Open Heart, Open Eyes: Dating Readiness Group

A Dating Readiness Group for those ready to step into love with awareness, intention, and a fully intact sense of self.

Does this sound familiar?

— WHO THIS IS FOR

“You invest months, sometimes years, into someone, only to realize this is the same dynamic you've lived through before.

“You've been doing the inner work and you finally feel ready to date again, but something holds you back from taking that step.

“After a divorce, a painful breakup, or a long stretch of being single, you want to enter the dating world differently this time.

“You keep getting attached to the same type of person and can't quite understand why, even when you know better.

"If any of this resonates, you have not failed at love, you have simply not yet had the space to understand your patterns before stepping back in."

This group is designed for anyone standing at the threshold: those who have done (or are doing) the hard work of healing, and who now want to understand how their attachment style, past experiences, and emotional patterns show up in the dating world, so they can make different, more meaningful choices.

Whether you're newly divorced, recently out of a long relationship, or simply someone who has been single by choice and is now ready, you are welcome here.

— WHAT YOU’LL EXPLORE

The heart of the program

Each session is designed to bring real-life dating scenarios into the room, unpacking what they mean, why they feel the way they do, and how to navigate them from a grounded, self-aware place.

🤍 Your Attachment Patterns

Understand what attachment style you carry, how it was formed, and how it manifests when you start connecting with someone new.

💞 Why You Get Attached

Explore the real-life triggers and behaviors that create fast, intense connections, and learn to tell the difference between chemistry and repetition.

🫀 Nervous System & Dating

Learn how your body responds to early dating, anxiety, hyper-vigilance, shutting down, and how to regulate from the inside out.

🚩 Red Flags vs. Green Flags

Move beyond the checklist. Develop real emotional literacy to recognize patterns early, before months of investment.

🗣️ Communication & Boundaries

Practice expressing your needs and setting boundaries from a place of security rather than fear of abandonment or conflict.

💕Your Dating Readiness

Build a clear, honest picture of where you are right now, emotionally, practically, and what a healthy, meaningful connection looks like for you.

— SESSION OUTLINE

Your 5-week journey

Each week builds on the last, from understanding where you've come from, to confidently stepping into something new.

01 Opening the Container

Building group safety, sharing your story, and naming what brought you here. Setting intentions for the work ahead.

02 Mapping Your Attachment Style

Understanding secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful-avoidant patterns, and recognizing yours in real-life dating scenarios.

03 The Pull: Why We Get Attached

Exploring the emotional and neurological roots of attraction and attachment, and why familiarity can feel like chemistry.

04 Your Body Knows First

Somatic awareness in dating: reading your nervous system's signals and learning to stay regulated under the excitement (or anxiety) of early connection.

05 Reading the Room, and the Person

Developing emotional literacy to recognize patterns early: how people show up, what it means, and how to trust your observations.

06 Voice, Needs & Boundaries

Learning to express your needs, set limits, and have honest conversations without over-explaining, shrinking, or shutting down.

07 Designing Your Relationship Vision

Getting clear on what a genuinely healthy, meaningful connection looks like, and what you're actually available for now.

08 Open Eyes, Open Heart: Stepping In

Integration: consolidating your insights, celebrating your growth, and stepping into the world of dating with open eyes and a grounded heart.

— GROUP FORMAT

What to expect

This is not a lecture series or a drop-in. It is evidence-based therapy, delivered in a carefully held group format, where the relationships that form within the group are part of the healing itself.

📅 5 Sessions

Weekly 90-minute sessions over 5 weeks

👥 Intimate Group

6–10 members, kept intentionally small for depth and connection

💻 Online Format

Accessible from anywhere in Ontario, no commute required

🧑‍⚕️ Expert Facilitation

Facilitated by a Registered Psychotherapist from the Inner Hero Clinic team

🔒 Closed Enrollment

Members begin and complete the program together, building real trust and safety

🌿 Trauma-Informed

Evidence-based, trauma-responsive, and culturally sensitive approach throughout

🤝 Co-ed

Open to all genders; Men & Women groups: divorced, separated, newly single, or returning to dating

🛡️ Confidential Space

What is shared in the group stays in the group. Always.

— OUR APPROACH

The Inner Hero difference

At Inner Hero Clinic, we believe that healing happens in relationship, and that includes the relationships formed within a group. This program draws from multiple evidence-based therapeutic frameworks to create an experience that is psychoeducational and emotionally alive at the same time.

You will learn. You will process. And you will heal, alongside others who understand exactly what it is to carry both hope and hesitation into love.

  • No one is ever pressured to share before they are ready

  • Silence is honored as much as words

  • Every voice matters equally in this space

  • Your pace is respected throughout the 5 weeks

  • Cultural context and lived experience are always honored

Therapeutic modalities woven through this program:

Attachment Theory

Understanding how early bonds shape how we connect, attach, and relate as adults.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Getting to know the different parts of yourself that show up, and sometimes sabotage, in relationships.

Somatic Awareness

Learning to read and regulate your body's signals in dating situations.

Psychoeducational Process Group Model

Combining learning with live group dynamics for integration that goes deeper than insight alone.

Narrative Therapy

Rewriting the stories you carry about yourself, love, and what you deserve.

— RIGHT FIT

This space is built for you if...

You're in the right place if...

  • ✓You keep attracting or being attracted to the same kind of person

  • ✓You've been working on yourself and feel ready to start dating, but want to do it consciously

  • ✓You're healing from a divorce, long-term relationship, or painful breakup

  • ✓You get attached quickly and deeply, and want to understand why

  • ✓You want to make a genuine, meaningful connection, not just avoid another wrong one

  • ✓You are open to doing emotional work in community with others

  • ✓You've been single by choice and feel ready to step back out

Who is welcome:

  • •All genders and sexual orientations

  • •People at any stage of the post-breakup or post-divorce journey

  • •Those who have never been in a long-term relationship and want to understand their patterns before they do

  • •People who are actively dating and feeling confused or exhausted by the experience

  • •Those who are not yet dating but are preparing to re-enter

  • •Clients who are currently in individual therapy and want group work alongside it

Note: All participants undergo a brief intake conversation with the facilitating clinician to ensure fit for this particular group.

— RESERVE YOUR SEAT

Ready to step in with open eyes?

Seats in this group are limited to ensure the intimacy and safety that real work requires. Once the group is full, enrollment closes.

Begin with a free 15-minute consultation to explore whether this group is the right fit for where you are right now.