At Be Well ATL, our group therapy is a space where you can say the hard things out loud, without it feeling overwhelming or forced. Small groups, real tools, and therapists who are right there with you… making it feel a little more possible to face what’s been weighing on you.
Most people are pretty good at looking fine. You show up, handle what needs handling, and keep the harder stuff mostly to yourself. Not because you don’t want to talk about it, but because it’s hard to find a room where that kind of honesty actually feels safe. Even in places like the Buford Highway corridor, surrounded by people, it’s possible to feel completely disconnected from everyone around you.
Group therapy offers something one-on-one work genuinely can’t: a room full of people working through the same kinds of things you are, led by a therapist who knows how to make honesty feel possible. At Be Well ATL, our groups are built around real skill-building, honest conversation, and actual connection. You’ll practice tools that work, hear how others are experiencing similar things, and probably recognize yourself in the people sitting across from you.
Group therapy may be a good fit if you:
At Be Well ATL, each group has a clear focus, a consistent format, and a therapist in the room every session. What makes it different from individual therapy is the room itself. Feedback from peers navigating the same challenges carries a weight that one therapist alone can’t replicate. You start to see how you actually show up, and you get the chance to do something different about it.
What that actually looks like week to week:
We know how hard it can be to sit with patterns that aren’t working and relationships that feel stuck. At Be Well ATL, we show up for people even when things are hard. We don’t flinch at the difficult stuff, and the care you get here doesn’t feel cold or clinical.
What we offer:
We offer three structured, therapist-led groups for adults and professionals. Each has a clear focus, a consistent structure, and a therapist who knows how to keep honest conversation possible.
A weekly virtual group for men ready to speak honestly about the things that rarely make it into everyday conversation. Led by Jared Beaver, LMSW, the Men’s Group covers emotions, relationships, intimacy, anger, addiction, fatherhood, and more. Judgment stays at the door.
Tuesdays 6:00–7:00 pm | 12-week commitment | $70 per session
A structured group for parents working through the demands, emotional weight, and relational complexity that come with raising kids. The Parent Groups create space to learn skills, find support, and feel less alone in the job.
A free monthly skills lab for school counselors led by Nicolanne Eustace, LPC. The Skills Lab for School Counselors covers DBT distress tolerance skills, identifying high-risk students, safety planning, mental health and social media trends, and self-care for counselors.
No RSVP required. Monthly on a Thursday at 1:00 pm | Free
Our group works with adults navigating a range of challenges. These are the most common things people bring through the door.
Anxiety in group therapy gets worked on in real time, not just talked about. You practice staying present in a room with others when your nervous system wants to scan for threat, manage the urge to over-explain or go quiet, and use DBT tools to regulate what’s happening in the moment. The group creates low-stakes conditions to try out new responses before taking them into higher-stakes situations outside.
Depression keeps people isolated and convinces them their experience is too much to share. Group therapy directly challenges both of those things. Being in a room where others recognize what you’re describing breaks the belief that what you’re carrying is uniquely shameful. The relational skills built in group, showing up, engaging, receiving support, also address the patterns depression tends to erode over time.
If your emotions move fast, feel big, or flip in ways that are hard to predict, group therapy gives you a structured place to practice working with that. DBT-informed groups at Be Well ATL build the exact skills designed for emotional dysregulation: recognizing what’s happening early, tolerating distress without making it worse, and responding instead of reacting.
Group therapy is not a replacement for ERP for OCD, but it can be a meaningful complement. For people working on OCD alongside individual therapy, a group provides accountability, peer support, and a space to normalize what the experience actually feels like. It also helps with the shame and isolation that often accompany OCD, which individual work alone doesn’t always reach.
How you show up in the group mirrors how you show up in your relationships outside of it. That’s not a side effect of group therapy. It’s one of the core mechanisms. If you repeat the same patterns in relationships, avoid conflict, over-accommodate, shut down, or push people away without understanding why, the group becomes a practice space to notice those patterns and try something different.
Some things are harder to process alone because the people closest to you are either grieving the same loss or too close to hold it steady. Group therapy creates a space where others can hold it with you without being caught up in it themselves. Whether the transition is a loss, a relationship ending, a career shift, or a life stage change, the shared experience in the room can make the weight feel more manageable.
Group therapy has more structure than most people expect. Here’s what’s worth understanding before you start.
A session is structured and therapist-led, not a free-form circle. Here’s what you can typically expect:
Not all group therapy works the same way. Here’s the main difference:
The format determines how the group runs over time:
Confidentiality works the same as individual therapy, with one additional layer:
Group therapy is particularly well-suited for depression. Here’s why:
What the first session actually looks like:
Most people leave the first session with a clearer sense of whether this particular group is a fit for where they are. The emotional norms are similar to those of individual therapy. The dynamic is just different.
Group therapy brings a small number of people together with one or more therapists to work on shared challenges in a structured, confidential setting.
There’s a therapist leading with a clear role, a structure for each session, and group norms that create conditions for honesty. Depending on the format, you might work through a specific skill, hear how others are experiencing similar things, or practice giving and receiving feedback in real time.
In individual therapy, you work one-on-one with your therapist. In group therapy, feedback and perspective come from multiple sources, including peers navigating similar challenges. That dynamic creates insight and accountability that one-on-one work genuinely can’t replicate. Many people do both and find they complement each other well.
The most common types include process-oriented groups, skills-based groups like DBT, psychoeducational groups that teach specific tools and coping strategies, and support groups. At Be Well ATL, our groups are skills-informed with room for real process and connection.
Closed groups have a fixed set of members who commit to the full run. No new members join mid-group, which builds trust and allows deeper work over time. Open groups allow people to join and leave at any point. Most groups at Be Well ATL use the closed format.
People come to group therapy for different reasons. What tends to connect them is this: something isn’t working, and working on it alone hasn’t changed it.
The most significant thing is the experience of not being alone in what you’re carrying. Depression, anxiety, and relational patterns often thrive on the belief that your experience is uniquely shameful or too much for others. When that belief gets challenged by a room full of people who recognize what you’re describing, something shifts that insight alone doesn’t always reach.
Individual therapy gives you a private, tailored relationship with one therapist. Group therapy gives you that, plus the mirror of peers and the practice of real interpersonal dynamics. Neither is better. They work differently, and many people do both at the same time.
One of the things group therapy does best is develop the interpersonal skills that other forms of therapy can only talk about.
In group therapy, you practice giving feedback to others and receiving it from people navigating similar things. That kind of exchange is something most people rarely get in daily life. Over time, it builds communication skills that transfer outside the group.
How you show up in the group tends to mirror how you show up in your relationships outside of it. Group therapy creates the conditions to notice those patterns as they happen, not in hindsight. You start to see what you do when things get uncomfortable, what you avoid, and what you could do differently.
Over the course of a closed group, trust develops between members in a way that’s hard to replicate elsewhere. That trust creates a practice environment where you can try out new ways of connecting and expressing yourself in a space where it’s safe to get it wrong first.
Yes. Creating a safe space for emotional expression is one of the core functions of a well-run group.
Group therapy is built around confidentiality. All members commit to keeping what’s shared in the room before the group begins. That shared commitment is part of what makes it possible to say things in a group that you’ve never said anywhere else.
One of the most consistent experiences people describe in group therapy is the feeling of being heard, not just by the therapist but by other members who genuinely recognize what you’re carrying. That peer validation challenges the belief that your experience is too unique.
Group therapy gives you the chance to work through emotions in real time, with other people present. Seeing how others respond to what you share, and how you respond to what others share, is part of how the work goes deeper.
Group therapy creates conditions for a kind of growth that’s hard to achieve in private reflection or individual therapy alone.
When other people in the group reflect on what they notice about you, it builds a kind of self-awareness that internal reflection alone doesn’t produce. You start to recognize behavioral patterns you’ve been blind to and see yourself more clearly through others’ eyes.
Group therapy is a practice space for relationships. You experiment with being more honest, more present, and more direct than you usually are. Those patterns tend to carry over into relationships outside the group.
Over the course of a group, you develop insight into your own emotional responses, what triggers you, what you avoid, and why. That insight, grounded in real experience with real people, tends to be more durable than what comes from talking about emotions in the abstract.
A psychoeducational group combines structured learning about mental health topics with the support and connection of a group setting.
In a psychoeducational group, there’s a curriculum. Each session covers a specific topic or skill, and members learn together before discussing how it applies to their own lives.
At Be Well ATL, our skills-based groups draw from DBT. Members learn tools for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness, and then practice applying them in real time with the group. The goal is not just understanding a concept but building a habit you can use when things get hard.
Between sessions, members practice applying what they’ve learned to real situations. Each week, the group reviews how that went, troubleshoots, and builds on what’s working. Over time, the skills become part of how you actually respond to things.
Group therapy is effective for a wide range of people and challenges. It tends to work especially well when someone is ready to engage with others, not just process things privately.
Group therapy is often a particularly good fit for people dealing with depression, anxiety, isolation, relationship patterns that repeat, emotional regulation challenges, or the sense of being uniquely misunderstood. It also works well for people who have done individual therapy and are ready for a different kind of work.
Group therapy is worth considering when you’ve identified patterns that feel stuck, when isolation is part of what makes things harder, or when you want to practice real skills alongside others doing the same work. It’s also a strong option when individual therapy has been helpful, but something still feels unfinished.
If you’re in acute crisis, processing very recent trauma without individual support in place, or at a stage where focusing on others would be too much, starting with individual therapy first often makes more sense. A therapist at Be Well ATL can help you figure out which format fits where you are.
Every group has its own norms, but a few things apply across most structured group therapy settings.
What gets shared in the room stays in the room. All group members commit to this before the group begins, and the therapist holds the same legal and ethical obligations as in individual therapy. This shared commitment is part of what makes honest conversation possible.
Show up consistently, engage with the material and with other group members, and commit to the full duration if it’s a closed-format group. You’re not expected to share everything at once. A good therapist doesn’t push people past where they’re ready to go.
Group therapy varies in length depending on the format and focus. The most common structured formats run between 8 and 20 weeks, meeting once a week.
A skills-based DBT group usually follows a defined curriculum with a clear endpoint. A process-oriented group may run longer as the work deepens. At Be Well ATL, most groups involve a 12-week commitment. The Men’s Group meets weekly at $70 per session. The Skills Lab is monthly and free.
Yes, for the right person in the right group, it works. The evidence base is strong across depression, anxiety, interpersonal difficulties, and emotional dysregulation. Effectiveness depends heavily on fit, not just format.
The most consistent factors are a skilled therapist, a well-matched group with a shared purpose, a clear structure, and members who are committed and willing to be honest. Groups that don’t work well usually have one of those elements missing.
A group that’s a poor match for where you are will be less useful than one built around your actual challenges. This is one reason it’s worth talking to someone at Be Well ATL before starting.
Group therapy isn’t the right fit for everyone. It helps to know what the format asks of you before you start.
The most common concerns are privacy and pacing. Worrying that something shared might get out, or that you’ll have to open up before you’re ready. Neither tends to be the reality in a well-run group.
Group therapy may not be the best starting point if you’re in acute crisis, processing very recent trauma without individual support, or at a stage where focusing on others would be too much. If you’re not sure, reach out. We can help you figure out whether individual therapy, group therapy, or a combination makes the most sense.
Most closed groups move through a predictable arc. Understanding the stages helps you know what to expect.
Groups typically move through four stages: forming, where members get oriented and build initial trust; storming, where conflict and tension emerge as different needs push against each other; norming, where the group settles into a working rhythm and trust deepens; and performing, where members take real risks, and the work goes deeper. Most people find the final stage, where the group prepares to end, more significant than they expected.
Depression is one of the challenges group therapy is particularly well-suited to address.
Depression often makes people withdraw and reinforces the belief that their struggles are uniquely shameful or too much for others. Group therapy directly challenges that pattern. Being in a room where others are navigating similar things can shift the internal narrative in ways that insight alone doesn’t always reach.
If depression is affecting your ability to function at work, in relationships, or day to day, that’s a signal worth paying attention to. You don’t need to be in crisis to reach out. If you’ve been managing it alone for a while and it hasn’t gotten better, that’s enough. Group therapy at Be Well ATL is one way to get real support without waiting until things are at their worst.
Group therapy builds interpersonal connections and skills in real time. If depression has pulled you away from relationships, the group becomes a practice space. You learn how to be present in a room with people when things feel heavy. Those relational skills tend to generalize outside the group.
Depression can improve substantially, and many people experience extended periods without depressive episodes. Whether it resolves fully depends on the person, severity, and contributing factors. A therapist at Be Well ATL can help you think through what a realistic plan looks like for where you are.
There’s no single best treatment because what works depends on the person. The strongest outcomes come from treatment matched to the individual.
Individual therapy, group therapy, medication, and lifestyle factors can all play a role. For mild to moderate depression, therapy alone is often effective. For moderate to severe, a combination of therapy and medication is often recommended. DBT has a strong evidence base for depression, particularly when emotional dysregulation or relational difficulties are part of the picture.
Group therapy is often used alongside individual therapy rather than instead of it. Group work addresses the interpersonal and isolation components, while individual therapy provides space for personal history and specific patterns.
Depression is not one condition. Different types present differently and respond best to different approaches.
Major depressive disorder involves persistent low mood and loss of interest. Persistent depressive disorder is lower-grade depression lasting years. Seasonal affective disorder is linked to changes in light and season. Postpartum depression occurs after childbirth. Bipolar disorder involves depressive episodes alongside periods of elevated mood. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is tied to the menstrual cycle. Situational depression is triggered by a specific life event. A therapist at Be Well ATL can help you understand what you’re experiencing and what kind of support fits.
Several conditions share symptoms with depression and can be mistaken for it.
Thyroid disorders, vitamin deficiencies, sleep disorders like sleep apnea, burnout, grief, anxiety disorders, and ADHD can all produce symptoms that look like depression, including low energy, difficulty concentrating, and withdrawal. A proper assessment helps clarify what’s actually happening. At Be Well ATL, we take the time to understand your full picture before making assumptions.
Depression rarely has a single cause. Most cases involve a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors.
Research points to several common contributors: genetics and family history, brain chemistry and hormonal changes, chronic stress or trauma, major life changes or losses, social isolation and lack of connection, medical conditions and certain medications, and negative thought patterns that reinforce themselves over time. Group therapy addresses several of these directly, particularly isolation, social skills, and relational patterns.
Some patterns reliably make depression harder to manage, even when they feel like coping strategies in the moment.
Social withdrawal and isolation are among the most consistent amplifiers of depression. Alcohol and substance use, poor sleep habits, physical inactivity, avoidance of activities that used to bring satisfaction, and rumination all tend to deepen depressive symptoms. Group therapy directly addresses several of these by building connection, disrupting avoidance, and creating accountability.
Progress in therapy isn’t always linear, which makes it harder to gauge than people expect.
Some signs are subtle: noticing your patterns before they run the show, feeling slightly less alone with something you’ve been carrying, having a wider range of responses to situations that used to feel like they only had one option. Other signs are more tangible: being able to say something in the group you’ve never said out loud, or showing up differently in relationships outside the group. If you’re not sure whether therapy is working, that’s worth raising directly with your therapist.
Yes. Most group therapy at Be Well ATL is offered virtually, which means you can participate from anywhere in Georgia. The Men’s Group and the Skills Lab for School Counselors are both held online. Virtual group therapy allows you to show up consistently without the logistics of commuting.
Group therapy is worth considering when you’ve identified patterns that feel stuck, when isolation is making things harder, or when you want to practice real relational skills in a structured setting. It’s also a strong choice when individual therapy has been helpful, but something still feels unfinished. Understanding why you do something and actually doing it differently are two different things. Group therapy works on the second one.
The first step is a 15-minute call with our client care specialist. We’ll hear what you’re dealing with and match you with the right group based on your goals and schedule. No pressure. No commitment until it feels right.
