Group Therapy: The participants I walked into the lobby to prepare for my new group. According to my supervisor I had an eclectic group of people this session. I was told that there was a variety of people joining me. The point of the group therapy sessions was to help people in a more supportive environment. I set up 12 chairs, 11 for each of the people in the group and one for their facilitator, which was me.
I walked over to the snack table and pulled out a box from underneath the table. I opened the box and pulled out a stack of plates and cups, a plastic silver tray and 3 bags of Oreos. Everyone loves Oreos. I opened each bag and placed them decoratively around the tray. Next I pulled out some crackers and placed them around the edge of a separate tray. My next stop was the mini fridge where I pulled out a jug of milk for the Oreos and some cheese that I placed in the center of the crackers. I had most of the food out, but I was done yet. I pulled out two carafes of coffee freshly brewed before and I came in and I put out some muffins as well. I decided to put out a variety of things because I didn’t know anyone yet. I decided to make this group special so I put out a blank sheet of paper and wrote on the top:
SUGGESTIONS: What would you like to eat next week?As I put the finishing touches on the food, a couple of people started to show up. The first two came dressed in costumes. I wasn’t sure what they were supposed to be, but I assumed that I would find out sooner or later. I pulled out some name tags from my box under the snack table and put them on the table by the door.
“Good Evening,” I greeted my early arrivers. “Welcome to the group. Please fill out a name tag and then feel free to enjoy the food and drink over on the table over there.”
“Thank you, kind citizen,” stated the young boy with the ducky quilt.
“Yes, we appreciate your good deeds,” continued the woman with the blue corset and black cape.
The two went over to the name tags and filled out their name tags. When they stood up I saw what they had written. The young boy wrote “Wonder Dan” on his and the woman wrote “The Loiterer.” They seemed to have problems identifying their true selves. I hoped I could help them out later.They started up a conversation about someone named Officer Dragosljvich as they walked over to the food table. They grabbed a few items and placed them onto their plates and found a spot to continue their conversation. As I watched them walk over a man looking rather nervous came in wearing the uniform of a UPS driver. I welcomed him and asked him to fill out a name tags. He continued to look around nervously and nearly jumped when a woman opened the door to the building and walked in talking to herself. Finally he stood up and I saw that his name was Doug.
The woman continued to walk toward me and I heard her continue to speak, “I walked into the room and peered around. I saw the couple of costumed people I saw earlier standing in the corner. I was starting to wonder if this was the group for me.”
I interrupted the woman, “Hello Ma’am. Welcome. Please fill out a name tag and help yourself to some food. She continued to talk to herself; seemingly narrating was she was doing throughout everything she did. Her name, according to her name tag, was Victoria.
After Victoria headed toward the food table a small group came in. There were four people in the group, but they didn’t seem to all know each other. Two of them did know each other. I greeted all of them and asked them to fill out a tag. Three of them did what I asked, but one didn’t. “I’m sorry, I’m just here to drop of a friend.”
She turned to her friend, “Melody, I do need to go right now, but I’ll pick you up when you are done, okay? Just give me a call when you are ready. I’ll be next door at the library.”
“Thanks Mandy. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Melody finished her name tag and walked over to the circle to sit down. I watched the other two to see what their names were. One was named Charlie and he seemed ready to get to the food table. The other was named Anthony. These three didn’t seem to have anything outwardly going on with them. I wondered what their stories were. Charlie and Anthony made their way to the food table and loaded up their plates high.
The door opened and two men came through. This one was easier to spot. One of them was wearing a crown and before I could greet him he gave me his hand and introduced himself. “Greetings, my dear subject, I am your good King Connor, and I’m proud to meet you.” He turned to his friend and introduced him to me as well. “To my left here, is the good King of Djibouti, King Nicholas.”
“I’m glad to meet both of you. Will you please fill out name tags and help yourself to some food over on that table. We will be starting in due time.”
“That sounds wonderful, my good man.”
As the two filled in their name tags the door opened and two more people came in. I greeted them and had them fill out their name tags. Shelley and Peter (as I read from their name tags) complied and went to join the food table. After doing a quick head count I realized that I had my full group and was ready to begin at any time. I looked around and noticed that the people were doing some socializing and I decided to grab some food myself and get to know the people before we began. Before I did that I decided that I should really tell them when we would begin.
“Excuse me everyone!” They all turned to look at me. “We will begin in 15 minutes. Please grab anything else you would like from the food table and use the restrooms if you need to. Then I suggest that you take some time to get to know each other a little bit. I’ll see you all in the chairs in the circle in 15 minutes.”
I walked over to the table and grabbed some food for myself. I hoped this night would go well. I still didn’t know exactly what to expect.
I decided to walk around with my Oreos and Milk and try to get a feel for the participants. However, as I looked down at myself, I realized that I hadn’t made myself a name tag yet. I walked over and filled out my name tag and even added a few flourishes. Then I turned back to the room and decided on the best course of action.
Taking the room in a circle seemed like the best option. The participants were scattered around the room. Some of them were together and others were alone. I caught snippets of their conversations. I walked by one of them sitting all by herself clutching a purple handbag so hard that her knuckles were turning white. As I got closer she picked up her cell phone and dialed a number. “Mandy, there are a lot of weird people here. I need you here, can you come? … Just for tonight?... Please, Mandy? I need you. Okay? … Alright… I’ll see you in a few.”
The poor girl, I wasn’t sure if she was the one who really wanted to be here or if she was only half sure. In my experience, those who really want to be here will be a little more confident when they get here. Those that don’t want to be here will either be really social until it’s time to start or be extremely anti-social. Those who are unsure of whether or not they should be here tend to be nervous especially around the other. Although with this group of Kings and Superheroes, I suppose I couldn’t completely blame her.
I continued my circle and continued to pick up bits of conversations.
“So, you’re a King, huh?”
“Yes, I am. I am in the process of gaining the chain of Convenience Marts under my power.”
“Well then, what are you planning to do once you’ve achieved this wonder?”
“I plan on making life at the Convenience Mart a wonderful place. First things first, I will be changing the name to Convenience King. Then I will make sure every employee is made a member of my counsel.”
“So this isn’t a diabolical scheme to take over the world?”
“Nah, I just want people to rule over again. Have you ever heard of the country Portugal? Let me sing you a song that kinda explains what happened to me.”
As the man started to sing I moved on to another group.
“Well you see, deer hunting was always a time honored event in my household. Of course the rule always was that you never go out alone. After what happened this year, well, let’s just say that I’m going to take that advice.”
“You think that’s bad. Let me tell you about my little tradition. It all started the year that I opened a pink picture frame from Santa. Sure, my parents told me that it was probably a mix-up. I knew that it wasn’t though. I hated Santa from that day, of course, you can’t really blame him. I mean, it was really the blueberry muffins fault. You know what I mean?”
“No, I don’t. I think you’re a bit crazy.”
“I’m not crazy, I’m enlightened, but I guess a hick hunter wouldn’t understand that. Would you?”
“Listen, I’m going to go over there and keep that girl company, maybe you should stay here or something.” Anthony walked over to Melody and I moved on to the next group.
“All I’m saying is that the brown is the only way to go as far as package delivery services. I miss them.”
“What did you do to get fired?”
“Well, you see, I managed to deliver all of my packages in one day.”
“That got you fired?”
“Yeah, how else is Satan going to get people to go through Will Call. How do you think he gets most of his souls.”
“So what you’re saying… is that my girlfriend was right all along. UPS have actually been coming to our door and not knocking and just leaving the InfoNotice on the door.”
“That’s right. It’s a great business.”
“You know, I always believed her, but I hoped in the back of my mind that maybe it was just our guy. You bastard!”
Charlie lifted his fist up and I ran over and put myself between them.
“Excuse me gentlemen. We do not fight in here. This is a place for healing. You two should probably not be sitting next to each other tonight. Please separate right now or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Charlie looked at Doug, “You’re lucky that my girlfriend wants me to be here for my health, or I probably wouldn’t be able to control myself.”
Doug eyed Charlie and walked away. That was an incident that was just barely avoided thanks to my facilitating skills.
“So, I said to the girl in front of me, trying to explain why I was here, ‘I realized that my inner monologue seemed to be either missing or broken. I had been narrating what was going on in my life ever since then.’ I hoped that she understood what I was talking about. I decided to shut my mouth and wait for her response.”
“That really sucks about your inner monologue. Do you ever get headaches because of it?”
“I took a moment before answering. Was she making fun of me or was she asking a serious question –“
“I’m asking a serious question.”
“I smiled, ‘I haven’t really yet, but I’ve found that reading or taking a bath helps to stop the incessant talking that I keep doing. Have you ever heard of Charlie Martin?’ I asked her.”
“Isn’t he that new author?”
“I was glad that she had heard of him, he was great. ‘Yeah, he’s great. So what are you doing here.’”
“Ever heard of Shiva?”
The next conversation attracted me to it this point.
“So what’s your story?”
“Well, I realized that I had superpowers one day after putting these fashionable blue streaks in my hair. I knew that I had to either do good or evil. I have to say, my first choice was to do evil, and in fact, I did do evil for awhile. I got caught one day by Wonder Dan over there,” she pointed to the boy in the ducky cape, “and I was so impressed by what he was doing that I just had to switch to his side. He now has two sidekicks, his cat named Eccentric, and myself.”
“How did he catch you exactly?”
“Well, like I said, he does good work. He actually managed to turn an ex-Nazi officer who was bent on destruction to being a good guy and an informant for us. It was the officer, Officer Dragosljvich, who actually stopped me at Wonder Dan’s request and that’s why I’m here, as his sidekick.”
“Interesting.”
“How about yourself? What’s your story.”
“It’s simple enough. I’m the King of Djibouti.”
“My booty?”
“No, Djibouti. It’s a country.”
“Oh…”
So, The Loiterer isn’t even here for help, even though she needs it, she only here because she’s the sidekick to that guy over there. I shook my head and turned my head as Melody’s friend came through the door and walked over to me.
“Excuse me, my friend is here for the room, but she requested that I join her for support. Is that okay?”
“Sure is, I don’t mind having more people.” Especially those who aren’t crazy, I continued to myself.
“Thanks.”
“Please fill out a name tag though.” I called to her. She went to the table and filled out a tag. Then she walked over to Melody and Anthony. I found a space near them to wait out the rest of the time that we would be waiting to start.
“Hi Mandy,” called out Melody. “Come and join us.”
“Okay Melody. Who is this?”
“Oh, this is Anthony. He’s here for therapy too. He works for Upper Valley Central Press.”
“Oh, that’s great, Anthony, my friend Sarah works there. Do you know her?”
“Yes, actually,” he replied, “she’s friends with my secretary.” He turned to Melody. “Listen, Melody, I know we don’t know each other too well, but I was wondering if you would like to come for coffee with me after therapy.”
Melody looked at Mandy for advice and Mandy gave her an encouraging look. She took a deep breath before answering.
“Sure. I would like that.”
I smiled hoping that neither of those two had any major issues that would ruin that. They looked cute together. Melody seemed to be a really nervous though. She was wringing her hands. Mandy put her hand on Melody’s shoulder and gave her a smile. Then she got up and came back over to me.“Cute, isn’t it?” She asked me, smiling.
“Yeah, it’s nice when people find people.”
“Anthony doesn’t seem too bad either.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, a little confused.
“Well, Melody hasn’t had a relationship with anyone in awhile, although she wouldn’t tell you that. That’s why she’s here. She tends to fall in love with people that she’s never met. She doesn’t get out much.”
“Oh, I see…”
I looked over at the clock and excused myself from Mandy. I went to the closet and grabbed another chair for the circle. After placing it in the circle I stood up tall and announced to the group, “Excuse me everyone. We are just about to start. Please make your way over to the circle and find a seat. If you need to use the bathroom or get some more coffee please do so right now.”
I walked around the room and started to corral the people into the seats. After everyone was in their seats I walked over to the only empty seat and introduced myself once more to start the group off.
“Hello, my name is Tyler and I’d like to welcome you to group therapy. You may have noticed the paper over on the table. I put out a few snacks tonight, if you have any ideas for other snacks please write it down for next week. Anyway, the purpose of this group is to discuss things on your mind and work with the group to either gain acceptance or develop a plan of action for change. Let’s start with introductions. So again, my name is Tyler and I am your facilitator. Let’s go around the circle. Let’s start with you.” I pointed to the person directly to the left of me.
“Okay, My name is Charlie and I’m obsessed with Kevin Spacey and how he’s too god damn perfect. I mean any girl would want to date him instead of me. –“
I interrupted. “Charlie, Let’s save that for later. We should try to keep the introductions short. Next?”
“My name is Shelley and the spirit of Shiva invades my fans.”
“My name is Peter and I’m trying to destroy Santa and his blueberry muffin.” At this admission some people got a little restless. I had to say something.
“So far, we’re doing really well. We need to remember that it’s very important to respect what everyone has to say and allow them to speak without interruptions or comments that are negative. Let’s go on.”
“My name is Anthony and I see doe everywhere I go because I shot one on accident.”
Melody looked at Anthony and then at Mandy before she spoke. “My name is Mandy and I make up relationships with people on the radio and TV.”“My name is Mandy and I’m here for emotional support.”
“My name is King Nicholas and I’m the King of Djibouti.”
“And, my name is King Connor and I will soon be King of Convenience Mart.”
“I’m Wonder Dan and I’m a superhero.”
“I’m the Loiterer and I’m Wonder Dan’s sidekick. I used to be a villain.”
“My name is Doug and I’m a UPS man and I’m not sure why I have to be here.” At this statement the rest of the group seemed to look a mixture of pity for Doug or anger.”
“I guessed that I was last, so I raised my voice up and announced, ‘My name is Victoria and my inner monologue is broken.’”
This group certainly was diverse. There eyes were on me as I had to decided what to do first. I had no clue. I had never had a group anything like this.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s begin by breaking the ice. Wonder Dan, you've been here before and there is something I've always wanted to know. Why did you shave that cat?”
Group Therapy | Case 1 | Case 2 | Case 3 | Case 4 | Case 5
Case 6 | Case 7 | Case 8 | Case 9 | Case 10 | Therapy Session
