Owning Your Shadow: The Healing Power of Groups

 

Our Shadow is comprised of those rejected, unknown, and unacceptable parts of ourselves that we normally refuse to acknowledge, listen to, or see.  Jung regarded integrating our Shadow into consciousness as one of our most difficult adult tasks. It is necessary for growth and essential for the process of individuation. Shadow energy often drives our behaviors, our moods, and our decisions, creating difficulties, unhappiness, and pain. Neglect of Shadow energy impedes recovery from addiction and invites relapse.

 

The goal of Shadow work is to integrate the dark side of ourselves; the side we have attempted to hide or run from; and the side we are not aware of. Owning our Shadow involves a deepening and widening of consciousness to include what has been rejected. It involves shining the light of consciousness into our dark corners and owing what we find there as our own.

 

Doing Shadow work means asking ourselves to examine closely and honestly what it is about a particular individual that irritates us or repels us; what it is about a racial or religious group that horrifies or captivates us; and what it is about a lover that charms us and leads us to idealize him or her. Doing Shadow work means making an agreement with one's self to engage in an internal conversation that can, at some time down the road, result in an authentic self-acceptance and a real compassion for others.

 

The Shadow is more easily seen by others than by ourselves, and thus group therapy is a powerful vehicle for doing Shadow work.

 

This workshop will explore the ways Shadow energy manifests itself and offer tools for recognizing and owning this unknown aspect of ourselves in the group context. We will also explore and examine what makes groups work; curative factors in groups and how to create and nurture them; the importance of group work in recovery; what to look for in groups and what to do with it when you find it.

 

 

 

Owning Your Shadow: The Healing Power of Groups

 

Workshop Learning  Objectives:

1. To understand how to use shadow work in group counseling.
2. To understand the Jungian concept of Shadow and how to use it in the group context.
3. To understand and work with client resistance in the group context.
4. To understand how the Shadow is a major contributor to relapse.
5. To identify at least three tools clients can utilize for Shadow integration.

 

 

Workshop Goal:

This workshop will explore the ways Shadow energy manifests itself in addictions and offer tools for recognizing and owning the Shadow by utilizing the healing power found in the group context.

 

 

 

 

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