How can group therapy help with bullying?

Can group therapy really help your teenager with bullying? Well, let's talk about that today
on Tips on Teens. My name is Kent Toussaint. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist, and
I specialize in helping kids, teens, and families to live happier lives. I lead two organizations,
Teen Therapy Center and the nonprofit 501c3 organization, Child and Teen Counseling, both
here in Woodland Hills, California. Every Wednesday at noon, I jump on to Facebook Live to answer
your parenting questions. Let's answer today's. My 14 -year -old son is about to go back to school.
We had some problems with bullying last school year, and so I'm a little anxious about it. A friend
of mine suggested group therapy as a way of helping kids cope with bullying. I see you have a group
for high school boys. I was wondering, how can a therapy group help kids who are bullied? Well,
thank you for your question. Unfortunately, bullying is a big part of our society. Many people
watching here have been bullied in

the past. Many people here have had their kids bullied. It's not fun, but it is something we have
to deal with. So if we just focus on the question of how does group therapy help a teenager deal
with bullying? I would say that the most important thing is if it gives your teenager access
to support, social support, where he's not being bullied, where he's feeling accepted, supported,
understood. Other people in the group may have gone through similar experiences, so maybe
he's not feeling so alone. It helps him talk about those feelings, identify what he's feeling,
explore them, express them in a healthy way, so he can build that self -esteem, build that social
connection in a healthier way, so he can more likely reach out to support and resources to help
combat the bullying. Now, what are those resources? Could be many things. First and foremost
is involving the school, assuming it's happening in school, involving the school. Now, I know
there are exceptions to this, and schools are not

always great at helping, but generally speaking, bullying doesn't last when the secret is
out. When everyone knows about the bullying, it generally can go away because the school administration
gets involved. Again, I know not every school administration is great at this, but most, I think,
do a competent job of trying to help support. The more adults are involved, the more your son
is feeling understood and supported, I think that's really important. The more he's able to
reach out to having new social connections, new friend groups, new activities that help him
build friends, all those things, and I think group therapy can really help with that. So, like
the writer was saying, I run a group called The Guys Group, which is a support for high school
boys struggling with self -esteem, needing more social support. It's a lot of fun. The group's
been running for, I think, 15 or 16 years now. It's really cool. I love running this group. It's
every Wednesday at 8 .30. At our nonprofit, Child

and Teen Counseling, we have three groups. We have a high school girls group, we have a middle
school boys group, and we also have the cleverly named Bro -Op, which is a support group for high
school boys. For the nonprofit, those three groups, they're really, you know, low -cost. It's
$30 a session to be in the group, so we really want to keep the cost low so people can feel like they
can engage in that process and have group therapy support. Those are all run by a therapist in
training at our nonprofit, Child and Teen Counseling. If you have questions about it, feel
free to give us a call. Yeah, we love talking about it. Again, my name is Kent Toussaint with Teen
Therapy Center and Child and Teen Counseling. If you like these videos and you want to make sure
they come up in your feed more often, make sure you join our Facebook group, Tips on Teens. Also,
if you want me to answer your question, email us at tipsonteens at teentherapycenter .com.
Thank you so much. Appreciate your time,

and I'll see you guys next Wednesday. Bye -bye.