SPECIALTY GROUPS
Anger Management Certificate
Participants complete a 12-week anger management group treatment curriculum for substance abuse and mental health participants. Topics include Events That Trigger Anger, Anger Control Plans, The Aggression Cycle, Assertiveness Training, and Cognitive Restructuring. Clients who participate in all 12 weeks receive a certificate of completion.
Grief & Loss
Group aims to reduce the occurrence and intensity of interference of symptoms related to grief, and to give participants an open forum to discuss with peers their grief issues. Participants identify what ways grief is affecting different areas of their lives, share their experiences with grief and how they have coped, identify how the grief process works and identify the stages of grief. Participants develop coping skills and a support system to assist them with the grief process.
Illness Management and Recovery (IMR)
Groups educate the participant on the wellness and recovery model. Recovery strategies, goal setting and types of mental illnesses will be explored. Participants are educated on psychotropic medication and the importance of using medications effectively. Participants also explore the stress vulnerability model and coping skills needed to work towards recovery. Participants will also become aware of how to get their needs met within the mental health system.
Integrated Dual Diagnosis Groups
To provide appropriate treatment for co-occuring disorders, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recommends an integrated treatment approach. Integrated treatment involves coordination substance-abuse and mental health interventions, rather than treating each disorder separately without consideration for the other. Integrated treatment involves forms of behavioral treatment, that can help improve coping skills and reduce maladaptive behaviors. In addition, psychoeducation helps increase awareness of the symptoms of disorders and the relationship between mental disorders and substance abuse. Relapse-prevention education help clients become aware of cues that make them more likely to abuse substances and help them develop alternative responses.
Pre-Vocational Group
“Pre-vocational services” encompass interventions, strategies and activities in a partial care program that assist individuals to adopt basic work behavior, attitudes and skills. This includes such areas as decision-making, negotiating needs, interpersonal issues, managing psychiatric symptoms and adherence to medication schedules. Job search strategies, completing an application and mock job interviews are also included.
Self-Care Group
To maximize recovery, group focuses on different types of healthy behavioral strategies and incorporating these into one’s daily life. This includes meditation, yoga, mindfulness exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, walking meditation and chair exercise.
Stages of Change Group
In 1977, two well-known researchers, DiClemente and Prochaska, introduced a five-stage model, the Transtheoretical Model (also called the Stages of Change Model) to help professionals understand their clients and motivate them to change. At each stage, different intervention strategies help individuals progress to the next stage and through the model. Participants are able to identify their stage of change throughout the treatment process as a way to measure progress. The Stages of Change model is applied to address a range of health behaviors, including tobacco use, weight management, medication compliance, addiction, and physical activity, among other topics.
Trauma Group
This psychoeducational group educates participants about trauma, with a combination of trauma-related topics and exercises intended to build skills in the areas of self-regulation, empathy, and interpersonal problem-solving. Content areas include: the nature of trauma; impact of trauma on emotions, relationships; trauma-related psychiatric disorders; and treatment modalities. Group focuses on developing cognitive/behavioral and interpersonal skills, using standard techniques such as role-play and cognitive restructuring. The emphasis is on teaching coping skills, discussion of the range of occurrences that can trigger PTSD, typical symptoms, and associated behaviors. Principles of self-care and recovery are included, as well as describing specific self-management techniques such as relaxation and affect management.
