Enhancing Personal, Relational, Professional, and Community Change for Socially Conscious Humans

Support & Skills Groups

Support & Skills Groups – Overview

~ Political Stress & Building Resiliency ~ Coming Out Later in Life ~ LGBTQ+ Healing Abuse, Skills & Empowerment ~  ~ Sexual Abuse Healing & Skills, ~ Older Queer Women’s Support ~ 

Do you want to experience the connection, acceptance, and strength of sharing intentional space with others addressing similar challenges?

Are you feeling isolated, alone, afraid, or anxious?

Do you want to learn concrete strategies to help you hold consistent boundaries and sustainable self-care habits?

Would it help you to discuss your concerns in a confidential setting?

Do you want skills to help you deepen your emotional connections with yourself and others?

Do you want to be in a setting that strives to be socially conscious, feminist, LGBTQPIA+ inclusive, sex-positive, and anti-racist?

In the groups I facilitate, I continue to humbly witness the personal and communal healing and connection that evolves from a healthy group experience. A well-structured support group’s nurturing, validating, and safe foundation can be life-changing.  

Each of these virtual groups includes a curriculum, worksheets, resources, and optional goal-setting and self-improvement project. The groups are designed and facilitated by Irene, who is a national trainer and group facilitator.

Deep healing and personal growth ensue when committed people join together to compassionately listen, gently support, and vulnerably share their thoughts, feelings, challenges, wisdom, and dreams.

Educational, Strategies, Support, and Coaching Groups Currently Offered by Irene Greene

The following educational, support, and coaching groups are offered in rotation. Goal-setting, strategies, skills, resources, worksheets, templates, support, and a curriculum packet. Optional project. For more information: email Irene Greene or call or text her at 612.874-6442.

A Women Coming Out Later in Life Virtual Support Group –  Starts 12.2.25!!!

For age ~35+, identify as lesbian, bisexual, queer, late bloomer, sapphic, later-in-life lesbian, etc., share a romantic and/or sexual attraction to women, and hold a socially-conscious and progressive framework.

14-week virtual group

The next group starts in Early 2026.

Free 30-minute intake consultations happening now!

The group combines a format of support, coaching, learning and sharing. The group’s format includes weekly topic themes, a packet with resources, and optional homework. The resources include information related to divorce and children, self-care, conflict management and communication, and problem-solving and decision-making strategies.

Includes one 1:1 30-minute complimentary coaching session during the 14 weeks of the group. 

For more information: email Irene Greene or call or text her at 612.874-6442.

Common issues and topics that are discussed in the group 

  • Share your process, joys, relief, and concerns in “coming out” to yourself.
  • Explore what it means for you to accept, be, and express more fully and authentically who you are.
  • Identify how your values will help guide your coming-out/being-out process and decisions.
  • If you do, how do you identify/label your sexual identity and why? What are your pronouns and why?
  • What have been the costs and benefits to you of not coming out until now?
  • Address and decrease your isolation, shame, fear, anxiety, confusion, loss, uncertainty, regrets, and guilt.
  • How is the current social and political environment impacting your coming out, sense of safety, feelings of shame, and discomfort?
  • Identify the decisions you need to make. Option: Make a goal-setting plan and receive support and coaching.
  • Discuss the “comfort” of being in the life and marriage with your husband, (and children and grandchildren), friends, dreams, history together vs. the possible concerns, unknowns, and results of disrupting that life and relationship, including the loss and grief that can be associated with such changes.
  • Experiences of “heterosexual comfort and safety” and the decrease in privilege that comes with being LGBTQ+ vs. “straight.”
  • Concerns, questions, realizations, and feelings about currently being in and/or having been in a relationship with a woman/women. 
  • Experiences of internalized homophobia and heterosexism, emotionally, physically, and your self-talk, i.e., guilt, self-loathing, disgust with same-sex sex, anti-LGBTQ+ self-talk and thoughts.
  • How the issues of age, race, class, religion, ability, and intergenerational trauma intersect with your coming out process.
  • What issues come up for you over the winter holidays?
  • Where and how do I fit into the LGBTQ+ community?
  • Manage your self-care throughout the process.
  • Coming out story, situation, decision-making strategies, challenges, and process.
  • Concerns related to having lived a single or married “heterosexual life” and transitioning to being more “out” to yourself and others (e.g., self-identity, friends, family, years of intertwined life with a spouse, children, home, money, workplace, spiritual community, neighbors, schools, mental health & medical professionals, etc.).
  • Explore how the decisions you may need/want to make may put you in conflict with the needs of your children, spouse, family, friends, religious community, etc.
  • Concerns and problem-solving strategies related to coming out of a “straight” marriage (e.g., talking to your spouse, getting a divorce or staying together, polyamory, co-parenting, housing, money management, telling family and friends, extramarital affair).
  • Share the concerns, fears, and joys of dating and having sex.

ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR CHILDREN (if you have them):

  • Discuss fears and concerns you have about how coming out will adversely impact relationship with your children, etc.
  • “Coming out” to your children – dos and don’ts.
  • When should I introduce my children to someone I am dating?
  • Tips on dos and don’ts related to when and how my co-parent and I can best tell the children.
  • What does “centering the needs of the children” mean in relation to a possible divorce and my coming out?

CONCEPTS & RESOURCES:

  • Explore history and concepts related to the LGBTQ+ communities and culture.
  • Discuss definitions and stereotypes, i.e., heterosexism, heteronormativity, heterosexual privilege, and internalized homophobia. What is the difference between sexual identity and sexuality? Why “homosexual” is an outdated concept. What does queer mean? What is the difference between internalized homophobia and fact-based fear and concern?
  • Share resources (e.g., podcasts, books, blogs, websites, movies, dating sites).

Contact Irene Greene for more information.

 

LGBTQ+ Political Stress Support & Building Resilience Skill-Building Support Group – Coming in early-2026. Contact for waitlist and more information.

VIRTUAL group for LGBTQ+ adults who seek support and strategies to manage the personal and community toll of the traumatic, chaotic, inhumane, and unsafe current social-political climate. Join in creating a soft-landing place to hold your varying experiences, lend and receive support. Learn resiliency-based strategies for sustained health, wellness, joy, and preparedness. Assess your burnout and oppression fatigue. Gain insight and inspiration into the (in)direct roles you want to have in The Resistance. Develop a concrete Action and Wellness Plan. Facilitated by Irene, she/her/lesbian, a nationally recognized trainer and group facilitator. The group will be meeting for 14 weeks (not 8).

 

Sexual Abuse Healing Support Group This 15-week virtual group meets on Wednesdays at 430-6 p.m. CST.  This group has a wait list. The next opening with be in March 2026.

For adult queer women and cis-straight allies who are in therapy or a related healing modality.

Zoom. Private pay. $55/session. Sliding fee slots. 

Contact Irene Greene.  

 

IT’s YOUR TIME – An Older Queer Women’s Support Group  An LGBTQ Women’s ~40+ Support Group to Honor Our Courage Over the Decades, Embrace the Present, and Envision Our Future. This 12-week virtual support and skill-building group is designed for socially progressive LGBTQ+ women aged 50-ish and over who want to acknowledge and honor their experience and wisdom, discuss their aging-related concerns about identity and health, increase their emotional wellness, and learn healthier boundary-setting and communication skills to improve their relationships with friends, partner(s), and family members.

This virtual group meets once a year. The next group will start in late Summer 2026. It is open to LGBTQ women ~40+ who live anywhere. Contact Irene Greene for more information and to get on the waiting list.

LGBTQIA+ Sexual, Psychological, & Physical Abuse Survivors Support Group Together, Foster Support, Skills, and Joy. For queer adults who have endured sexual, physical, and/or emotional trauma and identify as LGBTQIA+, and are in therapy or a related healing modality. This group meets for ten weeks and members have the option to re-up to the next group. Each group has a curriculum and topics may include dealing with the current social-political increase of oppression on out communities, boundaries and codependency, developing healthier coping strategies; glimmers and gratitude; self-care, shame and self-compassion; understanding my PTSD; conflict resolution and having challenging conversations, grounding skills, and identifying and managing triggers. The group includes strategies, skills, resources, worksheets, support, and a curriculum packet. $55/session. Private pay. Sliding fee slots available. Complimentary 30-minute intake consultation is required. The next version of this group begins in Fall 2026.

Contact Irene Greene for more information.

Twin Cities LGBTQ+ Executive Director’s Support Group – This bi-weekly group is for LGBTQ+ executive directors of non-profit organizations that are located in the Twin Cities. The group has been meeting since 2017. For more information, contact Irene Greene

About Irene’s Groups

These groups are designed for socially conscious folks who hold a fundamental consciousness of how the systemic layers of oppression, injustice, white supremacy, patriarchy, and trauma influence our personal, interpersonal, and community health and well-being. Members are asked to commit to an intention of being anti-racist, poly-friendly, sex-positive, and LGBTQPIA+-affirming.

Since 1983, I have designed and facilitated dozens of skills, support, psycho-educational, and coaching groups. I have also provided group dynamics training for counselors, therapists, and clergy. Designing and facilitating groups is a meaningful,  fulfilling, and enjoyable part of my work as a helping professional.

These educational, support, and skills coaching groups provide opportunities for like-minded humans to learn together, problem-solve, give and receive mutual support and validation, envision and define personal goals for growth, healing, and change, and share experiences, resources, and information. The groups combine a strengths-based, confidential, and collaborative approach and balance differences regarding neurodiversity and introverted and extroverted personalities.

Logistics About the Groups

  • Weekly agenda, curriculum packet, and discussion topics
  • Rate: $55-65/session for 75-90 minute groups. Sliding fee slots are available.
  • Confidential.
  • These groups are educational, support, and coaching groups. They are not therapy groups. 
  • These are not drop-in groups, and members rarely miss a session.
  • All groups are currently offered via telehealth.
  • Free 30-minute Zoom intake appointments are required for all groups.
  • I often have waiting lists for each group.
  • Contact Irene Greene for more information.
  • If you are currently in individual or relationship counseling or coaching, I may ask you to sign a Release of Information Form so that I may connect with your provider.
  • Minneapolis-based and open to folx in MN and beyond
  • Designed and Facilitated by Irene Greene, MSED. She/Her. Irene is a cisgender lesbian. A seasoned, engaging, and highly experienced group facilitator and national trainer.

The Groups are Designed and Facilitated by Irene Greene, MSED. she/her. A seasoned group facilitator, mental health provider, LGBTQPIA+ relationship coach, national family conflict coach, and national educator. Over the past twenty-five years, Irene has created and facilitated dozens of groups and trainings on a variety of topics: coming out, COVID-related self-care for medical and helping professionals, isolation and grief, White allyship, sexual and physical trauma abuse healing, moral injury, burnout, compassion fatigue, radical self-care, rest, and wellness. Based in Minneapolis, MN.

Examples of Groups Irene has Trained and Facilitated: Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN; Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado; Anatomy Bequest Program, University of Minnesota; MN LGBTQ+ Therapists’ Network; Headway Emotional Health Services, Twin Cities; The University of Minnesota Advising Program: Office of Undergraduate Education; Telling Queer History, Twin Cities; BECAUSE Conference, St. Paul; The University of Minnesota Department of Earth Sciences; Travis County Texas Prosecutor’s Office, Austin Tx; Way to Grow, MN; State Conference for Headway MN; MN Coalition of Sexual Abuse Programs; MN Department of Corrections; Anti-Racism Coalition, New York City; MN Coalition of Domestic Violence, Northstar Street Medics, MN; The Family Tree Clinic, Minneapolis, MN; MN Women in Psychology; Touchstone Mental Health Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

For more information and to schedule your free 30-minute Zoom consultation, contact Irene Greene

MOST OF MY SERVICES ARE CURRENTLY OFFERED ONLINE – TELEHEALTH  |  SOME WORKSHOPS ARE IN PERSON