Healing does not always happen in one-to-one therapy. Healing in community is often necessary -- a space where shared experience becomes its own kind of medicine, where you do not have to explain yourself from the beginning, where someone else in the room already knows what it costs to live inside a body that medicine keeps getting wrong.
Every group at Cheerful Heart is led by a licensed, trauma-trained clinician who identifies as a woman of color, sometimes co-facilitated by a pre-licensed clinician working toward licensure under Shakira's supervision. These are therapy groups, not support groups or classes: small, structured, and built around real protocols backed by research.
EMDR Therapy Groups
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is one of the most well-studied trauma treatments available, and it adapts powerfully to a group setting. Using specialized group protocols, you process trauma alongside others without having to retell your story out loud to be helped by it. The group creates something individual therapy cannot: a shared nervous system, a felt sense that you are not alone in what your body has been through.
Cheerful Heart uses three EMDR group protocols depending on where you are in your healing:
- GTEP (Group Traumatic Episode Protocol) -- for processing specific traumatic or distressing medical experiences that have had time to settle
- GREP2 (Group Resourcing Enhancement Protocol 2) -- for building internal stability, calm, and resilience, especially when you are not yet ready to process trauma directly
- R-TEP (Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol) -- for distressing events that happened recently, while the experience is still fresh and the nervous system has not yet fully consolidated it
You can learn more about how each protocol works by reading the FAQ blog posts linked below.
GTEP FAQ | GREP2 FAQ | R-TEP FAQ
Endo Kin Collective
Now Enrolling | Ongoing Cohorts
A cohort-based EMDR group for Black women navigating endometriosis and medical trauma, focused on processing chronic pain, grief, and the particular exhaustion of living inside a condition that took years to be believed. Using GTEP and GREP2 protocols, participants work through what they have gone through.
Each cohort runs 6 to 8 weeks with 4 to 6 participants, offered 1 to 4 times a year. Small by design, so each member gets the individual attention the work requires.
Endo Kin Collective FAQs & New Group for Endometriosis Patients
Christian Grief Therapy Group
"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18 (ESV)
Losing someone you love can shake your faith in God. This group is a place to grieve honestly as a Christian, with room for both your sorrow and your questions for God. The Christian Grief Therapy Group is a clinical, evidence-based therapy group for adults grieving the death of a loved one. Sessions integrate Christian faith with proven grief treatment approaches. Members work through the pain of loss together and learn ways to carry grief without being stuck in it.
The group is led by Shakira O'Garro, LMHC-D, LPCC, LPC, NCC, and co-facilitated by Amber Arteaga, our supervised counseling intern.
Group details
- Tentative Start date: Monday, October 19, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET
- Length: 8 to 10 weeks
- Format: Virtual
- Cost: $20 per person, per session. A limited number of scholarship and reduced-fee spots are available.
Space is limited. To reserve your spot or ask about a reduced-fee spot, email hello@cheerfulheartmhcpllc.com or call (914) 214-7792.
Brainspotting Groups
Coming Soon | Waitlist Open
Brainspotting works with the brain's natural capacity to locate, process, and release trauma held in the body, tied to where you look. In a group format, it offers deep processing of a different quality than EMDR. Clients often find this approach less activating, with more flexibility in structure, and well-suited for people who find highly structured protocols harder to stay present in.
These groups are forming now. Same structure as our EMDR cohorts: 6 to 8 weeks, small groups, a few times a year.
Join the waitlist: complete a contact form or email hello@cheerfulheartmhcpllc.com
Chronic Pelvic Pain & Chronic Pain Groups
Coming Fall 2026 | Waitlist Open
Living with chronic pain is its own kind of trauma—one that most people around you cannot see and that is poorly understood by doctors and patients alike. These groups make space for the emotional weight of pain that drains your resources to live your life fully.
Themes We Will Cover:
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Anxiety & Grief: Navigating the constant worry and mourning the physical capabilities or lifestyle shifts caused by illness.
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Identity Shifts: Processing who you are outside of your diagnosis and limitations.
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Medical Gaslighting: Healing from the emotional toll of having your pain dismissed or misunderstood by providers.
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The Loneliness of Chronic Pain: Managing the isolation of living in a body that keeps surprising you in the worst ways.
Two Distinct Cohorts Opening
We are offering two separate spaces so you can heal among people who truly share your day-to-day context:
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Professional BIPOC Women's Cohort: For Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color navigating chronic pain while balancing demanding careers and caregiving responsibilities.
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Inclusive Women's Cohort: Open to women of all racial backgrounds living with chronic pelvic pain, endometriosis, adenomyosis, or general chronic pain.
Group Structure
Both groups follow the same trauma-informed structure:
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Duration: 6 to 8 weeks
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Size: Intimate and supportive (5 to 10 women)
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Frequency: Offered a few times a year
How Do I Join a Group?
All groups form on a rolling basis. When you are ready, you will complete a short intake, have a brief screening call to make sure the group is the right fit, and then enroll before the cohort begins. Because these are structured therapeutic groups, there is no mid-cohort drop-in; that boundary protects the work for everyone in the room.
To join a waitlist or ask about current availability: complete a contact form or email hello@cheerfulheartmhcpllc.com
Looking for a speaker or workshop for your church, workplace, or organization?
See Speaking TopicsClinician Trainings
Professional trainings built for licensed and pre-licensed clinicians who want to expand their competency in specialized areas where the training landscape is thin and the clinical need is significant.
Planned training topics include:
- EMDR group protocols for medical trauma: GTEP, GREP2, and R-TEP
- Culturally responsive trauma care for BIPOC women with chronic illness
- Ethical considerations in faith-affirming therapy
- Understanding endometriosis and adenomyosis: a clinical primer for mental health therapists
- Suicidal Ideation in BIPOC with Endometriosis
Continuing education credits (CEUs) for mental health professionals will be available for select trainings in the near future. These credits are designed for licensed clinicians, including licensed mental health counselors, licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists. CE approval is in progress. Join the waitlist to be notified when CE-approved offerings become available.
To inquire about clinician trainings or be added to the notification list, email hello@cheerfulheartmhcpllc.com
