The 'Secret Sauce' of Group Sessions

Does this image look familiar? No matter where we see groups of people, most, if not all of them, are quietly staring at their smart phones, not talking. Many have head or earphones in place. What are they looking at or listening to on those phones?

Having a supercomputer in your hand, connected to the ‘world-wide-web' is literally mind boggling. There is SO MUCH information available, from so many sources, that most of us can be overwhelmed. Artificial Intelligence has now taken all of that information and added steroids! 

“My Nurse Practitioner (or Doctor) recently diagnosed a medical condition, or said I am at risk for one, and I want to get more information. What are my options?” 

• Search the internet. There is a lot of excellent information available, but there is a lot of misinformation too. How can one tell what is real? 

• Ask a friend. But where did they get their information? 

• Listen to a podcast? Watch a YouTube influencer? 

The staff at Mentor Clinic noticed early on that there are common themes to questions that people have. There are also common myths – beliefs that people have that may not be accurate. We decided to offer some group sessions to provide science and experience-based information and share questions and answers. This way the clinic specialist could provide information once to 8-10 people in one hour, instead of one-on-one over 8-10 hours. That makes sense. 

BUT, there are other benefits and what I think of as the ‘secret sauce’ of group sessions: 

• You get a chance to meet other people who have a similar interest or condition.

  “I am not alone.” 

• Other people have interesting questions, questions you may or may not have thought of. You get to hear all the answers. 

• Some of the answers are provided by other group members. “I tried that too. It didn’t work, but then I added this, and it made all the difference.” “I tried that and thought it’s not working, but it takes a month or two, then I noticed a difference.” 

• Some medical problems require changing behaviours or things you have done for many years, or decades. It’s really hard. Meeting others who are on the same journey, or more experienced and able to assure you that it is worth the effort can be helpful and motivating. 

We evolved over thousands of years as a closely social species. We needed each other for company, protection, food collection, child rearing, etc. The main reason we are the ‘master species’ on the planet is our communication – language and writing. Our ancestors gathered around communal fires and shared stories of the past and present, shared limited energy resources, shared information about hunting and gathering locations, and protected one another from the environment, other humans and predators. It is how we are wired, how we thrive and survive. 

Mentor Clinic strongly believes that health and happiness is strongly influenced by social connection – being ‘attached’ to this clinic, knowing the Mentor Clinic staff, listening to other people in group sessions, talking while agreeing and disagreeing, laughing, maybe crying, being honest, and sharing with others. Perhaps you will make some new friends, form your own walking group or coffee meet-up.  That’s another benefit of the neighbourhood clinic model.    

These are odd times – unsettling. Things are changing rapidly. There is uncertainty. Reliable, trustworthy information is hard to find, or know when you’ve found it. 

Mentor Clinic plans to offer more group sessions – some one-day group meetings and some continuing over multiple weeks. We want to provide a safe, inclusive, accessible space where people can learn some new content, or reinforce what they know, while hearing a range of perspectives from facilitators and each other. And leave their phones at the door. 

If you have suggestions for different types of group sessions you would be interested in, we would love to hear them! Email us at info@mentorclinic.ca.

Our Groups page has details of groups that are scheduled and being planned for 2026. If you are a Mentor Clinic patient, please consider joining us, even if talking to strangers is not your thing. We think you’ll like it.