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.

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:
 

1. Share and receive support and feedback among other group members
2. Developing skills to better handle stress and enhance communication
3. Learn and practice new effective coping strategies and techniques
4. Identify and better understand triggers of distress
5. Experience increased empathy and insight into personal and collective issues
6. Work towards your own personal growth 
7. Explore unhelpful thoughts, feelings and behaviors
8. Create meaningful connections with others
9. 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.

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:

• • Interpersonal Effectiveness– improve relationships, communication, and conflict management

     

  • Mindfulness– learn to be present and more engaged in life while accepting yourself without judgment

     

  • Emotion Regulation– recognize and express feelings in healthier ways while feeling greater control over your emotions

     

  • Distress Tolerance– manage crisis and extreme experiences of stress through the use of coping skills

     

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.

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.

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.

When Covid-19 shutdowns began in the spring of 2020, the majority of therapists switched their practices online. The many online therapy platforms available now made that fairly easy. Teletherapy has many benefits. It helps us get the support we need to manage anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues that may be exacerbated by the current Pandemic and/or life after Covid. However, online therapy is different from face-to-face counseling because a relationship that usually feels more personal now takes place over a screen. Learn 5 easy ways to make your virtual therapy sessions feel more comfortable and effective.

Why do people need virtual therapy?

Research on mental health during the Pandemic has highlighted the growing need for mental health services in the U.S.

• In November 2019, prior to the pandemic, mental illness impacted 20% of American Adults.
• By November 2020, eight months into the Pandemic in the U.S., almost 2 out of 5 American adults were struggling with anxiety or depression.
• During the Pandemic, rates of addiction and suicidality have increased significantly and show no signs of decreasing.

The Pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health of kids, teens, and adults in significant and ongoing ways. Pandemic-related stressors include social isolation, physical health, job loss, financial instability, housing, education, childcare, and discrimination toward minorities.  This distress is on top of normal life-related stressors such as death, loss and grief, trauma, health, finances, family, professional/academic performance, and relationships.  

As a result, the demand for therapy has increased beyond what most private practices, school clinics, and community agencies can handle. The need to expand access to care will likely continue for years to come.

What are the benefits of teletherapy?

• Living in areas with few or no mental health services.
• Lack of access to therapists who specialize in specific issues.
• Accessibility issues for people with disabilities and chronic illness as well as those who are homebound.
• Less scheduling flexibility due to work schedules, childcare, and other commitments.

What are the disadvantages of counseling online?

• Virtual therapy sessions feel different, and sometimes not as powerful, as meeting in person.
• Lack of focus since people are surrounded by the distractions of home.
• Concerns about privacy on both the therapist and patient’s sides.
• Lack of a personal connection that comes from seeing and reading each others’ body language or just being in the same room.

How do I get the most out of online therapy?

While we used to exercise, socialize, work, and attend appointments in different physical spaces, many of us are still logging onto our computer or smartphone for various personal and professional interactions. This can make it hard to separate the different areas of our lives. 

While cutting out a commute and being able to multitask may be helpful in some areas of our lives, there are still pieces we need to ourselves. Therapy is one area of our lives that can deeply benefit from creating a separate, private, and distraction-free zone. 

To fully benefit from virtual therapy sessions, we need to be able to talk openly and honestly about our feelings. We need to hear and/or see our therapist respond to us. Most of the factors that make face-to-face therapy successful are still necessary for virtual therapy to work.  

Luckily, there are easy steps you can take to prepare for a therapy session and increase your comfort with doing therapy from home or wherever you are. 

5 Steps for Preparing for an Online Counseling Session

1. Switch your phone to “Do Not Disturb”
2. Change Your Location
3. Setup a Special Space
4. Set Aside Time Before and After Your Session
5. Talk About Your Virtual Therapy Experience

1. Switch your phone to “Do Not Disturb”

Preparing for your counseling session should start with putting your phone in its “do not disturb” (DND). This will ensure your therapy hour isn’t interrupted by texts, emails, or notifications. If you risk becoming distracted by a nearby computer, iPad, or other technology, turn off your alerts as well as your screens.

Shifting perspective, even by a few feet, can make a huge difference in how you feel.

2. Change Your Location

It can also be helpful to take your virtual therapy calls in a different physical location. Sitting at the same desk where you work can make therapy feel like just another chore to cross off of your to-do list.

You may want to walk through your neighborhood or a nearby park while you talk.  In some cases, your therapist may offer walk-and-talk therapy. This means they will meet you for a socially distanced walking therapy session.

If you prefer to stay home, try relocating to another spot in your living space, such as your bed or living room couch. If you live in a studio, try moving your chair so you can look out the window. Shifting your location, even by a few feet, can make a huge difference in how you feel.

3. Set Up a Special Space

You could take that previous tip a step further and set aside a nook in your home specifically for meditation, therapy sessions, and other mental health-boosting activities. This area is not used for any other kind of activity. 

A healing space doesn’t have to be a separate room with a door that closes. You can easily turn a corner of your living room or bedroom into a relaxing, comfortable space by adding some pillows, blankets, and other comforting objects.  Adding plants, essential oils, and/or a Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) therapy lamp can also help make this corner feel separate and soothing. 

If you live with others, you’ll want to make sure you discuss how each of you will use any shared space.  Make sure you respect each other’s needs, privacy, and boundaries.  

4. Set Aside Time Before and After Your Session

If you went to therapy in-person in the past, you probably had time during a car ride, walk, or subway trip to and from your therapist’s office. This time spent commuting can be really important for gathering your thoughts and then reflecting on your session. You can create this buffer time at home, as well.

If time and weather allow, plan to take a short walk or bike ride both before and after your therapy hour. Ideally, you would leave 30-60 minutes before and after a session. Mark this time in your calendar.  Canceling it is not an option since it’s essential to your health.

If you’re crunched for time, close your eyes and take slow deep breaths for 5 minutes before and after your sessions. This slowing down will help boost your focus before therapy and then give you some time to feel centered afterward.

Other suggestions for creating a separation between your daily routine and therapy include:

• Sit quietly for a few minutes without looking at a screen.
• Lie on your bed or couch with your eyes closed.
• Play with your pet.
• Look at a favorite piece of art or decoration.

5. Talk About Your Virtual Therapy Experience

Be open and honest about your experiences of virtual therapy sessions with your counselor, therapist, or psychologist. Our therapists are highly trained professionals.  They are here to help you identify and work through obstacles. That includes the therapy process itself. For therapy to work, you have to feel like you are getting what you need from the partnership with your therapist and the work itself.  

Talk about being angry or frustrated with not being able to see your therapist in person. Let them know you miss having the office as a private and separate space. Talk about how it feels to discuss deeply private issues at home and/or having them see where you live.  

Open and honest conversations may help you and your therapist figure out unique methods that work for both of you.  

Next steps for feeling more comfortable with virtual therapy sessions

Working with therapists online will probably always feel a bit different from in-person appointments.  However, there is so much to gain from working with a mental health professional from the safety, comfort, and convenience of your own home.

Working with a therapist online removes barriers to getting treatment that can help you feel better and live the life you want. Additionally, you may actually find the distance and separation make it easier to open up and speak freely.

Over time and by creating a special space for your sessions, you may be able to make it feel more authentic, personal, and focused.

Online therapy sessions are available at Clarity Therapy NYC. Our highly-trained specialists can help you tackle issues that have come up since the Pandemic or have been causing pain and suffering for a while. We work with people in NYC and throughout New York state. Contact us now to set up your virtual therapy session.

The original version of this post was written by Fiona Lowenstein on August 11, 2020

Your Turn: Have you found any ways of making virtual therapy feel more comfortable? We’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below!