64th Annual Conference

Thursday, March 8

Afternoon Workshops

2:45-6:00 P.M.

Workshop 32

Women Connecting to Women: The Healing Power of Women's Groups

Chairs: 

Anne Oakley, Ph.D., Coordinator, Brief Psychotherapy Centre for Women, Women’s College Hospital, Toronto, Canada

Judith Schoenholtz-Read, Ed.D., CGP, FAGPA, Faculty, Fielding Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, California

Women seek connections with other women in their roles as daughters, sisters, mothers, friends, partners, managers/leaders, and professional colleagues. Group themes related to connection such as love, desire, and mutuality as well as disconnections related to competition, envy, and power will be explored by applying feminist and relational-cultural theories. Through experiential exercises and a demonstration group, the workshop will model how to work with these themes to promote change in women’s groups.

demonstration, experiential, didactic, sharing of work experiences

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:
1. Recognize women’s desire for female relationships and barriers to female relationships in their different roles throughout their lives.

2. Provide an opportunity for women to explore both the barriers to and opportunities for identifying their own needs and desires for relatedness to other women in a safe “women’s space”.

3. Identify group dynamics and leadership issues that characterize women’s groups.

Course References:

1. Apter, T. & Josselson, R. (1998). Best Friends: The pleasures and perils of girl's and women's friendships. New York, NY: Crown.
2. Oakley, A. (1996). Women's Spaces: A framework for time-limited women's groups. In B. DeChant (Ed.). Women and Group Psychotherapy. New York, NY: Guilford.
3. Tannen, D. (2006). You’re Wearing That? Understanding mothers and daughters in conversation. New York, NY: Random House.
4. Miller, J. (2002). How Change Happens: Controlling images, mutuality and power. Stone Center. Wellesley College Center for Women. 96 (in progress).