Group Therapy Reimagined: Michael A. Civin’s Approach to Collective Healing

Individual therapy gets all the headlines, but some of the deepest healing happens when people realize they’re not alone. Michael A. Civin, Ph.D. has spent thirty years proving it.

At Rose Hill Psychological Services in the Bronx and his private offices in Manhattan, Astoria, and Bayville, he facilitates groups that transform isolation into connection. Adolescents wrestling with identity, adults battling addiction, professionals burning out—whatever the focus, his groups share one thing: a leader who knows how to turn shared vulnerability into collective strength.

His qualifications run deeper than most group therapists dare dream: Harvard cum laude 1968, Oregon M.A. 1970, then the decisive return to Adelphi for an M.A. in Clinical Psychology (1986), Ph.D. (1988), and Postdoctoral Certificate in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (1993). Add decades as professor and published scholar, and you get a facilitator who can quote Yalom in one breath and call out defense mechanisms in the next.

Members say the difference is in the details. Michael A. Civin notices who sits where, who speaks first, who stays silent longest—and uses those observations to guide the group toward breakthroughs no single member could reach alone.

In a city of eight million stories, his groups create micro-communities where every story finally gets heard.