Breakthrough Groups

Don’t be trapped into thinking you’re the only one experiencing your current feelings, that no one understands, or that circumstances will never change! Bay Life's Breakthrough Support Groups provide safe, confidential, and caring environments where you can feel comfortable and safe talking about your struggles and grow toward wholeness.

Registration for fall groups is now open. Breakthrough groups will meet at various times and locations at Bay Life Church (see specific listing for details). 

THESE GROUPS ARE FOR ADULTS ONLY. Childcare is NOT available on Thursday nights for Breakthrough. In addition, we request that you do not leave anyone under the age of 18 unattended on Bay Life's campus while you are participating in any group.

Visit Breakthrough at Group Link on Sunday, January 28, 2024. You will have a chance to talk to leaders in person and find out more about each group or event.


Spring 2024 Seminars

Seminars are one-time meetings that usually last a few hours. They are often tied to a group that can provide additional support after the seminar. Breakthrough will meet on Thursdays at various locations at Bay Life Church (see specific group for details) and Sundays in the Counseling Center behind Bay Life Church. The Counseling Center is located at 140 Yarbrough Road, Brandon, FL 33510. 

Loss of a Spouse
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 7pm – 8:30pm | Room 604 | Workbook: $5

Widowed? Help is here and hope is possible. Do you dread the lonely days and nights? Wonder what to do with your spouse’s belongings? Feel like your brain is in a fog? Unsure of how you’ll go on?

At a Loss of a Spouse seminar you’ll discover:

  • Other people understand and have found ways to make it through
  • Why it won’t always hurt so much
  • Reasons for hope
  • Practical tips for coping with the death of a spouse

A Loss of a Spouse seminar lasts about two hours. Here’s what to expect:

  • Video seminar: You’ll view a 35-minute video with encouraging, practical advice from counselors, pastors, and widowed men and women.
  • Sharing time: Then you’ll get to talk with other widowed people about what you learned from the video. (There’s no pressure to share!)
  • A guide to bring home: Everyone receives a booklet with more than 30 short readings on how to live with grief and eventually rebuild your life.

Watch for registration to return this fall


Spring 2024 Groups

Registration for spring groups is open. A complete listing of open groups and classes offered at Bay Life Church can be found at baylife.org/groups. Many of our groups and classes fill up and close. If you don't find what you are looking for, please check back as new groups and classes continue to open. Groups listed here with a registration link are open, even if they have already started. If you have questions, feel free to email Genevieve LoCicero,

ALL GROUPS ARE FOR ADULTS ONLY. Childcare not provided. In addition, we request you do not leave anyone unattended under the age of 18 on Bay Life's campus while you are participating in a group.

DivorceCare
Sundays, February 4 - May 5, 2024 | 9am – 10:30am | Led by Genevieve LoCicero | Workbook: $20

Many people would tell you that separation and divorce are one of the most painful experiences they have ever faced. It is a confusing time when you may feel isolated and have a lot of questions about issues you have never faced before. The emotional damage cuts to the soul. True healing for this kind of pain can only come from God's presence in the life of the person experiencing it. The DivorceCare group is Christ-centered and meets weekly to help you face these challenges and move towards rebuilding your life. Each DivorceCare session has 3 distinct elements: watching a 40 minute DVD video where top experts speak on the subject of divorce and separation. After viewing the video, group participants will spend time in a group discussing what was presented in the video and also sharing what is going on in their life. We also use a participant guidebook in session and from home throughout the week to complete brief topic-related studies.

Register Here

GriefShare
Thursdays, February 8 - April 25, 2024 | 7pm – 8:30pm | Led by Mark Sentovich and Tricia Mira | Workbook: $20

It may be hard for you right now to feel optimistic about the future. If you have lost a spouse, child, family member or friend, you've probably found there are not many people who understand the deep hurt you feel. This can be a confusing time when you feel isolated and have many questions about things you've never faced before. Our GriefShare group meets weekly to help you face these challenges and move towards rebuilding your life. Each GriefShare session has 3 distinct elements: watching a video session which contains experts in grief and also individuals who have experienced loss; a brief group discuss time related to the video topic; and use of your participant guidebook during the session and throughout the week (brief studies for personal reflection). You do not need to walk alone on your journey from mourning to joy. We hope you will join us.

Register Here

Managing Anxiety: Yours and Theirs
Thursdays, February 1 - March 7, 2024 | 7pm – 8:30pm | No cost

Each of us carry anxiety that can at times flood us and even spill into other people. We become reactive and sometimes defensive; we struggle to be calm and at peace. Steve Cuss (Pastor; and author of Managing Anxiety: Yours and Theirs) refers to it as chronic anxiety and has put together a series of presentations on this specific issue. The videos are designed to help us ‘locate’ our anxiety, understand the sources of our anxiety and most importantly learn to use some tools where we can go from being managed by our anxiety to managing our anxiety. We can go from being reactive to calm, aware and present. Anxiety carries a message that keeps you stuck and trapped, but you can learn to notice when you are living by that message of anxiety and replace it with a true belief of freedom and peace found in the Word of God.

We will meet every Thursday evening from 7 - 8:30 pm in the Conference Room of the Pastoral Counseling Center.

This group will meet for 7 weeks. During these 7 weeks, we will listen to Right Now Media presentations by Pastor and author Steve Cuss. Each video session is approximately 20 minutes long. Afterwards we engage in group discussion related to the material we have just viewed. We will be using handouts provided through the Right Now Media website. No cost with this group.

This group is now closed

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
Sundays, February 4 - April 7, 2024 | 10:45am - 12pm | Workbook: $10

You can't be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. In his bestselling book (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality), Peter Scazzero outlines the top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality (i.e. avoiding healthy conflict in the name of keeping the peace, ignoring and suppressing emotions, using work for God as an excuse to run from God, and living without limits). Using Scazzero's material, this group will focus on unpacking core Biblical principals to guide us into a journey of emotional and spiritual growth and experience beneath-the-surface transformation in our relationship with Christ.

This group is now closed


About The Group Leader

As coordinator for the Breakthrough Support Group Ministry, Genevieve LoCicero and her team have facilitated a variety of groups. She has a heart to reach people that are hurting in all different areas. Her willingness to offer help and hope gently yet persistently through Breakthrough speaks well of her heart for the troubles of others. Breakthrough services are guided by Romans 12:1-2 which exhorts us to renew our minds. By doing so, we are able to live in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Renewing our mind impacts emotions which in turn impacts behaviors and results in a life changed.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  - Romans 12:1-2

For more information about any of our Breakthrough groups and events, contact Genevieve LoCicero,


Meeting Locations

Sunday and some Thursday Breakthrough groups will meet in the Counseling Center located at 140 Yarborough Road, Brandon, FL 33510. Thursday night groups may also meet in the Student Center or the rooms behind the Student Center of Bay Life Church, 1017 Kingsway Road, Brandon, FL 33510. Your registration email will have additional details.