Receiving Higher Levels of Care (HLOC) is a necessary step for many people in their healing journey, but it can often be difficult transitioning back into everyday life. The transition from residential placement, inpatient care, or an intensive outpatient program (IOP) back to outpatient treatment can feel scary and intimidating. Your treatment program likely provided a reliable structure and added support to your routine. Some people often find it helpful to have a supportive network ready to help them or their loved ones navigate this transition.
Group therapy is a great option if you’ve just completed an IOP or inpatient treatment and are looking for extra support and accountability. Groups can help you build supportive relationships and share experiences with others who can relate to your experience. Group therapy also offers a safe space for individuals to learn new skills and challenge any negative thought patterns or destructive behaviors.
A support group that fits your specific needs is likely a great resource in your aftercare plan post treatment. However, unlike member-run support groups, group therapists have the necessary qualifications, training, and clinical knowledge to provide guidance, targeted support, and accountability to help you along your emotional wellness journey.
Receiving a higher level of care is a necessary step for many people in their healing journey, but it can often be difficult transitioning back into everyday life.
How can group therapy help someone leaving an intensive outpatient program (IOP) or inpatient treatment program?
Group therapy acts as a structured yet open forum to discuss personal experiences and challenges. Many group members find that over time, what they practice and experience within the group has a direct impact on their thoughts, feelings and behaviors outside the group, in their day-to-day lives.
With the guidance of a trained professional in a group setting, you may expect to:
- Share and receive support and feedback among other group members
- Developing skills to better handle stress and enhance communication
- Learn and practice new effective coping strategies and techniques
- Identify and better understand triggers of distress
- Experience increased empathy and insight into personal and collective issues
- Work towards your own personal growth
- Explore unhelpful thoughts, feelings and behaviors
- Create meaningful connections with others
- Develop healthier relationships with yourself and others
we offer virtual group therapy options for dbt and trauma
Dialectical Behavior Skills (DBT) Group, Trauma Skills Group, and a Trauma Processing Group.
Groups meet online once a week with one or two therapists and between 6-15 members who are seeking care for similar challenges. You’ll be guided through exercises and interventions, and engage in active group discussions. The overall flow of the session and group therapy activities carried out will be largely dependent on the style and the goals of the group.
Group therapy can help you explore unhelpful thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, and develop a healthier relationship with yourself and others.
Dialectical Behavior Skills (DBT) Group –Tuesdays 5pm-6:30pm
Our DBT skills group is an open group (meaning group members can come and go at any time) of 3-15 members. You’ll learn new techniques to better manage stress, cope with negative feelings, and improve your relationships. You can expect to deepen your emotional understanding of yourself, while improving how you communicate and relate to others. You’ll learn about and build four major skills of DBT:
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Interpersonal Effectiveness– improve relationships, communication, and conflict management
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Mindfulness– learn to be present and more engaged in life while accepting yourself without judgment
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Emotion Regulation– recognize and express feelings in healthier ways while feeling greater control over your emotions
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Distress Tolerance– manage crisis and extreme experiences of stress through the use of coping skills
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Mindfulness is the practice of learning
to be present and more engaged in life, while accepting yourself without judgment.
Trauma Skills Group – Wednesdays 5pm-6:30pm
If you’ve experienced trauma, we recommend starting with our trauma skills group to improve how you cope with unpleasant trauma symptoms. This is a closed group, which means it has the same members for the full 10 weeks.
You’ll learn effective coping skills to manage traumatic stress and gain knowledge about trauma’s impact on your thoughts, feelings, behaviors and relationships. In this group you can expect to feel heard and seen while healing through support from others who have also experienced trauma.
Trauma Processing Group – Saturdays 9:30am-11am
Once you gain the foundational skills, we encourage you to join our trauma processing group to begin your journey towards healing. This is an open group which consists of 3-10 members.
You’ll learn how to build trust, feel less shame, and work through difficult emotions as you share your story with the guidance of a trained professional. You can expect to deepen your self-awareness, gain new perspectives, and foster a sense of connection and community with others in a safe space.
In our trauma skills group, you can expect to feel heard and seen while healing through support from others who have also experienced trauma.
Group therapy has been shown to be effective in treating a wide range of mental health concerns including:
Anger issues – Group therapy can provide a safe space to discuss and effectively manage anger.
Social anxiety – Group therapy can help participants build confidence, support each other in difficult social scenarios and decrease fear of judging.
Grief and loss – Group therapy can provide a sense of community and understanding, help people better understand the bereavement process and support those struggling to cope with the loss of a loved one.
Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – Group therapy can help people process and cope with traumatic life experiences, increase assertiveness, and learn strategies for regulated emotional responses.
Depression – Group therapy provides a supportive environment for individuals to gain insight into their negative thought patterns, discuss their feelings and learn problem-solving strategies to cope with depression.
Eating disorders – Group therapy can help individuals develop healthy attitudes and behaviors towards food and eating, increase understanding of their triggers and the causes of their disordered eating, and learn comprehensive methods of coping with their symptoms.
Substance abuse – Group therapy can aid individuals to identify patterns leading to substance abuse, recognize and control destructive triggers, develop social and recreational activities to replace substance usage and form strong, healthy relationships with peers.
Behavioral addictions – Group therapy for behavioral addictions such as gambling can provide structure and support to help individuals stay accountable and develop healthier relationships with themselves and others.
Stress management – Group therapy can encourage clients to discuss stressors and come up with effective strategies for responding to stress.
Low self-esteem – Group therapy can help individuals recognize and reframe unhelpful thinking patterns, develop assertiveness skills and receive positive feedback from their peers.
Family conflict – Group therapy can help families identify the causes of conflict, work through their disputes in a more constructive manner, build better communication methods and form stronger relationships.
Major life transitions – Group therapy can support individuals in adapting to new changes, allowing them to feel less isolated and more prepared for growth.
Chronic pain and illness – Group therapy can provide much needed support, understanding, and normalization for people suffering from chronic pain and illnesses. It can help create a sense of solidarity by allowing individuals to connect with others who genuinely understand the everyday struggles that come with managing chronic pain and illnesses.
Emotion regulation – Group therapy can help individuals identify and communicate their feelings in more constructive ways, improve how they cope with and respond to difficult feelings.
Group therapy can help individuals recognize and reframe unhelpful thinking patterns, develop assertiveness skills and receive positive feedback from others experiencing similar challenges.
Discover the benefits of group therapy
Graduating from IOP or inpatient treatment can be exciting and scary at the same time. You’ve experienced a certain routine, structure, and support likely for several intensive weeks. Group therapy can be especially helpful if you’ve recently completed treatment and are looking for the next step in your mental health journey.
You’ll be able to build on your progress and continue to practice how to cope more effectively, build meaningful relationships with other group members, share your experience in a safe, supportive environment, hear stories of healing and transformation, and ultimately heal and gain insight into yourself. Reach out today to schedule a complimentary consultation to see if group therapy is the right fit for you.
Your Turn: What helped you add extra structure and support into your routine after leaving a higher level of care? If you’ve participated in group therapy before, what benefits did you experience? Share in the comments below.
