You have not built a circle here yet. That is the part nobody plans for.
A small, steady group of people in the same situation, in English, where you do not have to explain the beginning.
How it works
- A small group. Few people, stable over time, brought together by a shared situation rather than by a diagnosis, with rules about confidentiality that are agreed rather than assumed.
- Guided sessions. Not an open conversation. There is a structure and something each session is for, and I am the one responsible for the space being safe and for the sessions going somewhere.
- In English, with people in the same position. Nobody has to be told what it is like to sort out a hospital appointment in a second language, or to have your family learn about your life in a weekly call.
- Alongside individual work, when that fits. Plenty of people do both. A group gives you something a room with one other person cannot, and the reverse is equally true.
What a support group is, and what it is not
A support group brings together a few people going through the same thing, with a psychologist running the sessions. It is not classic group therapy, where the main material is what happens between the members; here the axis is the shared situation — an illness, a bereavement, caring for someone, a stage of life — and what each person is doing with it. Nor is it a peer group with no professional in it: somebody is responsible for the space being safe and for the sessions leading somewhere.
What it gives you is difficult to get in an individual session: you stop explaining the beginning. Nobody needs to be told why you are like this, and that changes what it costs to say it. It also changes what you hear. Somebody saying out loud the thing you thought only you thought stops it reading as a personal failing.
Abroad this matters more rather than less. A move removes almost the entire cast of people who would have known without being told, and rebuilding that takes years. A group does not replace it, but it is one room in the week where the explaining is already done.
What actually changes
Not the situation itself. That you stop being the only person in it.
- You stop reading what you are going through as something peculiar to you.
- You get practical answers from people who have already had to find them here.
- Saying it costs less, because the group already knows the starting point.
- There is one fixed thing in your week that is not work and not paperwork.
Who it is for
If you are carrying something on your own in a place where you have no network yet, and everyone who would have understood it without an explanation lives in another country. Also if you are already in individual therapy and want the other thing as well.
- A small, steady group with a shared situation and clear rules about confidentiality.
- Guided sessions: a structure, and something each session is for. I run them.
- Hearing somebody say out loud the thing you believed only you thought.
Who it is not for
It is not an open chat and it does not replace individual therapy. It is guided work, with clear rules about what leaves the room and what does not.
When it makes sense to get in touch. When the heaviest part is not the thing itself but carrying it alone, and when explaining it from the beginning every single time has become exhausting.
The first consultation is free. It is there for you to tell me what is going on and for me to see whether I can help, with no obligation to continue.Book the free consultation →
Frequently asked questions
Are the sessions online, or in person in Granada?
Whichever suits you: by video call from wherever you are, or at your home if you live in Granada. The session is the same; only the place changes. If you are not sure which fits, we look at it in the first consultation.
Is there a group in English running right now?
That depends on how many people are asking about the same situation at the same time, so it is something to check rather than something I can promise on a page. Tell me in the free first consultation what you are dealing with, and I will say honestly what exists, what is being formed, and whether individual work would serve you better meanwhile.
Would I have to talk?
No. People arrive at different points and some spend the first sessions listening. What is asked of you is turning up and keeping what is said inside the room.
What happens to what I say there?
It stays in the group. Confidentiality is a rule agreed at the start rather than taken for granted, and holding it is part of my job rather than a matter of goodwill.
I am already seeing a therapist elsewhere. Can I still join?
Yes, and it is common. The two do different jobs and they do not get in each other's way. It helps if your therapist knows, but nothing has to go through me.
Would the group be held in English?
Yes, where a group is formed on that basis, and that is rather the point: the shared situation matters, and so does not having to do the difficult part in your second language at the same time.
What is the first consultation like?
The first consultation is free and we do it by phone or by video call. It is there for us to meet, put some order on what is going on and see whether I can help. You do not need to arrive with an answer, or to be able to explain exactly what is wrong.