Groups & Workshops 

Below are listed our groups for Fall 2024

Drop In Groups

These are groups you can simply "drop-in" on.  No need for prior CAPS contact.  Join at any time during the semester.

ADHD and Neurodivergent Skills Group (Ongong through Fall 24 semester)

Support around managing your symptoms so that it doesn't interfere with your academics. We also practice brain training strategies to help lengthen your attention span and sharpen your focus. No diagnosis needed! Weekly attendance not required. 

  • Day/Time: Wednesdays, 1:30-3:30 pm. In person in the CAPS Group Room at the SHC

  • Contact Stephanie McMullen (sjm210@humboldt.edu) for details and with any questions. 

Queer Tea (Ongoing through Fall 24 semester)

Weekly drop-in group for LGBTQIA2S+ students to socialize and decompress in a positive and supportive atmosphere.  Stop by and have some tea, work on some art, socialize, this is a space where you existing is simply enough. You may attend this group as often as you like-- every once in a while or weekly. 

  • Day/Time: Wednesdays, 4:30-6pm,  NHE 106
  • Contact Alejandro Torres (at73@humboldt.edu) for more information.

Café con Chisme With El Centro (Ongoing through Fall 24 semester)

Cafe con Chisme is a safe space for Latinx students to hang out and build community. Pan dulce and coffee are served. Students are welcome to speak Spanish and/or English in this space. Meeting information is posted on El Centro's Instagram: @elcentrohumboldt

  • Day/Time: Wednesdays, 1-2 pm, twice a month, Nelson Hall East 205
  • Contact Alejandro Torres (at73@humboldt.edu) or El Centro for more information.

Trans Support (Ongoing through Fall 24 semester)

A group inclusive of all gender identities where people can get support, explore gender, and advocate for change on campus.

  • Date/Time: Wednesdays, 4:30-6pm, Harry Griffith Hall Room 217

  • Contact Lisa Turay (lmt21@humboldt.edu) for more information 

Veterans Support Group (Ongoing through Fall 24 semester)

A weekly drop-in group with no obligation to attend every single week. Open to vets and children of vets. The group will be facilitated by Stephanie McMullen, LCSW, who is an Air Force Retired Veteran and a CAPS counselor. 

**FYI this group is in no way affiliated with the VA, and any records kept will not be given to the VA. This group is confidential.

  • Day/Time: Day and Time Wednesdays 4-5 PM, Cal Poly Vets Office, Lower LIbrary, Room 3 (next door to the CDRC)

  • Contact Stephanie McMullen (sjm210@humboldt.edu) for more information.

Speed Friending (Monthly drop-in Group)

Have you ever gone into a new social group and your mind goes blank on how to start connecting with people? Have you wanted to expand your friend group but don't know where to start?  The Speed Friending might be for you!  This monthly group will provide you with a few short 3-5 minute rounds with one other person.  Topic prompts will be provided! 

  • Date/Time: Fridays, 2:30-4pm,  October 4th, November 1st, and December 1st in the SJEI Building (Balabanis House, Laurel Dr.)

  • Contact Lisa Turay (lmt21@humboldt.edu) for more information 

Men’s Circles with the Diverse Male Scholar Initiative (DMSI) (Ongoing, Meets BIWEEKLY)

This biweekly drop-in group is intended to create a safe, welcoming space that allows self-identified men of color to explore and address barriers unique to our people. We will process our experiences through healing and vulnerability. We will learn how to utilize our experiences in a manner that is healthy and productive to ourselves, community and broader society.

  • Date/Time: Every other Wednesday, 3-4:30 pm, Balabanis House (SJEIC)

  • Contact Antonio Barillas (ab489@humboldt.edu) or Agustin Valdez (jav6@humboldt.edu) for more information.


Reclaiming Our Identities

A drop-in group to explore, process, and reclaim our cultural and intersectional identities with a core group of peers. Identity development continues throughout every person’s life and can be challenged during periods of stress or change, such as during college and transitional periods. Living in alignment with yourself and true identity can reduce anxiety and depression while increasing self-esteem. This group will focus on Narrative Therapy practices and the idea that identity formation is a social event influenced by historical and cultural forces.

  • Date/Time: Fridays at 4pm at Balabanis House (SJEIC) 

  • Contact Antonio Barillas (ab489@humboldt.edu) for details and with any questions. 

THERAPY GROUPS & WORKSHOPS

*Contact CAPS to sign up*
Food and Body Wisdom 

Education and sharing supporting healing in relationships with food and body. 

  • Day/Time: Fridays, 10:30 am to 12pm, in the CAPS Group Room at the Student Health Center
  • Please contact Jennifer Blair (jes27@humboldt.edu) with any questions. 

Mental Health Toolbox- 3 sessions 

Gain a deeper understanding of the issue or issues you are experiencing, create flexibility in how you view and approach these

  • Date/Time
    Group #1: Fridays from 2:30-4pm, 9/27, 10/4, and 10/11, CAPS Group Room at the Student Health Center
    Group #2: Wednesdays from 9:30-11 am, 10/16, 10/23 and 10/30, BSS Room 208
    Group #3: Thursdays from 2:30-4 pm, 11/7, 11/14 and 11/21, CAPS Group Room
  • Contact Jennifer Blair (jes27@humboldt.edufor details and with any questions.

Relationship Skills: 3 separate 4-week sessions

This four-week workshop will focus on attachment styles, effective communication skills, and perception of self. 

  • Day/Time: Tuesday 2:00 to 3:00 pm, In person in the CAPS Group Room at the Student Health Center
    Session 1 - 9/17 through 10/8
    Session 2 - 10/15 through 11/05
    Session 3 - 11/12 through 12/09
  • Contact Nassie Danesh (nd124@humboldt.edufor details and with any questions.

WellBeing Athletes Group 

A 4-week skills group series for student athletes (NCAA/CCAA & Club Sports). Explore and connect with other athletes around topics of mind/body wellness. Whether you are recovering from injury or interested in improving balance in your ultra busy life as a student athlete--this group is here to offer a supportive space to strengthen and condition effective strategies of personal wellbeing. Facilitated by a CAPS therapist/retired college athlete.

  • Day/Time: Tuesdays, 2-3 pm at RWC 124 (Rec & Wellness Center)
    Session 1, 4 weeks, starts 10/15
    Session 2, 3 weeks, starts 11/12
  • Contact Maia Pini (mdr275@humboldt.edu) for more information 
Building Balance (Closed for Fall, check back Spring Semester)

In this Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills group, Will be concentrating on four DBT modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. This group requires enrollment in CAPS DT program and a group consult with one of the co-facilitators.

  • Day/Time: Mondays 9:30 to 11am, In person at CAPS at the Student Health and Counseling Building
  • Contact humboldtcaps@humboldt.edu and request an Intake with one of our DBT therapists. 
Mental Mastery (CLOSED, check back Spring Semester)

Do you find yourself struggling with depression, anxiety, and negative self-talk? Do you tend to be impulsive and react quickly? Do you easily feel overwhelmed with life stressors and avoid prioritizing? Do you usually multi-task and feel distracted? Well, you are not alone. There are many coping skills that would help us to reduce some of these behavioral symptoms. Please join me and other students in my Mental Mastery Group Therapy to learn some basic coping skills so you can build a sense of self-efficacy and expand your mental growth. Looking forward to seeing ypu in my group!

  • Day/Time: Thursdays 2:00-3:30 pm, In person at CAPS at the Student Health and Counseling Building
  • Contact Nassie Danesh (nd124@humboldt.edu) to sign up or with any questions. 

Post-Traumatic Growth (8-week series)

Trauma affects us emotionally, spiritually, in our relations, and particularly, trauma affects how we feel in our bodies! This group will help you understand and identify your trauma-related responses, help you regulate impulsive and self-destructive behaviors, and modulate the highs and lows of your emotions and arousal. It is a safe place to learn and to practice exercises that are designed to help you tolerate your own emotions and body experiences so that the past doesn’t control how you feel about the present.  

  • Day/Time: Wednesdays, 10:30am - 12pm, in the CAPS Group Room at the Student Health Center
  • Contact Erica Ashby (eaa252@humboldt.edu) to sign up or with any questions. 

Anxiety Wellness Group 

We all know that anxiety exists, and maybe have had some experience with this feeling - but what exactly is anxiety and how do we manage it?! If you resonate with this, come and learn about anxiety, how it may manifest for you and work on understanding those patterns to create healthy coping skills as you navigate your journey on becoming a less anxious person. This group pulls from strategies for managing stress from several approaches (such as CBT, ACT) to help you build your toolbox for anxiety management. 

  • Day/Time: Thursday from 10:30am-12:00pm, In person at CAPS at the Student Health and Counseling Building 
  • Contact Celeste Tamayo (ct1643@humboldt.edu) to sign up or with any questions. 

Grief and Loss Support 

This group is intended to be a supportive space to talk about your experience of grief with physical loss including sharing/learning that can be helpful with others who are in a grief process. Some people experience grief to be a unique and isolating journey. The creative and expressive arts are integrated in every group through gentle invitations with multiple options and can be co-created by group members.  

  • Day/Time: Fridays 2:30-4pm, In person at CAPS at the Student Health and Counseling Building
  • Contact Erika Demers (ejd61@humboldt.edu) to sign up or with any questions. 
Mindfulness Group (4-week skills group series)
This 4-week skills-based group offers participants the opportunity to learn how to manage anxiety by calming the mind and body using a variety of mindfulness techniques.  If you ever wanted to learn how to quiet the mind from racing thoughts, find ways to improve sleep quality or have wanted to explore "what is mindfulness anyway?" come join us!  
  • Day/Time:  
    2nd Series starts Oct 17 - Thursday 3:30-5:0  BSS 208K
    3rd Series starts November 14 - Thursday 3:30-5:0  BSS 208, (will be 3 weeks due to end of semester).
  • Contact Lisa Turay (lmt21@humboldt.edu) to sign up or with any questions. 

 

Looking for something else?  Check out SKILLSHOPS through the Cal Poly Library.  There are great offerings on sleep, career planning, anxiety management, and more!