Joining a counseling group might sound intimidating, but it’s actually one of the best ways to build meaningful relationships. You’ll meet other students who get it—and you’ll practice the kind of social skills that make real-life interactions feel less scary and more natural.
If social anxiety, loneliness, isolation, or just feeling out of sync with others is something you deal with, group counseling can help with that! Gen Z is facing a real connection crisis, spending 1,000 fewer hours per year hanging out in person compared to 15-24 y/o in 2003. That’s wild… Even just one more hour of live, meaningful connection per week can make a significant difference, so consider joining one of UF’s Counseling and Wellness Center’s (CWC) counseling groups!
We have 5 different types of groups based on students’ needs and interests. Check them out!
- Understanding Yourself & Others: These groups are about developing emotional awareness and self-understanding, building trust and connections, and enhancing relationships (friends, family, romantic, professional, etc.) through support and feedback. Most of these groups are general and we also offer one for graduate students and one in Spanish.
- Skills & Support: These groups are about learning and practicing effective coping skills for specific concerns. Examples of some of these skills may include anxiety management, biofeedback, social skills, practicing self-compassion, distress tolerance and emotional regulation, coping with ADHD, and career concerns. Some of these groups use nature, creativity, or Dungeons and Dragons games to teach skills.
- Wellness Support: Support groups are about connecting with others who share similar lived experiences and/or identities in a supportive, empowering, and compassionate space. Students can be in community with others similar to them or who have experienced similar concerns (e.g., grief and loss, high sensitivity, OCD). Some of these groups use puzzles, Dungeons and Dragons games, books, or are around horses to promote support. We also offer one for graduate students and one in Mandarin.
- Learning Together: Students participate in these groups through forms of engagement created within international movements of current or former mental health service users and facilitated by CWC faculty who share this lived experience as peers. This is a safe space for dialogue about whatever students are experiencing, while respecting each other’s worldviews and choices, and moving toward living in more creative, meaningful, engaged, and productive ways.
- Alcohol & Other Drugs: These groups promote a safe, non-judgmental, and psychoeducational environment where students can discuss their substance use and gain understanding and perspective about their choices. Depending on the group, students may learn ways to practice use reduction or abstinence in a supportive space.
