Adoption Support Groups
Friendship is important for everyone. For adopted children and teens socializing with other adopted children is extremely important. We provide Girls Circle Groups and Boys Council Groups for youths age 9-18 to interact with same age adopted peers. Following a 5-8 week Girls Circle or Boys Council specifically selected curriculum, children share thoughts and feelings that aren’t easily understood by their non-adopted friends. There is plenty of fun activities built into each session. Groups are held on weekends and are facilitated by licensed therapists who are competent in adoption related issues.
*Groups are provide for current Affinity patients only and provided by Experienced Licensed Therapists on weekends.
Please contact Affinity Family Support Services PC
[p] 814-835-1700 | [f] 814-835-1701
Boys Council Groups
The Council is a strengths based group approach to promote boys and young men’s safe and healthy passage through re-teen and adolescent years.
Focused activities may include group challenges, games, skits or role plays, arts and so on.
Some examples of topics include:
- Competition
- The Male Box
- Bullying
- Valuing Diversity
- Rejecting Violence
- Making Safe and Healthy Decisions for Themselves
Boys need a gender specific group program to have a safe protected and focused place to address an array of harsh realities and to create healthy options for growing up male today. Findings of recent studies tell us that boys are not faring well in areas of education, mental health, health care access, violence, substance abuse.
Councils provide resiliency and youth development practice and concepts:
- Youth are knowledgeable, wise, and helpful to each other when facilitators are courteous and respectful, share responsibility and leadership; demonstrate belief in their abilities to rise to challenges in group and in life.
- When boys have an opportunity to express ideas, identify and normalize a full range of emotions and make decisions in a safe nonjudgmental community their resiliency is strengthened.
- The programs are successful in prevention and intervention programs. Facilitators avoid lecture on advice and believe the boys have the capacity to problem solve and make good decisions, affirm strengths and promote leadership.
*Groups are provide for current Affinity patients only and provided by Experienced Licensed Therapists on weekends.
Please contact Affinity Family Support Services PC
[p] 814-835-1700 | [f] 814-835-1701
Girls Council Groups
Girls Circle is designed in the evidenced–based principle and practices of Motivational Interviewing and Strengths-Based approaches that target resiliency and protective factors, in addition to stimulating critical thinking and moral reasoning through experiential activities and guided discussions.
What is Girls Circle?
A structured support group specifically for girls and is designed to:
- Foster Self-Esteem
- Help girls maintain positive connections with peers
- Counter trends towards self-doubt
- Allows for self-expression through verbal sharing activities
- Significant increases in attachment to schools
- Decrease in at-risk behaviors (D&A)
- Decrease in self-destructive, self-harming behaviors
Girls Circle focuses on being responsive to adolescent female development and takes into consideration the effects of a girl’s culture, gender, relationships and environment, as well as trauma. It establishes a safe group experience that recognizes and fosters girl’s capacities for healthy relationships, empathy (a primary and essential social skill) self-expression, the development meaningful educational, career, and relationship goals and interpersonal skills.
The programs are successful in prevention and intervention programs. Facilitators avoid lecture or advice and believe the girls have the capacity to problem solve and make good decisions, affirm strengths and promote leadership.
*Groups are provide for current Affinity patients only and provided by Experienced Licensed Therapists on weekends.
Please contact Affinity Family Support Services PC
[p] 814-835-1700 | [f] 814-835-1701