The Difficult Conversation Practice Group Wednesday evenings · group therapy · screened intake

There are conversations many of us have been carrying for years. Things we needed to say. Boundaries we never learned how to hold. Grief that never fully moved through. Anger that became silence. Words we wish someone had said to us long ago.

DIFF-CO is an experiential psychotherapy group for refining the practice of discerning what needs to be said, how to say it, and then saying it.

THE WORK

The room is structured to make the impossible conversation possible. We work in three modes, often within a single session.

Internal. Parts work and somatic awareness. Notice which part of you is afraid to speak. Notice where in the body the unsaid lives. Listen to what each part needs in order to participate.

Dyadic. Empty-chair dialogue and structured enactments. Speak directly to the person you've been avoiding — sometimes to a chair, sometimes to a group member temporarily stepping into the role. The conversation gets to be had, in real time, with your whole body present.

Group. The here-and-now of how we relate to each other in the room becomes its own material. Friction, attraction, deference, withdrawal — all of it is information about the patterns you bring to relationship. The group itself becomes a laboratory for new ways of being in conversation.

WHAT WE BUILD

The work is about specific group dynamics that make difficult conversations possible to have at all. Over the weeks, the cohort develops:

Nervous systems regulated enough to stay present. People can sit with discomfort, hold complexity, and remain in relationship even when things get hard.

Capacity for reflection and repair. Conflict or strain is met with curiosity and care, deepening understanding and restoring alignment.

Belonging actively cultivated. People across difference feel genuinely seen and included — not just tolerated.

Difference named, not smoothed over. Disagreement, tension, and divergent perspectives are welcomed as information rather than threats to cohesion.

Power acknowledged and redistributed. Dominant voices make room. Quieter voices are drawn out. The facilitator actively works against default hierarchies.

Repair normalized. When harm or rupture happens, the group moves toward accountability and repair — not silence or collapse.

WHAT DIFF-CO DRAWS FROM

The work draws on established traditions in group psychotherapy and structured conversation practice:

• Interpersonal process group (Yalom) — the here-and-now as therapeutic material

• Psychodrama (Moreno) — enactment, role-play, auxiliary roles

• Gestalt — empty chair, two-chair, awareness in the moment

• Internal Family Systems–inspired work — parts dialogue and self-leadership

• Restorative practices — structured forms for difficult conversations

• Somatic and experiential traditions — the body as participant and witness

WHO THIS IS FOR

DIFF-CO is for adults ready for deeper relational work in a structured therapeutic environment. Most members are also in individual therapy or have prior therapeutic group experience. The work asks for the capacity to stay regulated under emotional pressure, the willingness to be witnessed, and openness to giving and receiving honest reflection.

People in acute crisis, active substance use, or unmanaged psychiatric symptoms are referred to higher-level care before joining the group. DIFF-CO is not a substitute for individual therapy.

FORMAT

90 minutes weekly. [X]-week initial cohort with the option to continue into a second cycle. Closed group. Maximum 10 members. A new cohort begins once ten members have been screened and confirmed.

HOW TO JOIN

Enrollment begins with a free 30-minute consultation to discuss whether the group is the right fit.

PAYMENT

We take Cigna and Aetna. Private pay is $XX per session. Sliding scale available by request.