This group combines the IFS and Interactive modalities.
In this group, you can share your life issues and struggles and get help from the group. You see other people struggling with problems which may be similar to yours, and through this you learn about yourself and others. There is a strong sense of support for each person and a warm feeling of community in the group.
IFS Modality
You learn how to use the powerful IFS model in your work on yourself, both in the group, on your own, and in peer counseling with other group members at home. The text for this work is Jay's book Self-Therapy.
In the group, we use a variety of IFS activities:
1. Individual sessions, where one person works and everyone else supports them and learns from it. 2. Group exercises, where everyone works on a similar issue at the same time. 3. Role playing, where one person works on their parts and other group members role play the parts.
Interactive Modality
Interactive Therapy Groups can improve your ability to relate . . .
in a love relationship
with family
with friends
on the job
in social settings
Interactive Groups can help you . . .
Develop your capacity for intimacy and learn how to make a love relationship work
Become more assertive
Become more outgoing and socially comfortable
Learn what you may be doing to keep your relationships from being satisfying
Understand and trust people of the opposite sex . . . or of the same sex
Learn how to deal with anger and conflict constructively
Become part of a loving community of people
Raise your self-esteem
Get in touch with your personal power
You can learn these relationship skills:
Being in touch with your feelings and expressing them
Reaching out to others confidently
Saying ”No” firmly
Allowing yourself to be open and vulnerable
Expressing yourself forcefully and spontaneously
Being comfortable relating to a group of people
Asking for what you really want
Having the courage to bring up difficult issues
Empathizing with others
What Happens
You work directly on how you are relating to the other group members . . . in the moment. Instead of just talking about how you relate in your life, you practice interacting with others right in the group and get help as you do. You get direct and honest feedback on how people are reacting to you. We provide a safe place for you to try out new and risky behavior. You learn how to get in touch with your subtle emotional responses when you are interacting with someone and how to communicate them clearly. Everyone has certain patterns of relating to others. We help you to uncover those patterns that aren’t working for you , so you can experiment with changing them, right on the spot. We also help you identify those patterns that do work, so you can validate and expand on them.
What Group Members are Saying
The benefits I've received from group work with Jay Earley are awesome. To begin with, IFS is the best and most thorough therapy I have found. It has a strong spiritual quality, essential for real healing in my book. Five important benefits to the group are: (1) We learn details of how IFS works during weekly meetings. (2) We frequently get individual work as Jay demonstrates the processes. (3) We guide each other in processes for homework. (4) We get practice being our highest Self in every process we undertake. And (5) Group members become treasured, respected friends. Linda Hassler
Jay’s ongoing group is very valuable to me. It is exploratory, cutting edge, and inspirational. It really fosters a thorough, dynamic, and experimental approach to learning. Jeff Jones
Jay Earley is a thinker, doer, and trainer in the practice of Gestalt group therapy. His training groups and workshops have been taken by therapists and trainers from all the major Gestalt training centers in the New York area. California’s gain is New York’s loss! Whether you want to learn how to do group therapy or be a participant, Jay’s gentle style and unique approach will make the difference. - Marla Silverman, Ph.D., Dirctor of Training, New York Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training.
The Interactive format takes Gestalt Group work to an entirely new and powerful level and truly embodies the concept of healing through meeting. Jay’s presence communicates both permission and support to be yourself. You can find your own and other people’s heart here. - Ron DeAngelo, Co-Director of Training, Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy
As a veteran of 30 years of therapies and groups, I have experienced both the mediocre and the masterful in the psychotherapy profession. Never before in such a short time have I received so much growth, power, nurturing, conflict and resolution as I have in Jay’s interactive training group. My expectations, already high, have been far exceeded. Jay is consistently present, vulnerable, ego-less, accepting, challenging, available, and impersonally caring. What I had hoped to learn for my clients has been given to me in greater measure personally. Jay’s model is learnable and adaptable. It has affected my psychotherapy work and life. - Dr. F. Towne Allen, psychotherapist
I think it’s a testament to the efficacy of Jay Earley and his relationship group that, unlike some therapy and group experiences I’ve had over the years, I am clearly aware of a number of specific and valuable interpersonal skills I have developed there. I am able to address people in conflict situations in ways that help them hear me without defensive distortions and escalated bad feelings. In turn, I am more able to listen without defensive reactivity. I learned the importance of these skills a long time ago, but the group has helped me actually be able to practice them in the real world. I’ve become aware of lifelong patterns of thinking and behaving that have been problematic for me, and I’ve come to understand their connections to parts of my personality that have been in some degree of pain since they were formed in my childhood. Most importantly, I’m learning how to care for and heal those parts. By being able to take in and validate the good feelings people have for me, I have come to appreciate myself more and accept my good qualities. I’ve become a much better friend to myself. I’ve learned the great pleasure of being an authentic person, right or wrong, and of the satisfaction that comes from taking the risks in relationships that cultivate that authenticity. - Jim Spohn (707) 649-9448
Jay teaches a step by step process to listen inside myself so that I can understand my hidden desires and motivations. I am learning to take better care of myself, gaining in self-knowledge, and healing old wounds so that I am behaving in a way that matches my sense of integrity and my own spiritual principals. I also have gained an awesome community of peers who have helped me navigate my inner life as I help them navigate theirs. I feel more patient with my spouse and less reactive. Judy Sclarsky
Creating Wholeness: Reweaving Your Inner Landscape
