.  Members will be encouraged to share and reflect on their experiences and explore safer ways to manage substance use, which may include moderation, reduction in use, or abstinence. Sessions will be semi-structured, with special topics introduced each week based on members’ needs and interests.