Group Therapy
There are things you cannot learn about yourself alone. And there are things a single therapist cannot show you that a room full of honest, curious people can.
Individual therapy offers depth and privacy. Group therapy offers something different: the experience of being seen by multiple people at once, real-time feedback on how you actually land in relationships rather than how you think you do, and the particular kind of growth that only happens in the presence of others doing the same work.
For the right person, what happens in a group is exponential in a way that individual work alone cannot replicate.
The Group Facilitators
This group is co-led by Regina Abayev, JD, LMFT and Dr. Michael Collins, a psychologist who has been practicing in the South Bay for over 25 years. Together we bring complementary training, deep experience with group dynamics, and a shared commitment to the kind of direct, substantive work that actually moves people forward.
The Group
This is a closed psychodynamic process group, which means the same people meet together over time, building the kind of trust and honesty that makes real work possible. The group is not a support group. It is not psychoeducation. It is not a place to receive advice from other members.
It is a live laboratory for understanding yourself in relationship. How you show up. What you trigger in others. What others trigger in you. The patterns you bring into every room you walk into, often without knowing it. The group makes those patterns visible in real time, which is the most direct path to changing them.
The work is raw, honest, and deeply relational. It is also held in complete confidence.
Who This Is For
Current Availability
Group therapy is particularly powerful for people who are high functioning in their professional lives and find that something keeps going wrong in their personal relationships. People who intellectualize their emotions rather than feel them. People who notice a recurring pattern with partners, friends, or colleagues and cannot seem to break it regardless of how clearly they can see it.
It is also valuable as an adjunct to individual therapy, adding a relational dimension that one-on-one work cannot provide.
Group membership is limited and each new member is carefully considered for fit. This is not a group you drop into. It is a group you commit to.
One opening is currently available in the Wednesday 6:15 PM group.
A new group is forming for Monday evenings.
To inquire about either group, contact Regina at info@reginaabayev.com or Dr. Collins at drmichaelcollins@gmail.com.
Group meets in person in Hermosa Beach.
