Comparison guide
Group therapy or a men's circle
They get confused often, but they do different work. Here is the real difference, and how to know which one you need now.
Men's group therapy is led by a licensed mental health professional, has a clinical goal and is usually indicated for a specific diagnosis or distress. A men's circle is peer support: facilitated but not clinical, focused on listening and personal growth. They are not mutually exclusive — many men do both, and a circle never replaces psychological treatment.
Updated: 19 August 2026
- Group therapy
- Led by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Clinical goal, clinical records, professional confidentiality.
- Men's circle
- Facilitated, not clinical. Peer support with confidentiality agreements, no diagnosis and no treatment.
- Indicative price
- Group therapy in Spain usually starts at €30–50 per session. Our circle costs €20 per session (18-session pass, €288).
- Can you combine them?
- Yes. A circle complements a therapeutic process, but never replaces it.
Who holds the space
This is the core difference. In group therapy a health professional leads, assesses and is clinically responsible for what happens: they set the goals, decide who joins and work with diagnostic criteria. In a men's circle a facilitator holds the structure — turns, agreements, timing — but treats no one.
Neither is better; the mandate is different. If you need treatment, therapy is the place. If you need to stop being alone with what is happening to you, a circle covers that better and over a longer stretch of time.
What gets worked on
Group therapy usually revolves around a clinical axis: anxiety, addiction, grief, anger management, depression. The group is the tool and the professional steers each session.
In a men's circle the axis is existential rather than clinical: father, partnership, money, shame, fear of failure, fatherhood, rage. There is no therapeutic target to hit; there is a practice repeated month after month that slowly changes your relationship with what happens to you.
Confidentiality and commitment
In therapy, professional secrecy is a legal duty of the therapist. In a circle, confidentiality is an explicit agreement everyone accepts on entering and that is repeated at every gathering; it works because the group upholds it.
Commitment differs too. A therapy group is usually closed, with an agreed number of sessions. Our open circle runs two Saturdays a month (1st and 3rd), 10:00–13:00 and you come when you can. For a longer journey, 'The Hero's Path' is nine months and 18 gatherings with a stable group.
How to choose
If there is clinical suffering — thoughts of harming yourself, problematic substance use, anxiety or depression that stops you functioning — start with a mental health professional. A circle can accompany that process, but it is not the place to treat it.
If what you feel is disconnection, loneliness or the sense of living on autopilot with nobody to really talk to, a circle is usually the most useful, cheapest and lowest-friction first step.
Frequently asked questions
Keep reading
Try it before deciding.
The open circle has no commitment: two Saturdays a month (1st and 3rd), 10:00–13:00 in Las Palmas.