Group Therapy Activities (with Examples)
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When you’re first thinking about opening your private practice, group therapy may not be the way you see yourself going. But, offering group therapy activities in your practice can be a great way to increase access, connection, and community for your clients.
For therapists and counselors who see group clients in-person or virtually via telehealth, SimplePractice makes it easy to quickly book group therapy sessions, document notes for group appointments, and bill separately for therapy sessions with up to 15 clients.
What is group therapy?
Group therapy activity is a form of psychotherapy that involves one or more licensed clinicians working with more than one person at the same time. It’s often available in community spaces like hospitals, mental health clinics, and community centers, but you can also put it to use in private practice as well.
How do group activities help mental health?
Group activities help mental health in a variety of ways. It allows your clients to come together with a group of hopefully like-minded people to share their concerns and learn how to work through them together. A community like this can help your clients feel less isolated—that they’re not as alone or as different from everyone else as they may have thought.
Group therapy activities can also help everyone in the group learn about themselves and how to improve their relationships with others, and how they can work with others toward a common goal.
If you’re considering offering group therapy activities in your private practice, you’ll have to carefully consider your clients and their therapeutic needs, so you can make sure you’re offering people groups that meet their clinical needs and will benefit them.
That said, group therapy activities can often help with concerns like:
- ADHD
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- PTSD
- Phobias
- Anger management
- Chronic pain or chronic illness
- Divorce
- Grief and loss
This isn’t an exhaustive list—there are a lot of different concerns, phases of life, and transitional periods that group therapy activities can help support. Think about your niche in therapy and the types of clients you work with most often, and use that as a baseline to determine if group therapy is a good fit for your practice, and what kinds of groups you could offer.
How do you facilitate a group counseling session?
To successfully facilitate a group therapy session, there’s a lot for you to consider. Group therapy is just as specialized as any other form of evidence-based therapy, so it’s a good idea to take specialized training if it’s something you might want to pursue in your practice.
Once you feel confident and prepared to facilitate group therapy activities, you have to compile the right group of clients. As was mentioned above, think about who makes up your client base and what their therapeutic needs are, and create your groups in a way that will help them support each other through similar concerns.
This is also a good time to decide if you want your groups to be open to anyone, or a closed group that has the same people in it each time you meet. There’s no right or wrong option there—but think about what you’ll likely be discussing in your groups, and if it would be better to ensure a level of privacy and comfort for your clients.
In your first meeting with your selected group, set expectations upfront so everyone’s on the same page. Answer any questions or dispel any myths people may have about group therapy, and set any ground rules you’d like everyone to follow throughout your time together. These ground rules may address things like what to do if you see a group member outside of therapy, the kinds of language you want to use or avoid, or how to respond if someone is feeling uncomfortable.
Perhaps the most important part of facilitating group therapy activities is to create an environment of trust and cohesion between your group members, so everyone feels safe and comfortable sharing during your sessions. There are a couple activities and other tools you can use to help create a safe space for your clients.
What are examples of group therapy activities?
There are so many options out there for group therapy activities, and choosing the ones that feel like the best fit for your particular groups can be a fun way to flex your creative and clinical muscles. To give you a jumping off point, here are five group therapy activities you can use in your practice. Some of these can run for consecutive groups, while others are fun ideas that may only happen once in a group’s cycle.
Icebreakers
Although icebreakers are certainly useful for new groups who don’t yet know each other, many icebreakers can also be helpful tools for sparking conversations between people who do know each other already. You can use prompts like two truths and a lie that people may be more familiar with, or one like Joyful Memory, where every participant shares a memory that brings them happiness.
Another game that could work well for a first session is “Find the Person Who.” At the beginning of your first session, pass out papers with identifying notes about other members. Sort these lists so that all attendees get different lists. Think along the lines of “Who was the senior class president?” or “Who worked at a gas station for their first job?” (Keep in mind, you’ll need to gather three random facts ahead of time!) Start the first session by challenging attendees to socialize with others until they’ve found people who match the descriptions on their list.
Art therapy
The creative process is naturally a stress-reliever for many people, art therapy activities can help address severe stress, anxiety, PTSD, and family conflicts.
Art therapy has also been successful in treating anxiety and depression in cancer patients. Aside from the therapeutic benefits it can have, it also can help your clients relax, open up, and build their social skills while creating something with their peers.
You can adapt the kind of art you use in your practice to suit the ages and therapeutic needs of your group, but some examples are having them create a journal, make a collage, take photographs, or even build sculptures.
Music
Similar to art therapy, music can be an integral part of the healing process. Have participants come prepared with one song they can share with the group. Then, together, talk about why the music they shared reduces their stress. Is it the melody or the lyrics? Do all group members experience the music in the same way?
Similarly, instead of sharing music other people made, your group may want to create their own. According to Courtney Armstrong in Counseling Today, “Music making and related activities such as drumming, singing, chanting and dancing have traditionally been pastimes that societies engaged in together to strengthen bonds, connect spiritually and foster group cohesion.” If a participant offers to bring in a guitar and strum away as others sing, let them!
Culture
When people from different backgrounds are part of a group, it’s an excellent opportunity to challenge perceptions, discuss tolerance, and learn from each other. There are many ways to incorporate culture into a group therapy session. Ask participants to come prepared with one item representing their family’s culture. It could be an item passed through the generations, or it can be a story or belief held in their culture. Boundless found that “In some cultures, for example, hallucinations are not seen as a mental illness.” Group members of various cultures can process each item or story based on their individual experiences.
These are just a few examples of group therapy activities. Make sure you do your research before jumping in, and choose activities that are clinically appropriate and will resonate with your clients on a personal level as well. For more inspiration and ideas on how to keep your clients engaged, sign up to receive resource emails, the latest from Pollen Magazine, and more.
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