11. Group Therapy, Support Groups, & Figuring Out How to Run a Group

It can be scary to think about diving into group work and having so many clients in the room at one time, but it can be really powerful! Groups give clients the opportunity to support one another and practice skills or process together. We brought back Dr. Brittany Miskowiec, LICSW and are joined for the first time by Brad Crnobrna, LICSW LADC to discuss how to facilitate support groups and therapy treatment groups. They address common fears that therapists have about facilitating groups and even share about previous groups that have failed.  

In this video, Brad shares about the ROPES strategy for structuring therapy groups:  

- R: Review 

- O: Overview 

- P: Presentation 

- E: Exercise 

- S: Summary  

Dr. Lucas Volini, LMFT, has been practicing as a marriage and family therapist for over ten years. He has worked as a couple's therapist, a graduate and undergraduate professor, researcher, author, and now as the VP of Clinical Quality at Ellie Mental Health...But he mostly sees himself as a professional recreational golfer.   

Miranda Barker, MSW, LICSW, has been practicing as a therapist for a little over a year. She previously worked as a child protection investigator, adoption social worker, and case manager. She's new to the therapy game and loves soaking up all of the knowledge from the expert therapists in her life. She's the Executive Producer at Ellie Mental Health and believes that creativity is an important aspect of mental health care. 

LINKS: 

* Lucas' favorite book, Irvin Yalom's The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy 

* Ellie's Psychedelic Therapy Program, Intero 

* Find this episode on YouTube here

* Virtual Conversation Cards for Groups: Link here

Use the code VCC-THRIVAL20 for 20% off your membership!!

The Therapist Thrival Guide is a podcast from Ellie Mental Health. We want to take therapists from just surviving to thriving. This is everything you didn't learn in graduate school! This podcast is hosted by Miranda Barker, MSW LICSW and Dr. Lucas Volini, LMFT. We'll have a different therapist guest for each episode to talk about what they've learned and what they want to teach other therapists. This series will be covering topics like burn-out, client retention, session structure, and balancing professional relationships.   

Therapist THRIVAL Guide is one of many creative productions from Ellie Mental Health. Ellie is an outpatient mental health clinic that began in St. Paul, Minnesota and has continued to expand to over 20 clinics in Minnesota and a growing number of franchises across the country (we'll be opening over 500 locations in communities nationwide in the near future!!).  #normalizeit #grouptherapy #mentalhealthawareness #therapists #supportgroup