Group Therapy in Singapore
Feel like you're stuck and going through the motions?
You’re doing all the ‘right’ things, but still feel disconnected.
What if the path forward wasn’t just more self-reflection, but something entirely different?
Introducing: Existential Process Groups in Singapore
A process group isn't what you think group therapy is.
Forget the movie scenes with circles of patients under flickering lights.
Forget support groups where strangers with a common challenge gather.
Instead, picture this: No diagnoses. No prescribed topics. Just real people exploring what it means to be human together.
What Are Process Groups?
A process group is a live, unscripted space to explore how you relate to others. There’s no set topic. Each session is facilitated by an existential therapist and is shaped by whatever emerges between the people in the room.
If you’re thinking ‘wait, what?’, think of it as a microcosm of daily life: unpredictable rhythms, no linear paths, you and others navigating your own journeys together. You can’t control what emerges, but you can choose how to respond.
In this supportive space, explore how you show up, respond, and connect. In time, this prepares you for the complexity of the world beyond group therapy.
Group Therapy Benefits
What Process Groups Can Help You With
- Interpersonal challenges
- Personal and professional development
- Imposter syndrome
- Quarterlife crisis
- Social anxiety
- Getting unstuck
Why Group Therapy Works
The Process Group Difference
In process groups, you discover that others have faced struggles and questions similar to your own. This experience, called universality by therapists, reduces shame and normalises what you’re going through. You don’t have to explore big, human questions like Who am I? What truly matters? Do I belong? alone.
In process groups, learning is experiential. You notice how you react in real time, try something new, and see what happens. This is known as interpersonal learning—where growth happens through honest interactions with others, not just private reflection.
Being in a group naturally brings up emotions. Instead of avoiding discomfort, you learn to stay with it. With time, you can notice, name, and process strong feelings with others present. This helps build resilience and emotional flexibility.
Being part of a group like this helps you get to know yourself better through your own reflection and hearing how others experience you. You get to learn from how others show up. It’s not just the facilitator offering insight. It’s the group, helping each other grow.
Bit by bit, the group becomes a place to rehearse real life. What starts in the room doesn’t stay in the room. As you try new ways of being and build confidence, you carry that growth into your everyday relationships.
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Seeking answers to life's difficult questions with someone else is a sign of strength. It's called sharing our humanity.
What You Experience in Structured Group Therapy Sessions
- Notice your triggers and patterns of relating as they happen, not just in hindsight
- Experiment with new ways of engaging with others in a supportive environment
- Receive honest, compassionate feedback from others
- Experience surprise and fresh insights you couldn’t have predicted
- Learn to embrace ambiguity
How Therapeutic Group Counselling Works
My role as facilitator is not to steer the group toward a particular destination. I hold the space. I notice what’s happening between people, name what I observe when it’s useful, and create the conditions for something real to emerge. What each session becomes is shaped by what participants bring into the room, not by a plan.
The agenda is open, but the container is not. Sessions run on a fixed schedule with the same small group of up to 8 people, and every member commits to confidentiality. That consistency is what allows genuine risk-taking inside the group. Knowing the frame holds is what makes the unscripted work feel safe.
What happens in shared group discussions is less about the content of what’s said and more about what emerges between people as they say it. Members respond to one another in real time and discover things about how they relate that don’t surface in private reflection. The room becomes a kind of live mirror.
One of the most consistent things people take from process group work is a clearer picture of their own interpersonal patterns. Where they hold back, where they overextend, and how they respond under pressure. Active listening, constructive communication, healthy boundaries, and responding calmly are not concepts discussed here. They are practised, stumbled through, and refined.
Being in a group surfaces feelings. That’s part of the point. Rather than managing those feelings away, members learn to stay present with them, to notice and name what’s happening without reacting automatically. That’s where real emotion regulation strategies develop. Not from a workbook. From experience.
Communication skills, interpersonal effectiveness, self-reflection, and coping skill development all deepen through consistent engagement with others. These capacities don’t develop from instruction. They develop through doing. For those also navigating anxiety or work-life balance challenges, the group often helps with those, too.
Group Therapy Suitability
Might a Process Group Be Right for You?
Here’s a checklist to help:
- You want to understand your patterns and triggers in relationships, not just in theory
- You’re curious about how others experience you in real time
- You’ve done individual therapy or self-reflection, but feel like you’re missing something about how you show up with others
- You’re willing to sit with discomfort around others, even if the thought makes you nervous
- You’re wondering how giving and receiving honest feedback from multiple people could help you grow
If you nodded along to most of these, a process group could be worth exploring.
We’ll be launching small, therapist-facilitated groups in Singapore throughout the year. Spots are limited to a max. of 8 people for richer interactions.
Sign up for the newsletter or follow us on Instagram to get:
- Launch dates and sign-up links
- Small servings of big ideas on how to simply be in this world
If you've read this far, part of you is already curious. That's a good enough place to start.
How Group Therapy Changes How You Show Up
Before group therapy
- Noticing your patterns only after the moment has already passed
- Carrying questions about how you relate to others, mostly alone
- Reacting in ways that surprise or frustrate you, without fully understanding why
- Watching the same relational difficulties repeat across different contexts
- Feeling stuck despite the individual work you have already done
- Knowing something is missing in how you show up, but not being able to name it
After group therapy
- Recognising your triggers as they happen and choosing how to respond
- Feeling less alone in the human questions you have always carried
- Understanding how you show up with others, and why
- Responding in ways that feel more considered and more like yourself
- Building confidence to engage differently in everyday relationships
- Carrying what you practised in the room into actual life outside it
What to Expect in Your First Group Session
Most people arrive wondering if they'll know what to say.
That’s understandable. The first session is mostly orientation. I walk everyone through how the group works, what confidentiality means for all of us in the room, and what it feels like to work without a set topic. You’re not expected to share deeply from the start. Most people observe as much as they participate in the early weeks.
That’s completely fine. Members are asked to commit to the full 10 weeks, because the depth of this work depends on continuity. You can read more about existential therapy and what shapes this approach on the site.
What your first few sessions might look like
- A brief walk-through of how the group works and what to expect
- Settling into the space and getting a feel for the other members
- Beginning to notice what comes up when you’re with others in this kind of setting
- Taking small risks when they feel manageable, not before
- Starting to see patterns in yourself that reflection alone hadn’t shown you
About Dr. Magdalen Cheng, Group Therapist in Singapore
Hi, I'm Dr. Mag
I’m a BPS and SPS-accredited Counselling Psychologist and the founder of Encompassing Therapy, Singapore’s first existential practice. My doctorate is in Existential Psychology from the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in London. I came to this work through my own life, not just my training.
I believe we discover who we are by moving outward, into the world, into relationships, into life itself. My role in the group isn’t to guide you toward a particular outcome. It’s to hold a space where something real can happen between people. My care philosophy is not to diagnose, label, or categorise, but to work with the person in front of me, in the here and now.
What I bring:
- Doctorate in Existential Psychology, New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, London
- Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society (CPsychol)
- Full Clinical Member, UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP Reg)
- Level 4 Certified Master Practitioner, MAPACS (Singapore)
- Member, Society for Existential Analysis, UK
Frequently Asked Questions About Group Therapy in Singapore
What is group therapy, and how does it work?
What Is Group Therapy
Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy where a small number of people meet regularly with a trained therapist. Sessions encourage sharing, reflection, and honest interaction between members. Unlike individual therapy, the group itself is part of what’s therapeutic.
Support Group Therapy vs Process Groups
Support group therapy typically brings people together around a shared diagnosis or life experience. Existential Process Groups are different. There’s no shared theme or common concern. What shapes each session is what naturally arises between members as they engage with one another in real time.
Group Therapy Process and Group Therapy Structure
The group therapy process at Encompassing follows a fixed membership of up to 8 participants meeting weekly for 10 sessions of 1.5 hours each. The group therapy structure is open in terms of agenda but intentional in terms of commitment, confidentiality, and continuity. Group dynamics deepen as trust builds session by session.
Who is group therapy most effective for?
Group Therapy Suitability
Group therapy is suitable for individuals facing similar challenges who want to understand their patterns in relationships rather than through private reflection alone. It tends to work well for people who have done individual work but feel something is still missing in how they show up with others.
Who Encompassing’s Process Groups Are Designed For
These groups suit people navigating interpersonal challenges, imposter syndrome, quarterlife crisis, social anxiety, life transitions, or a general sense of feeling stuck. Prior therapy experience is not required. A genuine willingness to engage and readiness to sit with uncertainty are what matter.
Why do people go to group therapy?
Group Therapy Benefits
The benefits of group therapy include feeling less alone, gaining fresh insights, developing coping strategies, and improving interpersonal relationships. Many people find the group produces growth that individual work alone couldn’t quite reach, not because individual therapy isn’t valuable, but because some things only become visible in contact with others.
Peer Support and Shared Experiences
Feeling understood by others facing similar challenges is one of the most common reasons people seek group therapy. Mutual support among group members and learning from others’ experiences can be as therapeutic as the facilitation itself. Shared healing experiences often have lasting effects beyond the group.
Personal Growth and Valuable Insights
Group therapy offers real-time feedback from multiple people. Members gain valuable insights by observing how others respond to them and noticing their own patterns as they happen. That kind of learning tends to carry directly into everyday relationships.
Does group therapy really work?
What the Research and Practice Suggest
Group therapy has a well-established record in mental health treatment. Research supports its effectiveness for interpersonal difficulties, emotional struggles, and existential concerns around identity, belonging, and meaning. The group setting is a therapeutic factor in its own right.
How Effectiveness Shows Up Over Time
In practice, group therapy works through multiple channels: gaining insight from group feedback, reducing isolation, developing healthier coping mechanisms, and improving interpersonal relationships. What people carry forward from shared healing experiences frequently extends well beyond the group itself.
Is group therapy good for anxiety and other mental health concerns?
Anxiety Management and Group Therapy
Group therapy can support anxiety management, particularly social anxiety tied to interpersonal patterns. Being in a group evokes the same relational dynamics that trigger anxiety in daily life. That creates a real opportunity to notice what happens and try something different, in a space that’s safe enough to take that risk.
Emotion Regulation in Group Settings
Group therapy develops emotion regulation through direct experience rather than technique. Members learn to stay present with discomfort, to notice and name what’s happening without reacting automatically. Stress management and emotional flexibility tend to improve through consistent participation, not because those skills are taught but because they’re practised.
Other Mental Health Concerns Addressed in Group Settings
Group therapy is also used for depression, relationship difficulties, work-life balance concerns, and life transitions. The shared environment helps people recognise common patterns and develop coping strategies alongside others facing similar challenges.
DBT Group Skills Training and Other Structured Group Formats
Some group therapy formats are structured around specific diagnoses or caregiving roles. DBT group skills training, for example, teaches concrete emotional regulation and interpersonal skills through a fixed curriculum. BPD caregiver support groups and dementia caregiver support groups offer focused peer support for specific situations. Encompassing process groups are different. They are open-format, not diagnosis-specific, and are shaped by what naturally arises between members rather than a skills programme.
How is group therapy different from individual therapy?
Group Therapy vs Individual Therapy
Individual therapy offers a private, one-on-one space where insight and feedback come from a single therapeutic relationship. Group therapy vs individual therapy isn’t a question of which is better. It’s a question of which fits what a person needs to work on right now. Some things are best explored privately. Others only become visible in the presence of other people.
What Group Counselling Adds
In therapeutic group counselling, insight comes from multiple sources: other members, the dynamics between people, and the experience of being witnessed by a room. Many people find that combining individual therapy with counselling for groups deepens their overall growth. I also offer individual existential therapy, and the two can work well alongside each other.
What are the rules of group therapy?
Group Therapy Confidentiality
Confidentiality is foundational. What’s shared in the group stays in the group. That applies to all members, not just the therapist. Without that commitment, the emotional safety a group needs doesn’t exist. Every group establishes this explicitly before anything else begins.
Creating a Supportive Environment
Group therapy requires genuine participation. Active listening, validating feelings, responding with calm, redirecting with care, and maintaining healthy boundaries. Constructive communication is part of what the group practises together. Maintaining a safe and supportive environment is everyone’s responsibility, not just the facilitator’s.
Commitment, Consistency, and Structured Group Meetings
Structured group meetings at Encompassing run for 10 weeks. Members commit to every session. That commitment isn’t administrative. The depth of therapeutic group therapy depends on continuity. When someone is absent, the whole group feels it.
What are the four stages of group therapy?
The Four Stages of Group Therapy
Group therapy typically moves through four stages. Forming: members are getting acquainted and building initial trust. Storming: differences and tensions surface. Norming: the group develops cohesion and shared ways of working together. Performing: the deeper therapeutic work tends to happen here. Not all groups move through these stages neatly, and that’s fine. What emerges is what gets worked with.
The Final Stage of Group Therapy
The final stage is termination. The group closes. Members reflect on their growth, acknowledge what they’re taking forward, and say goodbye to one another. Endings in group therapy are treated as a meaningful part of the process. In existential work, endings always are.
How to Begin a Group Therapy Session
Sessions at Encompassing begin with a brief check-in. Each member gets a moment to share what they’re bringing into the room that day. In an Existential Process Group, there’s no fixed structure beyond that. What emerges in the opening often shapes everything that follows.
What are the disadvantages of group therapy?
Common Challenges in Group Settings
Group therapy isn’t for everyone, and it’s worth being honest about that. Some people find it uncomfortable to share personal concerns in front of others, particularly in the early weeks. There’s also less individual attention per session than in one-on-one therapy, and the pace of the group doesn’t always match what one person needs at any given moment.
Can Group Therapy Feel Harder Before It Gets Better
Difficult emotions often surface early, before trust has fully formed. Sitting with discomfort around others is part of the work. For many people, that’s precisely where meaningful growth happens. The discomfort isn’t a sign that the group isn’t working. It’s often a sign that it is.
What Happens If Group Therapy Does Not Help
If group therapy doesn’t feel productive after a genuine commitment, that’s worth discussing with the facilitator. Some concerns are better addressed in individual therapy. Group and individual therapy are not mutually exclusive. Many people move between them or run them in parallel.
How long is group therapy, and how do I know if it is working?
How Long Does Group Therapy Usually Lasts
Group therapy duration varies by format. At Encompassing, Existential Process Groups run for 10 weeks with 1.5-hour sessions each week. This is a structured, time-limited format designed to allow sufficient depth to develop without requiring an open-ended commitment.
How to Know If Group Therapy Is Working
Group therapy tends to work when you start noticing your patterns more clearly, feel less alone in the questions you’ve been carrying, and find yourself responding to people differently, inside and outside the group. Improvements in communication skills, emotional regulation, self-reflection, and interpersonal effectiveness are common markers. Coping skill development that carries into daily life is often the clearest sign.
Is there affordable group therapy in Singapore?
Affordable Group Therapy in Singapore
Group therapy is generally more affordable than individual therapy because the cost is distributed across participants. For those seeking affordable group therapy in Singapore, process groups and skills-based programmes tend to be among the more accessible formats available.
Budget-Friendly Group Therapy Options at Encompassing
Encompassing’s Existential Process Groups are priced at SGD 95 per session across a 10-week programme. Healthcare professionals receive a 5% concession on individual therapy fees. For full details, visit the parenting and other service pages, or go directly to the Fees page.
How much does group therapy cost in Singapore, and do you take insurance?
Group Therapy Fees at Encompassing
- Existential Process Groups: SGD 95 per session, 1.5 hours, 10-session commitment.
- Chemistry Session (initial consultation, couples or group): SGD 330, 75 minutes.
- Ongoing Group Sessions (before 5 pm): SGD 330, 75 minutes.
- Ongoing Group Sessions (after 5 pm): SGD 350, 75 minutes.
Insurance and Reimbursement
Encompassing does not accept direct insurance. A receipt is provided for each session, which you may submit to your insurer for potential reimbursement. Requirements vary by provider. If you need specific documentation to support a claim, let us know.
Getting to Encompassing Therapy Near Fort Canning
Encompassing Therapy is at 16 Mohamed Sultan Road #06-02, Singapore 238965, in the Fort Canning area near River Valley, the CBD, and Robertson Quay. The office is opposite UE Square.
Getting Here by Public Transport
– Fort Canning MRT Station (nearest MRT)
– Buses along River Valley Road
Parking Near the Office
– Parallel parking along Mohammad Sultan Road (code: M0015)
– Carpark along Mohammad Sultan Road and River Valley off-street (code: M0077)
Do you offer in-person group therapy near me?
In-Person Group Therapy Near Me in Singapore
Yes. All-encompassing process groups are held in person at 16 Mohamed Sultan Road #06-02, Singapore 238965, near Fort Canning MRT Station. The office is accessible from River Valley, the CBD, Robertson Quay, and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Group Therapy Near Me at Fort Canning and River Valley
The office is a short walk from Fort Canning MRT and easily reached by buses along River Valley Road. Street parking and a nearby car park are available for those driving.
How to Find Out About Upcoming Groups
New process groups launch throughout the year. Spots are limited to 8 participants per cohort. Sign up for the newsletter or visit the Events page to be notified when the next group opens.
Whenever You're Ready
The first step is a brief conversation.