Group therapy can be a safe and validating space for people seeking support for a mental health condition or major life change.

Group sessions are typically 6-8 weeks in duration, and fees are often lower than individual therapy sessions.

Browse Sunstone’s current group counseling offerings. You may also be interested in our interactive and immersive workshops.

  • Groups provide support. Hearing from others with similar challenges helps you understand that you’re not alone.
  • Groups provide perspective. Hearing others’ experiences can be very insightful and give you a deeper perspective on your situation.
  • Groups develop social skills. Groups not only help ease a sense of isolation but also provide the opportunity to practice communication and listening skills.
  • Groups promote forward momentum. Members often feel a sense of accountability to the group and are therefore more likely to move forward toward positive change.

Teen Eating Disorder Process Group

workshop

Do you think you would benefit from extra support on your eating disorder recovery journey?

Eating disorder recovery can feel like a unique and isolating process. This group aims to provide peer support and relatability that is not accessible in individual therapy. The process-oriented group structure allows for open conversation and the opportunity to both support and be supported by people that are going through similar experiences.

Date(s)

Weekly on Tuesdays at 5:00 PM

TBD

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

High school aged (14-18) adolescents with eating disorders

Children's Social Skills Summer Camp

workshop

Does your child feel uncomfortable or out of place among classmates, teammates, and friends?

In this immersive, week-long summer camp experience, children will learn and practice new skills for managing social situations.

Using games and activities, we will find the confidence to navigate social situations like an expert – with a focus on meeting new people, starting and ending conversations, managing conflicts, reading body language and tone, and other social skills.

Date(s)

Summer camps meet daily (M-F) from 9:30-12:30pm

Choose from:
June 19-23, 2023
August 14-18, 2023

Location
This group meets in Sunstone’s McLean office
Participant profile

Children ages 7-9

Rethinking Your Drinking

workshop

Are you considering making a change to your relationship with alcohol?

This group will meet virtually for one hour on Fridays. Sessions will consist of psychoeducation on a different topic each week, activities, assessments, and group discussion.

Participants will:

  • explore their motivation to change and the role alcohol plays in living by their personal values
  • assess what kind of changes might be appropriate for their individual situation
  • learn about the impacts of alcohol on the body and mind, and options to implement and maintain changes (including abstinence, moderation, and harm-reduction)
  • practice relapse prevention skills, coping with urges, and implementing change plans
Date(s)

Weekly on Fridays at noon

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Adults (ages 18+) who are considering making changes to their drinking habits. Participants may not like the impacts alcohol has on their lives or have been told by a loved one that they should make a change.

Eating Disorder Recovery Process Group

workshop

Join us in taking a deep dive into your relationship with eating disorder recovery.

Peer support brings a unique level of dedication to the recovery process. This process style group will focus on the issues, questions, and topics brought by group members during each session.

Common topics include:

  • Finding a healthy balance with physical activity
  • Seeking support from family and friends
  • Understanding motivations for recovery
  • Improving body image
  • Challenging diet culture
  • Practicing self-compassion
  • Boosting self-confidence
  • Cultivating a sense of identity beyond disordered eating
  • and more!
Date(s)

Weekly on Thursdays at 6:00 PM

September 28th-November 16th, 2023

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Adults Ages 23+

DBT Skills for Parents of Teens

workshop

Would you like to gain behavioral skills to help connect with and support your emotional teen?

Parenting can be especially challenging when your teen has difficulties regulating their emotions. This group provides parents with tools to help their teens accept life circumstances while developing skills to enact positive changes in their behavior and interactions with others.

Each week focuses on a specific DBT skill: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and the teen-family-specific module, Walking the Middle Path.

Date(s)

Thursdays from 6:30-7:45pm

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Parents/guardians of 12-18 year-olds who seek tools to support their child(ren) experiencing mental health struggles and emotional dysregulation

DBT Skills Creative Arts Group for Adolescents

workshop

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment that helps individuals live more in the moment, better manage intense emotions, reduce impulsive behavior, and improve their relationships. In this group, we go over coping skills and strategies from the modules of DBT: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and walking the middle path.

Creative techniques are used to explore and reinforce DBT concepts in a way that is accessible and beneficial for adolescents of all artistic skill levels.

Date(s)

Multiple offerings (click Learn More for details)

Location
Multiple in-person offerings (click Learn More for details)
Participant profile

High schoolers (9th-12th grade)

Participants are often struggling with some level of anxiety and/or depression. This group is ideal for anyone who has difficulty managing intense or extreme emotions, makes impulsive decisions or reacts impulsively, engages in self-harm or self-destructive behaviors, or struggles with conflict at home or at school.

DBT Skills Group for Adults

workshop

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment that helps individuals live more in the moment, better manage intense emotions, reduce impulsive behavior, and improve their relationships.

In this DBT Skills Group, we go over coping skills and strategies from the modules of DBT: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Participants commit to joining eight weeks at a time (two weeks of mindfulness and six weeks on another module). The full program is 24 weeks.

Date(s)

Tuesdays from 6:30-8pm

8-week modules are introduced on a rolling basis (click Learn More for details).

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Consider this group if you are an adult in Virginia experiencing chaotic relationships, difficulty managing your emotions, and/or have problematic behaviors as a result of intense emotions.

Children’s Social Connections Group

workshop

Does your child have difficulty making or keeping friends?

This group experience provides a collaborative environment for children to learn tools for navigating social situations and to practice them in the moment.

Utilizing play and activities, children will find confidence in social situations, with a focus on meeting new people, expressing feelings, managing conflict and problem solving, emotional regulation, and other social skills.

The facilitators will use a mix of psychoeducation and play to create an inviting and engaging curriculum for young children.

Date(s)

Multiple in-person offerings (click Learn More for details)

Location
Sunstone's Mclean office
Participant profile

2 sessions offered for children ages 4-6 and 7-9

High School Body Image Support Group

workshop

Feeling comfortable in our bodies can be challenging for people of any age, and it can be especially difficult for adolescents as they go through physical, emotional, and social changes.

Teens are regularly faced with many external factors, such as social media, culture, body ideals, peers, societal constructs, diet culture, wellness trends, etc. It can be difficult to process and filter this information, which impacts the development of body image, self-esteem, and their relationships with their bodies.

In this group, participants will have the opportunity to share personal stories, explore related topics, and support one another in their journeys to improve their relationships with their bodies and increase self-compassion.

Date(s)

Tuesdays from 7-8:00pm

Location
This group meets in Sunstone’s McLean office
Participant profile

High school girls or non-binary teens who have struggled with body image related to weight, gender constructs, self-confidence, and insecurities

Teens Talk Space: Anxiety

workshop

Is your teen overly anxious and/or struggling to cope with the demands of daily life?

This group aims to help teens understand symptoms of anxiety as well as learn how to identify triggers, shift thinking patterns, develop healthy coping skills, self-advocate across different settings, and create a support network.

Parents will receive weekly information aligned to each week’s topics in order to help families reinforce skills or concepts practiced during sessions. Parents will also have an opportunity to attend one parent support group session midway through the program to provide feedback to the facilitator and to offer insight or support for one another.

Date(s)

Saturdays from 11am – 12pm

Location
This group meets in Sunstone’s Ashburn office
Participant profile

Teenagers age 13-17 who experience difficulties related to anxiety

High School Support Group

workshop

Are you looking to gain support or to just connect and grow with others who “get it?”

This ongoing, intimate group of up to 8 participants provides a safe, nonjudgmental space for high schoolers to come together for support and peer connection.

Members are encouraged to bring their concerns and be open to receiving input from others. The counselors will provide psychoeducation and facilitate the conversation.

While there is no set agenda in this open process group, themes that commonly arise include depression/anxiety, academic and societal pressures, substance use, relationship and family dynamics, and life paths/transitions, among others.

Date(s)

2 offerings: Wednesdays from 4-5:00pm and 5:15-6:15pm

Location
This group meets in Sunstone’s McLean office
Participant profile

High schoolers (9th-12th grade); all genders welcome

Sexual and Gender Identity Development Group

workshop

Are you curious about exploring your gender or sexual identity?

Consider joining this group if you wish to deepen your level of self- and other awareness in relation to your gender/sexual identity.

Interpersonal process groups offer a unique and powerful space for growth and change. Members can expect to gain a deeper level of insight on themselves and how they relate to others based off of the “here and now” interactions within the group setting.

Date(s)

Mondays from 6-7:30pm

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Adults ages 18-40; gender and sexual minorities / people questioning or curious about exploring their gender and/or sexuality

Sex and Body Image

workshop

Do you find yourself avoiding sexual intimacy due to body image concerns?

Many women struggle to reveal their true sexual selves because of insecurities about their body. While it is normal to have insecurities and concerns, it is difficult to enjoy yourself if they are preventing you from experiencing true sexual intimacy and confidence.

The facilitators will use a mix of psychoeducation and processing to create an inviting and engaging group for women. This approach allows members to gain support from others with similar experiences while taking home evidence-based skills.

Date(s)

Thursdays from 6-7:00pm

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Women ages 25-35

Heartbreak Process Group

workshop

Are you currently experiencing the loss of a romantic relationship or struggling to move past a previous heartbreak?

This group supports women who are currently facing heartbreak from any kind of intimate relationship. This includes but is not limited to the loss of a short-term relationship, a casual relationship, a long-term relationship, a partner in ENM dynamics, and even a relationship you hoped would happen but did not.

Date(s)

Wednesdays from 7-8:00pm

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Inclusive of all women, sexual orientations, and relational orientations, ages 25+

Integrative Story Telling: Traumatic Loss and Grief

workshop

Have you experienced an unexpected, violent or traumatic death of a significant person in your life?

The death of a loved one or close friend under sudden, unexpected, violent or traumatic circumstances can present complex problems in the grief process. Grief can become complicated. This group offers a supportive and safe space for survivors to share their loss and begin to move through the healing process.

Group participants can expect to focus on mindful engagement, commemoration of their loved one and resiliency skills and practices through sharing stories, discussion, and learning and sharing coping skills.

Each session will include short grounding/meditative exercises at the beginning and end, brief check-ins, psychoeducational teaching, exercises and group discussions and sharing.

Date(s)

This group will return in the near future

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile
  • Those who have experienced a traumatic loss, e.g., suicide, homicide, accident, overdose, COVID, etc.
  • Adults (18+) residing in VA, MD, DC or AZ
  • Must be at least 3 months out from loss experience
  • We ask participants to commit to attending all 10 sessions to support group cohesion

Divorce/Separation Support Group for Women

workshop

Do you find yourself in a season of change due to separation and/or divorce?

This experience can be isolating, but you do not have to go through it alone.

The Weekly Divorce and Separation Support Group for Women is a safe and supportive processing group where you can share your journey, and be seen and heard by other women going through similar circumstances.

Together, we will work to build coping skills for managing challenging emotions, examine beliefs and self-talk about separation and divorce, explore your redefined sense of self and identity, and gain confidence as you move forward into your new chapter.

Date(s)

Upcoming sessions to be announced. Please contact Julia if you’d like to join an interest list.

Location
This group meets VIRTUALLY via Zoom (HIPAA-compliant version)
Participant profile

Women, ages 18+ residing in Virginia

We ask participants to commit to attending the 8-week session to help foster group cohesion.

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