Healing Holistically: An Invitation to Experience an IRB-Approved Trauma-Focused Group Therapy Study for College Students

To the college students who feel a quiet yearning for more healing integrating your Christian faith — this is for you.

Have you ever felt caught between the demands of your academic life and the deep stirrings of your soul? Maybe you’re navigating the pressure to “have it all together” while carrying a heaviness from your past.

You’ve explored traditional therapy, found solace in spiritual practices, or sought wisdom from both. Yet, you still feel a bit fragmented, as if who you are in your mind, heart, spirit are being treated as separate parts.

We understand that tension — between your strong faith and your fragility, between your calling and your capacity, between your future healing and current struggle.

At Integrate You, we believe that lasting healing emerges when we honor every part of who you are. We intentionally connect evidence-based therapeutic insights from the behavioral sciences with the depths of divine wisdom offered by spiritual direction.

This is an invitation to join an IRB-approved experimental clinical research study and become part of a group community where you can pursue healing and wholeness together.


What is this Group?

This is not a traditional support group or church small group. It is a evidence-based spiritually integrative group therapy paired with spiritual direction. It will feel like the realest small group you could ever imagine.

This is an empirical research study approved by the Institutional Review Board of Fuller Theological Seminary and Vanguard University that explores an innovative collaborative therapeutic model for trauma healing. The upcoming Fall group will be overseen and taking place through Journeys Counseling for enrolled students in California. It is generously funded by Integrate You International and the Travis Research Institute.

We are offering a 13-session, attachment-based, trauma-focused group therapy designed to help you integrate your difficult story into a narrative of healing and wholeness. It’s a space where you can get the clinical support you need and the spiritual support you seek, with others who are on the same journey.

Facilitated by psychologically-trained practitioners and theologically-equipped pastors, this group is a unique, collaborative model of care that offers a confidential space to be seen, heard, and felt — by others and also with God. Specifically, it will be facilitated by our co-founders, Emma Rose Klinger, a current 5th year doctoral clinical psychology trainee and MDiv student at Fuller, and Pastor Lisa Roseman, spiritual director and Vanguard MTS alumna. 

This group supports everyone, no matter where they are in their Christian faith walk, as they pursue growth in healing, courage, and cultivating more secure attachments in their relationships.


What to Expect & What You'll Gain

Our previous participants have shared that they experienced a decrease in post-traumatic stress symptoms and overall distress. They also felt a more secure connection with God and others by the end of the group.

This group is a chance to:

  • Engage in a holistic trauma healing process for your whole self.

  • Find community and a sense of belonging with other students who are navigating similar paths.

  • Practice healthy, integrative rhythms and coping skills that can sustain you beyond the group.

Your helpful co-facilitators


The Details

Number of participants: We are looking for up to 8 college/university students per group to participate in this study. Your participation will help us continue to bring this innovative model to more people. 

*Given the amount of interest/demand for limited seats, timing/majority students’ availability, and eligibility criteria met based on pre-test measures, we may need to have some students join the Winter/Spring cohort from January - March 2026. If that is the case, we will discuss that option with students directly.*

Date: Starts week of September 8th for approx. 11 - 13 weeks for 13 sessions at 2 hrs/week

*The final session will include a spiritually directive artistic activity that will take 3.5-4 hrs on a day and time that is mutually agreed upon with the group.*

  • Group 1 (In-Person, up to 8 students): Monday evenings (2 hours) at Journeys Counseling in Costa Mesa.

  • Group 2 (Online, up to 8 students): Friday or Saturday mornings (2 hours).

Benefits:

  • Opportunity for group processing and individual healing.

  • As a thank you for completing the sessions along with the pre-, midpoint, and post-test questionnaires, you will receive up to $50 compensation.

  • We can send information about our group to your faith-based college/university to help you petition for chapel credits and/or extra credit for classes. (This group has counted for both at Vanguard University in the past, and it will most likely be able to count again for Vanguard students.)


Take Your Next Step Toward Healing

You don't have to figure it all out alone. You just have to begin.

If you are a college or university student who wants to learn more, we invite you to take the first step. If you know someone who you think could benefit from this, please do send this page along.

You can sign-up to learn more and to attend any of the live interest Zoom meetings to hear a full overview of the group and the steps to join, or opt to schedule a private Zoom call with the lead researcher to discuss if the group is the right fit for you. Upcoming Live Zoom overviews will take place in Pacific time on the following days:

  • Wednesday, 8/20 4-4:30 PM

  • Friday, 8/22 8-8:30 AM

  • Monday, 8/25 3:30-4 PM 

  • Friday, 8/29 11-11:30 AM

  • Saturday, 8/30 10:30-11 AM

  • Monday, 9/1 9-9:30 AM

  • Wednesday, 9/3 3:30-4 PM

Click here to get started to share your interest in the study: Journeys & Fuller Group Therapy | Qualtrics Interest Survey (link to: bit.ly/JourneysGroupTherapy).

P.S. Perhaps you may not be struggling with trauma symptoms, but you know there are opportunities for deeper healing in your story. Maybe you are looking for a deeper connection with God and where He is in your story. Are you seeking healing outside of a clinical group therapy setting? We are also offering a free community workshop series “ICU: Integrated Healing Through Being Seen & Sharing Your Story” being held at Vineyard Church in Laguna Niguel, starting Sept 10th! Stay tuned for more information.

You can provide your email address below at the bottom of this page so you get the notification when we share more details, and you’ll receive our “Be Still and Check-in With God” Gift Devotional" in the meantime!

Next
Next

Post-traumatic Fragmentation to Holistic Integration: Emma Rose’s Journey