Permission to Be Uncertain
Online Group therapy that helps you unhook from obsessive thoughts, expand your tolerance for uncertainty, and feel more like you again.
This group helps you quiet the noise, reconnect with your values, and build relationships that don’t require you to shrink.
What if healing didn’t mean doing more…but allowing yourself to be supported in ways that feel safe, steady, and real?
You’ve tried to think your way to peace. To manage it all alone. But maybe what you really need… is space to be seen.
Online Group Therapy for OCD, Anxiety Loops, and Perfectionistic Overthinking
Permission to Be Uncertain
If your mind is stuck in “what if” mode, chasing certainty, replaying conversations, or performing endless mental rituals just to feel okay, you’re not alone. It’s exhausting to live in a brain that won’t settle until everything feels just right. But that search for certainty often makes things feel worse, not better.
This group creates a compassionate, judgment-free space to learn a different way of responding to obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. Grounded in ACT, we’ll work on unhooking from those thoughts, expanding your tolerance for uncertainty, and reconnecting with a sense of purpose and peace, even when your brain is loud.
Group therapy helps you see you’re not the only one living with these intrusive fears. You’ll gain skills, perspective, and encouragement in a space where honesty and hope coexist.
Led by Emily MacNiven, LPC
It’s okay to not feel certain. And it’s still possible to live a full, meaningful life.
Join when you’re ready—this group has flexible, ongoing enrollment. Covered by most insurance plans.
Day & Time
Tuesdays:
1:00-2:30pm MST
2:00-3:30pm CDT
3:00-4:30pm EST
This Group Is for You If…
✔️If your brain feels like it’s stuck in “what if” mode…
✔️If you’re mentally checking, replaying convos, avoiding triggers, or trying to get everything just right just to breathe…
✔️If you’re tired of feeling like your thoughts are in charge of your life…
✔️No matter how many solutions you find or reassurances you get, your mind keeps circling back, picking at it, making sure you don’t forget.
You might be wrestling with thoughts that feel completely out of character, thoughts you don’t want, that scare you, or go against everything you believe. Maybe you’ve spent hours analyzing them, trying to prove they’re not true or get them to disappear, but instead of peace, you feel more stuck.
Or maybe you’re constantly questioning your relationships. You care deeply about your partner, but your mind won’t stop picking things apart, wondering if you’re with the right person, if you feel enough, or if you’re lying to yourself. You keep Googling, asking friends, checking your feelings, but the questions keep coming.
Whether it’s fears about who you are or doubts about the people you love, it can feel like your brain just won’t leave you alone.
This group isn’t a lecture. It’s not a self-help book or a place where someone else does all the talking.
It’s real-life support, led with compassion, grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and made for the way you process life.
Living like this is exhausting, and you don’t have to keep wrestling with it alone.
*Participant
“For the first time, I feel like someone really gets how my brain works. I can talk about things I used to shut down around, and that’s a huge shift for me.”
*Participant
“You make space for me to show up as a full person, not just a mess to fix. That means more than I can say.”
*Participant
“I’m grateful for how you balance softness with honesty. You don’t sugarcoat, but you don’t shame, and that helps me stay with the hard stuff.”
How This Group Can Support What You’re Really Needing
You’re not looking for more coping hacks. You’re craving something deeper:
➕ It’s a space where you can say, “I can’t turn my brain off,” or “No matter how much reassurance I get, it still eats at me”—and be met with that deep, knowing “me too” instead of confusion or judgment.
A place where your needs aren’t too much, and where you’re not invisible, either.
The chance to explore who you are when you’re not stuck in overthinking or caretaking.
That’s exactly what this group is here for— support that sees the whole of you, not just the “issues” you’re trying to fix.
➕ Here, it’s okay to feel reactive, unsure, sensitive, guarded, overwhelmed, or tender. You don’t have to hide it or shrink it down to make it more “acceptable.”
In this group, you’ll practice:
• Getting curious about your emotions instead of picking yourself apart
• Naming what you need without feeling guilty for asking
• Noticing when you’re caught in a thought spiral—and learning how to gently step out of it
• Sitting with uncertainty without feeling like you’re losing yourself
• Letting support in, without feeling like you have to earn it by being “strong enough” first
Here, you get to explore what it’s like to show up fully—messy, human, and still worthy of care.
• Loosening the grip of thought loops so they stop running your day
• Calming anxiety without slipping into old compulsions or mental checklists
• Saying what you mean without replaying it in your head a hundred times after
• Staying connected to what matters even when uncertainty feels unbearable
• Letting yourself rest without guilt, and relating to yourself with more compassion
*Participant
“Our sessions help me name what I’ve been carrying underneath the surface. I didn’t realize how much was there until I felt safe enough to explore it.”
*Participant
“This is the first time I’ve had a therapist help me recognize my patterns and believe I can choose something different. It’s empowering.”
*Participant
“I’m learning how to have my own back instead of just pushing through all the time. That’s new for me.”
When you give yourself the chance to be seen, really seen, without judgment or fixing, something shifts.
What's Possible Through Group Therapy
It’s letting your guard down and feeling accepted anyway…It’s feeling…
✔️Safe to show up as your full self—messy, emotional, in-process, and still worthy.
✔️Connected without fear, because here, nobody expects you to shrink or perform.
✔️More trusting of your own voice, because you’re learning to hear it through the noise.
✔️Less alone in your struggles, because you realize, "Oh. It's not just me."
✔️Grounded in your truth—not perfection, not certainty, but presence.
Your patterns don’t disappear overnight. But your relationship with them changes. In this group, you’ll start to untangle the loops and “what if” spirals that keep you stuck, while building trust in your own mind again. Together, we’ll work toward:
• Setting down the constant emotional labor you’ve been quietly carrying
• Asking for what you need—without overexplaining or apologizing
• Practicing self-trust and boundaries in real time, not just in theory
• Letting others support you (and resisting the urge to manage it all yourself)
And you won’t be doing it in isolation. You’ll be alongside people who get it—learning, unlearning, and practicing the same brave shifts you are.
*Participant
“The metaphors you use stay with me. I caught myself reacting differently this week, and it felt like real progress.”
*Participant
“I actually used what we talked about in real life, and I didn’t spiral. I didn’t think that was possible for me before.”
*Participant
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to slow down my thoughts, but the grounding exercise made it feel possible.”
It’s not a magic solution. But it is a space where the pressure drops, the mask slips, and your nervous system finally gets to breathe.
➕ This group isn’t about “fixing” every thought. It’s about shifting your relationship with them so they stop running the show. Here, you’ll explore:
• Letting go of the need to prove you’re fine
• Quieting the mental loop that starts when someone doesn’t text back
• Trusting your own yes and no—even if others don’t approve
• Knowing when you’re caring, and when you’re caretaking
• Asking for what you need without bracing for backlash
• Catching yourself in performance mode—and choosing presence instead
You don’t have to show up polished or have the right words. You just have to show up—and each time you do, the grip of overthinking starts to loosen.
But Really… What Changes?
“You reflect things back in a way that helps me see through the chaos. I leave feeling capable, not broken.”
*Participant
What You’ll Walk Away With
• Confidence in reading and trusting your own signals—without second-guessing later
• A softer, steadier way of meeting your thoughts so they stop running your life
• Words that protect your boundaries without the guilt hangover
• Practical tools you can use in the moment when panic or spirals hit
• The relief of feeling understood and supported for who you are—without having to explain or prove it
What’s Included
This group is built around practices from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT), Mindful Self-Compassion, and mindfulness skill development. Together, we’ll draw from these evidence-based approaches to help you build psychological flexibility, respond more skillfully to anxious patterns, and reconnect with your values in real time.
We’ll also loosely follow a structured guidebook throughout our sessions to help you ground the work with clarity and consistency.
📅 Weekly Support, Your Way
75-minute telehealth sessions via Simple Practice with rolling enrollment.
📓 Optional Between-Session Support
Use of The Red Door ACT Toolbox + Therapy Companion Journal.
🧠 Real Tools, Real Growth
ACT-based tools and practical exercises to support change between sessions
🧾 Insurance-Friendly
Most plans cover the group. We’ll help verify during your consult.
👥 Intimate, Safe Community
7 people max—so you feel known, not lost in the crowd.
🔒 Private & Secure
Sessions are hosted on HIPAA-compliant Simple Practice with a private link each week
Group therapy and individual therapy serve different but equally important purposes. One is not better than the other, they simply meet different needs.
➕ Individual therapy offers space to focus deeply on your story, your past, and your inner world. You get undivided attention, personalized support, and the freedom to process at your own pace.
➕ Group therapy, on the other hand, brings healing through connection. It gives you a front-row seat to the experience of others—and that can shift something inside. You realize you’re not the only one thinking the way you do. You practice sharing vulnerably and receiving support in real time. You witness what courage looks like in someone else, and begin to embody it yourself.
Many people find that group therapy enriches the work they’re doing individually, giving them more real-life moments to apply their insights, tools, and awareness. You get to move from learning to living.
If you already have a therapist, a group can be a powerful complement. If you’re not in individual therapy, that’s okay too. This space can still be deeply transformative on its own.
➕Want to Learn More About How Group Therapy Works?
Explore this blog post from Emily: You Don’t Have to Hold It All Alone: Why Group Support Might Be Exactly What You Need
Why Group Therapy?
What to Expect in Group
Every group session lasts 75 minutes and is intentionally structured to offer both safety and flexibility. Here’s a general flow so you know what to expect:
🔹 1. Settling In
⏱️ 5–10 min
Gentle check-in or grounding practice
→ No pressure to share
→ Just arrive as you are
🔹 2. Topic Exploration
⏱️ 20–25 min
Guided skill-building or themed discussion
→ ACT, ERP, mindfulness, or self-compassion
→ May include metaphors, reflections, or brief teachings
🔹 3. Group Discussion & Support
⏱️ 30–35 min
Open space to share or listen
→ Explore emotions, thoughts, relationships
→ Where insight and connection deepen
🔹 4. Closing & Integration
⏱️ 5–10 min
Wrap-up with reflection or grounding
→ Gently transition back into daily life
→ Takeaways or intentions to carry forward
💬 Always Your Choice
Speak up. Sit back. Take space. Just be.
Group is capped at 7 people to keep it safe and intimate.
Meet Your Guide
This isn’t just a group, it’s a space to exhale, connect, and grow at your own pace, with guidance that meets you where you are.
Emily MacNiven, LPC, is a therapist, educator, and founder of The Red Door. She brings warmth, wisdom, and realness to every group—not to fix you, but to walk with you. Emily believes that something powerful happens when people come together with honesty and care—group work can soften isolation, spark insight, and remind us we’re not alone in what we carry. Healing doesn’t happen under pressure. It happens in the presence of safety, clarity, compassion, and connection.
With deep experience supporting folks tangled in mental noise, relationship uncertainty, people-pleasing, and identity-level self-doubt, Emily leads with grounded skill and steady gentleness. Her approach blends structure with softness, offering clear tools, meaningful reflection, and space to show up exactly as you are. In her groups, you don’t just learn to manage life. You learn to reclaim it.
Learn more about Emily and The Red Door Therapy & Wellness Solutions!
Questions?
Safety + FAQs
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Many people come into this with past experiences that made them feel ignored, judged, or like they had to perform to belong.
This group is different.
We take time to build trust, not rush it. You’ll never be forced to share more than you want to. You’ll never be “called out” or put on the spot. Everything we do is rooted in consent, gentleness, and honoring your pace.
The group is intentionally small—just seven people max—and everyone is carefully vetted through a 1:1 intake process to ensure the space stays emotionally safe and affirming. If something doesn’t feel right, we talk about it. If you need to pause or regroup, that’s welcome too.
You’re not entering a room full of strangers. You’re stepping into a space where real humans show up with softness, courage, and care.
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Yes. Most people haven’t. We ease in gently. No pressure, and no need to share until it feels right for you.
Many people find that even just listening, hearing others name what you’ve been feeling, can be powerful and healing. -
You don’t need a formal label. If you find yourself stuck in spirals of overthinking, reassurance-seeking, or relationship doubt—this is a space that understands.
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This group offers rolling enrollment, so you can start whenever you're ready. There’s no fixed end date, and you're welcome to attend as many sessions as feel helpful. Most folks attend weekly 75-minute sessions to build momentum, but we’ll work together to find a rhythm that honors your energy, schedule, and capacity. You can also schedule a free 20-minute consult to see if it’s a fit.
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We start with a free consultation and a one-on-one intake session to get to know you and your goals. If this group isn’t the best match, we’ll connect you with another offering that better meets your needs.
Getting Started Is Simple
✅ Step 1: Schedule Your Free Consult
Book a no-pressure, 20-minute video call to see if this group is the right fit for you.
🎧 Step 2: Join a Private Intake Session
Meet one-on-one for a 60-minute intake to talk through your goals, needs, and how group support can help.
💬 Step 3: Begin Group When You’re Ready
If it’s a good fit, you’ll join the group and start your journey. If not, we’ll help you connect with one of our other supportive offerings.
Everything’s online. All you need is a quiet-ish space and a willingness to show up. Pajamas welcome. 🧦💻
💸 Payment Details
Most insurance plans cover group therapy.
We’ll help verify your benefits during your consult and let you know your weekly co-pay.
*These reflections are representative of common themes shared in individual and group sessions and are not direct client testimonials.
Take the next step
Ready to Join—or Just Exploring?
Whether you’re all in or still figuring things out, the next step is the same: fill out the form below. I’ll reach out personally to answer your questions, help verify your insurance if needed, and guide you through what comes next, whether that’s scheduling your intake session or simply starting a conversation.
No pressure, no rush, just real support, at the pace that works best for you.