Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 276: Beyond Individual Therapy: Sarah Simpson's Journey into Group Healing

• Skip Mauney & Sarah Simpson • Episode 276

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What makes Sarah Simpson a good neighbor?

Ever wondered what happens when strangers gather in a room and agree to speak their truth? Meet Sarah Simpson, a psychotherapist who's revolutionizing how we think about human connection through group therapy.

Sarah joins us to share her fascinating journey from individual counseling to becoming passionate about interpersonal process groups. After nearly a decade in private practice, she's discovered the transformative power of creating spaces where people voice their feelings directly to others as they arise. "We're missing out on profound connection by staying quiet and avoiding harder conversations," Sarah explains, challenging our cultural conditioning to suppress emotions and avoid conflict.

One of the biggest misconceptions about group therapy? That it's just people complaining. Sarah quickly dispels this myth, revealing how these brave conversations actually create deeper intimacy. "Conflict is often a way to become more intimate with people," she shares, describing how the practice helps participants feel more alive, integrated, and empowered. Even for those who don't consider themselves "joiners," Sarah gently encourages openness to the possibility of growth through this unique therapeutic approach.

Beyond her counseling practice, Sarah hosts her own podcast, "Time & Other Thieves," where she explores books with spiritual and philosophical themes. Her candid reflection on the challenges of facilitating groups reveals her commitment to continuous learning and growth alongside her clients. For anyone curious about discovering deeper connections with others and themselves, Sarah's approach offers a refreshing alternative to our often superficial social interactions.

Ready to explore how group therapy might transform your relationships with others and yourself? Visit sarahsimpsoncounseling.com to learn more, and don't forget to check out her podcast for additional insights into the human experience. Have you ever considered group therapy? Perhaps it's time to challenge your assumptions and discover what happens when we truly allow ourselves to be seen.

To learn more about Sarah Simpson Counseling go to:

https://www.sarahsimpsoncounseling.com/

Sarah Simpson

(919) 805-4096



Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everyone, Happy summer and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So today I'm thrilled to have a really interesting guest with us and excited to hear all about them and their enterprise. And excited to hear all about them and their enterprise, and I'm sure you will be too, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Ms Sarah Simpson, who is the owner operator of Sarah Simpson Counseling. Sarah, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Skip. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

Well, we're thrilled to have you and, like I said, very excited to learn what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, I'm in private practice as a psychotherapist and have been doing that since 2016. So I'm coming up on my 10 year anniversary next January and, more recently, have started focusing on group therapy. For many years, I was just doing individual sessions with clients and then I became very passionate about running interpersonal process groups, so that has become more of a focus.

Speaker 2:

Interpersonal. Say that again, yeah interpersonal process groups groups. Tell me about that. What is? What is that exactly?

Speaker 3:

yeah, so it's a group of strangers who meet in the same room every week, either in person, or there's a lot of virtual groups these days as well. That might even be more common than in person, but mine are in person, which I I really value, and the agreement is that they talk about feelings as they arise and they preferably voice those feelings towards someone else in the room, and that's how we deepen connection and immediacy and aliveness connection and immediacy and aliveness Wow, fascinating.

Speaker 2:

I've never heard of that. That's awesome. Well, how did you end up in this business? How'd you get here?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, I was always interested in psychology and human behavior and human nature, very interested in spirituality, so this was just a kind of no brainer field for me to go into. And then, with the group work in particular, I had a supervisor who is really into running groups, has five groups of her own and I joined one of her groups a couple of years back and just became obsessed with that approach.

Speaker 2:

Wow, wow, very interesting. Well, what are some myths or misconceptions in the psychotherapy world?

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, certainly around groups. I think a big misconception is that oh, that's just people complaining, belly aching, you know, and that is Could not be further from the truth. I mean, there certainly is some complaining. There's a lot to complain about being human. It's really hard to be alive in these bodies and especially in this point in history other people and being surprised by them and surprised by your own reactions, and being brave and courageous and putting your experience into words, which we're so often conditioned to not do. We're taught to keep that stuff to ourselves Want to be nice, don't want to hurt people's feelings, don't want to get into any kind of conflict. But this kind of group work really helps us exercise those muscles and actually conflict is often a way to become more intimate with people. So we're missing out on a lot of profound connection by staying quiet in those ways and avoiding those harder conversations.

Speaker 2:

So it's not just people sitting around complaining all the time.

Speaker 3:

No, not at all. People having a lot of feelings and sometimes really strong physical sensations and really really knowing each other in ways that we often are never known unless we do that kind of work.

Speaker 2:

Wow, very interesting. Well, outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I actually have a podcast. Yeah, and that's really fun for me to put together. It started as a radio show in 2021 at the community radio station here. It's called Asheville FM, but now it's just a podcast that I do whenever I feel like it, as opposed to having to do it every single week, and it's called Time and Other Thieves, and I explore a lot of different books that have a spiritual or philosophical or sometimes even religious bent to them. Uh, and I'll often interview people as well.

Speaker 2:

Fascinating. Wow, got your own podcast. So usually I ask have you ever been on a podcast? You have your own, so interesting. So, uh, let's switch gears for just a second. If, um, if you could describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and came out stronger on the other side, what would that be? Do you think of anything?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, again I'll have to reference the groups I run. It's the most challenging thing I've ever done and every session is full of challenges and missed opportunities and regrets, and oh, I wish I'd said this instead of that and oh, I hope I didn't, you know, neglect that person or hurt their feelings and oh, how could I have missed X Y, z? So it's a constant humbling practice to facilitate these groups with all these complex human beings.

Speaker 2:

I'm sure I am very challenging, I would think, but rewarding from your perspective. Well, if you could think of one thing, sarah, that you would like our listeners to remember, about Saracens and counseling, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

about Saracens and counseling. What would that be? These groups? Just to at least be open to this as an option for yourself, listener, as a way to get to know yourself better and feel more alive and more integrated and empowered. Some people, you know they're not joiners, they're not group people, and I would just want to challenge them on that and wish that they have an open mind about it and give themselves a chance to have this experience.

Speaker 2:

I agree, I volunteer with a recovery ministry, I guess you could say, for addiction of any kind, and we do small groups and so many people come in and they're like you know, the first time they're there pass, you know, like they just don't want to say anything.

Speaker 2:

But then once they see everybody else open up and talk, then eventually, as long as they keep coming back, they end up saying something, and pretty soon you can't shut them up, which is good yeah, that's a good thing, so, anyway. So for those of us who are intrigued and would be interested in investigating group therapy or your group practice, how can they learn more?

Speaker 3:

My website is sarahsimpsoncounselingcom and there is an H at the end of Sarah.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And that's, that's the best way to to learn more. And my my podcast again is time and other thieves. And the and is the and symbol the ampersand.

Speaker 2:

And where can we find that it's on?

Speaker 3:

various platforms. You know I upload it onto Buzzsprout and then that just disseminates it so you can do the Apple podcast, Spotify, I'm not even sure Amazon Music.

Speaker 2:

We use BuzzFrog too. Cool, very cool. Well, sarah, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and spending some time with us and telling us all about you and your practice and wish you and your business and your clients and family all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you, Skip Same to you. I really appreciate you having me on.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime.

Speaker 3:

I'd love to.

Speaker 2:

All right, sounds great. Thanks so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.