Group Counseling
Every semester, the Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services offers a variety of groups. Counseling groups are often the best way to work on areas of concern, especially when those concerns deal with issues that directly affect your relationships with others. Groups give you contact with peers as well as a therapist in a safe and confidential environment.
For our group counseling sessions, we ask that students sign up for the
semester. The groups meet once a week and vary in time. Students must schedule
an initial appointment with a counselor to enroll.
If you are interested in
joining a group, please fill out this survey:
Group sign-up - Carruth Center
Once you have completed the survey, a counselor will contact you to schedule a time to meet and discuss the group.
Fall 2025 Groups:
Creative Arts Group: Healing Through Creativity.
Stressed? Anxious? Just need a space to vibe and create? This group is your go-to spot for using art, music, and creativity to work through life’s chaos. No need to be the next Bob Ross or Beyoncé — this isn’t about talent, it’s about expression.
We’ll do things like making pottery, painting out your mood, building playlists that match your feels, jewelry making, decoding song lyrics that hit too hard, and even crafting some origami magic (yes, folding paper can be therapeutic) along with many other creative possibilities.
Led by Carruth counselors, this group is all about connection, self-expression, and finding better ways to cope. Whether you're dealing with social anxiety, depression, or just love the idea of processing life through creativity, this is your space. It’s judgment-free, pressure-free, and experience-free — just bring yourself.
Graduate Student Support
The graduate student support group provides a space for students to discuss common experiences of graduate school including thesis/dissertation, research and teaching expectations, and concerns with graduate advisors, funding, and family and other relationships. Students have benefited from receiving support and guidance from others who have gone through similar events, as well as having a devoted space to vent and process their graduate school experience.
Mondays from 5:00 - 6:30PM with Jay and Barb
Overcoming
Obsessions and Countering Compulsions:
Managing OCD Symptoms
Living in the cycle of intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors can feel isolating, but you’re not alone. This weekly group brings together students who share an OCD diagnosis or struggle with intrusive thoughts/compulsive actions to support one another and work toward improving difficult symptoms. Together with a small group of peers, you’ll explore practical tools, reflect on your progress, and work through challenges using proven treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). With encouragement and tailored guidance, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to make meaningful changes beyond group.
(Prior diagnosis of OCD is not necessary to join. Interested participants who do not have an OCD diagnosis are encouraged to schedule a screening to assess whether their concerns would be a good match for the group.)
Wednesdays from 3:30 - 4:30PM with Cody and Hannah
Get More Out of Life (Part of the Well-Being Adventure Series)
In partnership with
Adventure WV and as part of the Well-Being Adventure Series, group members will
learn tools from both positive psychotherapy and therapeutic adventure to
increase their well-being. Group members will be supported to develop their
strengths, practice more gratitude, interact more constructively with friends
and loved ones, get more enjoyment out of their daily activities, and feel more
optimistic about their future. These goals will be achieved through members
participation in ecotherapy, ongoing celebration of one another’s strengths
during problem-based group development, and processing with each other their
unique experiences utilizing the tools they acquire during sessions and in
integrative activities assigned between meetings each week. The group
experience will culminate with an outdoor experience such as backpacking,
aerial adventure and camping, or paddling.
Mondays from 4:00 - 5:30PM with Chris
and Cody
Your Inattention Please! ADHD Support
This group will
offer practical skills to support ADHD students as well as space to talk about
navigating college – and life in general – with a neurodivergent brain. Skill
topics will include increasing motivation to begin academic work, sustaining
focus, organization, time management, emotional regulation and interpersonal
issues. These skills will allow you to best manage the challenges and
incorporate the strengths of your unique ADHD brain. The group will also
incorporate interpersonal processing – opportunities to reflect on
communication and relationship patterns, provide and receive feedback, and
practice different ways of relating in the group space. No official diagnosis
is required.
Thursdays from 5:30 - 6:45PM with Megan D and Ashley L
Understanding Self & Others (USO)
Interpersonal process groups aim to support students with any
social or interpersonal concern (e.g., challenges making or keeping friends,
difficulty trusting others and being vulnerable, family conflict). These groups
involve reflecting on communication and relationship patterns, providing and
receiving feedback, and practicing different ways of relating in the group
space. Discussion topics include family dynamics, how early experiences impact
current relationships, coping with changing levels of intimacy, initiating
conversations and relationship dynamics, with an emphasis on here-and-now
exploration.
Wednesdays from 3:30 - 5:00PM with Brie and Emma
Men's Support Group
Many men do not receive enough support in facing mental health
challenges in their lives due to social stigma and masculine norms. This group will provide this much-needed
supportive and shame-free space for students identifying as men to connect with
each other and discuss issues related to mental and emotional health. As a group, we will strive to cultivate
vulnerability, self-awareness, compassion, and courage to help each other
become the men we want to be. Topics of
discussion will vary but may include relationships, intimacy, anger, substance
use, body image, and self-esteem.
Tuesdays
from 5:30 - 7:00PM with Adam and Tinh