Circles Online Support Group Review
Online Support Group
Circles is an online support group that you can sign up to and connect with others who are dealing with the same struggles as you are. This is not a registered therapy session, but it is a valuable tool to add to your mental health routine. This is our review of the app after using the Circles app for a time.
Here is Circles Online Support Group Review: A Never Alone Review.
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Welcome to the in-depth review of the online platform Circles.
Circles is one of the many online mental health help platforms that have popped up between 2020-2022 due to the compounding pressure and stress the Covid pandemic put on the global population.
Circles is not a replacement for therapy.
Instead, they put together a group of like-minded people going through the same life events as you and connect you via an in-app conference call led by professionals.
What Is Circles?
Circles is an online platform where you can sign up and join weekly group sessions led by professionals (therapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.)
Is it Circlesup or Circles?
Circles is the name of the company and mental health help platform. They use ‘circlesup’ as their domain name, and that’s it.
When was Circles founded?
Circles was founded in 2020, the same year as the Covid Pandemic hit the world. This year was a significant shift in how the world consumed and interacted with help for their mental health, stress, anxiety, grief, depression and much more.
Who started Circles?
Circles was Co-founded by Irad Eichler (CEO), who was named the World Economic Forum’s “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” back in 2008, and Dan Landa (CRO).
Before we jump into the review, I want to help you understand some of the core areas that Circles goes over, giving you a better understanding of what you will get out of Circles if you sign up.
What Is A Support Group?
A support group provides an opportunity for people dealing with the same struggles in life to share personal experiences, feelings, and coping strategies. Support groups are led by a moderator who helps lead the group into productive conversations and helps make sure everyone gets their say. These moderators are usually professionals in their field.
How Do Support Groups Help Your Mental Health?
Joining people who have dealt with the same situations can be very therapeutic. Support groups do just that. They make it easier to find others like you by bringing a community together based around a focal point.
Talking, sharing, and feeling safe in an environment of healing is beneficial for your mental health, no matter what is going on.
Circles Online Support Group Review
Circles is an online tool that will help connect you with people going through the same type of situation you are in and have a professional there to lead the 30 to 60 minute long sessions, keeping you and others feeling safe.
Using the Circles app, I realized that this is a powerful tool to add value to your therapy sessions. The platform does not replace your therapist.
While therapy can be expensive, It can be hard to know how often you should go to therapy and keep yourself from going broke. This is where Circles can step in.
Being able to join in weekly or more video meetings in your support group, you can get that vital connection and time to speak out loud to those interested and care about you.
Now, let me take you through the process of signing up to start your first support group session.
3 support group options
When you click the “Find Your Circle” button on any landing page, they will direct you to the starting sequence of a series of questions that will help the Circles platform put you into the right area.
The options that you will have are:
- I lost someone in my life
- Separation or Divorce
- Narcissistic relationships
Circles grief flow
Below you will find the exact questions you will be asked when you choose the Grief path on the Circles app.
What is grief?
Grief is the response to losing someone or something you held close to your heart. Usually, it comes after losing some living thing like a family member or pet. However, it can be normal to feel grief over the loss of an object.
Areas of loss that is most common in grief:
- Losing a parent
- Losing a pet
- Losing a sibling
- Losing a close friend
- Losing a family member
What kind of loss have you experienced?
How recently did this happen?
Do you know anyone experiencing a similar challenge?
Do you open up about this struggle with others?
What are you hoping to gain by joining a support cirlce?
Circles divorce flow
Below you will find the exact questions you will be asked when you choose the Divorce path on the Circles app.
What is a divorce support group?
A divorce support group is another form of group therapy that can also be called a separation support group. Therapy from the sense of therapeutic talking with people dealing with the same struggles you are. In a support group focused on divorce, you can find people who have been divorced themselves or the children and family members whose lives have been affected by a parents’ divorce.
What bring you to seek support?
What stage are you at in the moment?
Are there children involved?
Do you know anyone experiencing a similar challenge?
Do you open up about this struggle with others?
What are you hoping to gain by joining a support group?
Circles narcissistic relationships flow
Below you will find the exact questions you will be asked when you choose the Narcissistic Relationships path on the Circles app.
What is Narcissism?
Narcissism is the act of being selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration. Being a narcissist in a relationship does not meld well.
What is a narcissistic relationship?
Narcissistic relationships are formed when partners struggle with a narcissistic personality. A narcissistic relationship happens when either one or both partners have this personality trait. For couples with children, this will negatively affect their childhood.
Who is this relationship with?
Your looking for help coping with
Do you know anyone experiencing a similar challenge?
Do you open up about this struggle with others?
What are you hoping to gain by joining a support group?
Circles homepage
Now that you have signed up to a Circles Group, you will access their homepage. On the app’s homepage, you will be given access to all Circles has to offer you for mental growth support.
- Your Starting Kit (Prep for your first week)
- Circle Chat
- Other Members in Circles
- Growth Exercises
- Events & Webinars
- Circles Groups to Join Weekly
What My Circles Experience Was Like
My overall experience taking part in the Circles app was positive. From onboarding to taking part in my own Grief Group, I felt comfortable and in a safe place to open up about my issues with grief.
When it comes to signing up for any group or new platform, I will generally give up halfway through if they make it too hard or confusing to go through the process. As you saw above, the steps through the Grief flow I followed were straight to the point and clear on what action I needed to take.
Within minutes, I was onboarded and had the opportunity to sign up for my first group session.
I am thrilled with how Circles has set this up and made the least possible barriers for new users to get help—struggling with mental health issues, anxiety, depression, stress and more compound the inability to process the obstacles that come up in our day.
Knowing my anxiety and fear of the unknown, I signed up for my first Grief Circle right away on the app and picked the very next one coming up. Not allowing for the “ill wait later” in my head to put it off the four weeks.
My circles grief group
The Grief Group I joined was with Marianne Weiss. She led the group, which included an amazing girl from California. The video chat was a lot like all the therapy sessions I attended prior.
Marianne led the session, discussing what she had planned for us and what we could expect. Then we all introduced ourselves and told our stories of why we were there.
My group member cried telling her story, and I had to compose myself during mine. But not once did I feel foolish for being there.
It was the grief that I was having a hard time (and still am 4 years later) processing my fathers’ death.
The session lasted 60 minutes, and when it ended, it felt like another positive therapy session had taken place inside me.
My mind felt clearer, and my chest felt lighter.
Explore our favorite online therapy apps
BetterHelp
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Online-Therapy.com
Circles App Review Conclusion
After going through the on-boarding, signing up to a group session and taking part in it, I 100% believe that this platform is a useful tool for your mental health growth.
One of the hardest parts of bettering ourselves mentally is finding safe places to open up and share our story, share our struggles and share our weaknesses. By sharing all of these things we are then able to see them in a new light and find a way to grow from them.
Bettering ourselves one day at a time.
