SPECIFIC INTEREST SECTIONS
These groups offer intensive learning about specific theories and approaches in group treatment. Registrants can pursue current interests in greater depth or learn ways of integrating new approaches and methods into their private practice, clinic or agency work. Most of the Specific Interest Sections have extensive experiential components. Registration maximum (up to 20 registrants) has been set by each instructor.
For more information on the presenter, please click on the presenter name to view their CGP profile.
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Section II
Bringing Life to Group: The Leader's Use of Self
Instructor:
Elliot Zeisel, PhD, LCSW, CGP, DFAGPA, Founder/Faculty, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
The focus of this Institute will be on the development of the emotional skills needed to form and maintain relationships. Living in the moment with knowledge of the feelings is crucial to interpersonal functioning. Through didactic and experiential learning, we will explore how the leader uses her/his/their self-knowledge to craft interventions and respond to life as it unfolds in group process.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Build a group contract and culture that supports exploration of resistance.
2. Explain resistance analysis.
3. Demonstrate how the leader's use of self in crafting interventions is used.
Course References:
1. Zeisel, E. (2009). Affect Education and the Development of the Interpersonal Ego in Modern Group Analysis. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 59 (3).
2. Zeisel, E. (2012). The Leader's Use of Self: A Modern Analytic Approach to Working in the Intra-psychic and Interpersonal Realm. Modern Psychoanalysis, 37 (2).
3. Zeisel, E. (2012). Meeting Maturational Needs in Modern Group Analysis: A Schema for Personality Integration and Interpersonal Effectiveness. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chapter pp. 217 - 229.
4. Ormont, L. R., & Furgeri, L. M. B. (2001). The Technique of Group Treatment: The Collected Papers of Louis R. Ormont, Ph.D. Madison, CT: Psychosocial Press.
5. Rosenthal, L. (1987). Resolving Resistances in Group Psychotherapy. Northvale, N.J: Jason Aronson.
6. Black, A. (2017). On Attacking and Being Attacked in Group Therapy. International Journal of Group Pscyhotherapy, 67 (3).
7. Rothman, R. (2016). Fear of Breakdown and Breaks in Unity: Mysteries of the Unlived Life. Modern Psychoanalysis, 41 (1).
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Section III
Building a Systems-Centered® Group
Presented in cooperation with the Systems-Centered® Training and Research Institute
Instructors:
Dorothy Gibbons, MSS, LCSW, CGP, Licensed Systems-Centered® Practitioner, Private Practice, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Robert Hartford, LICSW, CGP, Licensed Systems-Centered® Practitioner, ICEEFT Certified Therapist, Private Practice, Solutions & Results, Washington, DC
SCT sees differences as essential for development and introduces functional subgrouping to integrate differences rather than splitting or scapegoating them. Seeing our voice as not only about us but also as a subgroup voice lowers the human tendency to take ourselves just personally and frees us from the pain of personalizing.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. State the connection between a Theory of Living Human Systems and SCT.
2. Describe the difference between a stereotypical subgroup and a functional subgroup.
3. Discriminate between communications that help a system to develop versus communications that inhibit a system from developing.
4. Practice the method of functional subgrouping to explore rather than split off differences in the group.
5. Name one type of behavior that is characteristic of the Flight Phase of group.
6. Discriminate between feelings coming from thoughts versus feelings coming from the here-and-now direct experience.
7. Describe how a system's ability to make boundaries "appropriately permeable" is a driving force towards its development.
8. Practice shifting from exploring apprehensive experience to a comprehensive integration of experience.
9. Demonstrate how to use a force field to identify driving and restraining forces towards a group’s explicit goal.
10. Demonstrate how to weaken restraining forces to help vector the group’s energy towards its explicit goal.
11. Identify at least one SCT technique for undoing anxiety.
12. Identify the three major Phases of Group Development that SCT identifies.
Course References:
1. Agazarian, Y.M. (1997). Systems-centered therapy for groups. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
2. Gantt, S.P., & Badenoch, B. (2017). Systems-centered group psychotherapy: Developing a group mind that supports right brain function and right-left-right hemispheric integration. In R. Tweedy (Ed.) The divided therapist: Hemispheric difference and contemporary psychotherapy. London, UK: Karnac Books.
3. Gantt, S.P., & Agazarian, Y.M. (2017). Systems-centered group therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(sup1), S60-S70. doi: 10.1080/00207284.2016.1218768
4. Gantt, S.P., & Agazarian, Y.M. (2010). Developing the group mind through functional subgrouping: Linking systems - centered training (SCT) and interpersonal neurobiology. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 60(4), pp. 514 - 545.
5. O'Neill, R.M., Reynolds, W.B., Culbertson, T.R., & Franklin, R.Y. (2013). Systems-Centered® Training's Functional Subgrouping: A Path to Koinonia in Pastoral Care. Chaplaincy Today, 28 (1).
6. Gantt, S.P. (2011). Functional subgrouping and the systems-centered approach to group therapy. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of group psychotherapy, (pp. 113-138). Oxford, UK: Wiley.
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Section IV
Cultivating the Internal Secure Base: Aligning Psychodynamic Technique with Attachment Theory in Group Therapy
Instructor:
Aaron Black, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Rochester, New York
Developmentally, secure attachment promotes flexible, robust internal working models of relationships characterized by the capacity to mentalize. This Institute explores a clinical approach whereby secure attachment is cultivated by resolving intrapsychic, interpersonal, and group resistances to sustained emotional contact and immediacy. Essential concepts will be demonstrated experientially and didactically.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define the concept of the secure base in attachment theory, as both an external and internal entity.
2. Describe the mechanisms by which the secure base facilitates emotional self-regulation.
3. Distinguish between secure versus insecure self-states.
5. Provide an example of how resistance facilitates emotional self-regulation in group therapy.
5. Name three interventions for engaging and resolving resistance in group treatment.
6. Define parallels between the development of attachment in childhood and the treatment process in group therapy.
Course References:
1. Black, A. E. (2019). Treating insecure attachment in group psychotherapy: Attachment theory meets modern psychoanalytic technique. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 69 (3), 259-286.
2. Leszcz, M. (2017). How Understanding Attachment Enhances Group Therapist Effectiveness. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(2), 280-287.
3. Fonagy, P., Campbell, C. & Bateman, A. (2017). Mentalizing, attachment, and epistemic trust in group therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(2), 176-201.
4. Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E., & Target, M. (2004). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. New York: Other Press.
5. Ormont, L. (1993). Resolving resistances to immediacy in the group setting. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 43(4), 399-418.
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Section V
Developing Resilient Group Leadership
Instructor:
Gail Brown, MA, CGP, Director of Academic Training, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
Effective leaders remain resilient in the face of intense feelings that emerge during the group process. This experiential Institute examines and explores the integration of three factors that contribute to this resilience: developing and maintaining a permeable insulation and healthy observing ego and using induced feelings for maturational interventions.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define and identify Emotional Insulation.
2. Define and identify Observing Ego.
3. Define and identify Induced Feelings.
4. Define progressive communication.
5. Define ‘here-and-now’ and its relationship to progressive communication.
6. Describe three obstacles to staying emotionally present.
7. Utilize the observing ego to distinguish between historical and present feelings.
8. Formulate interventions based on the leaders understanding of induced feelings.
9. Differentiate subjective from objective feelings.
10. List three ways to develop a healthy observing ego.
Course References:
1. Black, A. E. (2017). On attacking and being attacked in group psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68, 1-23.
2. Levine, R. (2011). Progressing while regressing in relationships. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 61(4).
3. MacColl, G. (2016). The art of bridging revisited. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66:3
4. Ormont, L. (1994) Developing emotional insulation. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 44(3).
5. Zeisel, E. (2012). The Ormont Lecture. AGPA 2012.
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Section VI
Doing it Differently: Cultivating Transference, Working through Repetition, and Rewiring Neurobiological Patterns
Instructor:
Elizabeth Olson, PsyD, LCSW, CGP, Owner, Collective for Psychological Wellness, Boulder, Colorado
Engaging in the here-and-now, we will explore repetitious dynamics. Unconscious patterns are embedded in automatic reactions that bi-pass the prefrontal cortex and lack discrimination of relational complexities. Exploring these automatic interactions and engaging in progressive communications, members will grow personally and professionally, generating the possibility for change.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define procedural patterns within a neuropsychological framework.
2. Utilize modern psychoanalytic techniques to help clients work through automatic, troublesome repetition compulsions.
3. Identify default reactions in themselves and other group members.
4. Utilize progressive communications for group clients that rewire brain pathways.
5. Describe how the brain changes with specific modern psychoanalytic group techniques.
6. Explain how resistances manifest in the brain.
7. Identify interventions that work through resistances effectively and change neuropsychological pathways.
8. Identify the brain processes that occur as repetition compulsions and procedural patterns are worked through.
Course References:
1. Ginot, E. (2015). The neuropsychology of the unconscious: Integrating brain and mind in psychotherapy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
2. Margolis, B. D. (1986). Joining, mirroring, psychological reflection: Terminology, definitions, theoretical considerations. Modern Psychoanalysis, 11(1&2), 19-35.
3. Ormont, L, & Furgeri, L. B. (2016). The Technique of Group Treatment: The Collected Papers of Louis R. Ormont,Ph.D. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform.
4. Schore, A. (2019). The development of the unconscious mind. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
5. Schore, A. (2019). Right brain psychotherapy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
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Section VII
Early Longing, Sexual Desire and Everything In Between
Instructors:
Joseph Acosta, MA, LPC, CGP, FAGPA, Faculty, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
Katie Griffin, MA, LPC, CGP,
FAGPA, Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Group members bring internal templates which, when combined with societal expectations, dictate and restrict the expression of longing, emotional connection, gender identity, and sexual desire. When the group leader helps expand and deepen these internal templates, group members develop more fluidity, breadth of identity, and depth of connection to themselves and others.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Compare binary and static understanding of gender and sexuality with a more complex and fluid understanding.
2. Describe the limitations of psychotherapy groups due to binary approaches and the advantages of a more complex and fluid approach.
3. Identify group leader fears related to the discussion of gender, desire, and sexuality in group.
4. Identify their own potential countertransference issues about these topics
5. Describe ways in which their own groups may be limited by static perspectives.
6. Formulate new interventions to expand the conversation of longing, gender, and sexuality.
Course References:
1. Atlas, G. (2015). The Enigma of Desire: Sex, Longing, and Belonging in Psychoanalysis. New York: Routledge.
2. Navarro, L., & Schwartzberg, S. (2007). Envy, Competition and Gender: Theory, Clinical Applications and Group Work. London: Routledge.
3. Nitsun, M. (2006). The Group as an Object of Desire: Exploring Sexuality in Group Psychotherapy. New York: Routledge.
4. Reis, B., & Grossmark, R. (2009). Heterosexual Masculinities: Contemporary Perspectives from Psychoanalytic Gender Theory. Philadelphia: Routledge.
5. Rodriguez-Rust, P.C. (Ed.) (2000). Bisexuality in the United States, A Social Science Reader. New York: Columbia University Press.
6. Toronto, E., Ainslie, G., Donovan, M., Kelly, M., Kieffer, C., & McWilliams, N. (Eds.) (2005). Psychoanalytic Reflections on a Gender-free Case: Into the Void. New York: Routledge.
7. Young-Eisendrath, P. (2014). Subject to Change: Jung, Gender, and Subjectivity in Psychoanalysis. New York: Routledge.
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Section VIII
Encounter: Clarifying Boundaries of Self, Making Intimate Contact with Other
Instructor:
Bruce Aaron, MSW, CGP, Private Practice, Chicago, Illinois
Conflictual situations can become environments in which projections and other boundary distortions occur, resulting in insufficiency of accurate information exchanged, as well as decrease in respectful communication. Gestalt Therapy, based as it is in awareness, offers tools for owning what is rightly one’s own, i.e., taking responsibility. This Institute offers supports for heightening awareness, respectful boundaries, and clarity of communication.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify when inviting clients to utilize “encounter statements” might be helpful.
2. Name the four components of “encounter” statements.
3. Explain the connection between awareness and responsibility in the context of Encounter.
4. Describe a difference in their own experience when hearing a fellow participant make an encounter statement to them versus a less explicit communication.
5. Come up with situations in which Encounter might not be recommended.
6. Explain how making an Encounter statement supports the speaker’s sense of integration and wholeness.
7. Explain how being encountered helps clarify the speaker’s phenomenological position relative to the listener.
Course References:
1. Cole, P.H., & Reese, D. (2018). New Directions in Gestalt Group Therapy: Relational Ground, Authentic Self. New York NY: Routledge.
2. Feder, B., & Frew, J. (2008). Beyond the Hot Seat Revisited. New Orleans, LA: The Gestalt Institute Press.
3. Francis, T., & Parlett, M. (Eds.) (2016). Contact and Context: New Directions in Gestalt Coaching. Gestalt Press.
4. Huckabay, M. (2000). An Overview of the Theory and Practice of Gestalt Group Process. In Nevis, E., (Ed.), Gestalt Therapy: Perspectives and Applications. Gestalt Press.
5. Lobb, M. S. (2014). The now-for-next in psychotherapy: Gestalt therapy recounted in post-modern society. Siracusa, Italy: Instituto di Gestalt HCC Italy.
6. Wheeler, G. (2000). Beyond Individualism: Toward a New Understanding of Self, Relationship, & Experience. Cambridge, MA: GIC Press.
7. Yalom, I. (1975). Technique of the Therapist: Specialized Formats and Procedural Aids. The Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy, 2nd Ed. New York, NY: Basic Books.
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Section IX
Expanding the Emotional Range in Group: The Leader's Emotional Receptivity
Instructor:
Jeffrey Hudson, MEd, LPC, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Austin, Texas
This Institute will help participants examine the impact of the leader’s emotional capacity and receptivity on groups. Of special significance is the leader’s openness to all the emotions experienced as countertransference – including love, hate, liking, and disliking our clients. We will explore ways of encouraging a wide range of feelings in our groups. This includes learning to welcome and explore positive and negative transferences with interest and freedom.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Distinguish between objective and subjective countertransference reactions.
2. Define countertransference resistance and develop a greater appreciation for its role in group leadership.
3. List common sources of countertransference resistance.
4. Identify emotions that you may discourage in your groups.
5. Discuss the role of self-acceptance in effective group leadership.
6. Identify ways a group therapist can develop emotional insulation.
Course References:
1. Black, A.E. (2014). Externalizing the Wish for the Secure Base in the Modern Analytic Group. Modern Psychoanalysis, 39(1), 70-102.
2. Black, A.E. (2017). On Attacking and Being Attacked in Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(3), 291-313.
3. Geltner, P. (2012). Emotional Communication: Countertransference Analysis and the Use of Feeling in Psychoanalytic Technique. New York: Routledge.
4. Levine, R. (2017). A Modern Psychoanalytic Perspective on Group Therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(Sup 1), S109-S120.
5. Zeisel, E.M. (2012). The Leader’s Use of Self: A Modern Analytic Approach to Working in the Intrapsychic and Interpersonal Realm. Modern Psychoanalysis, 37(2), 43-58.
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Section X
Finding Our Center of Health: Coupling Modern Analysis with Relational Life
Instructor:
Ginger Sullivan, MA, LPC, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Washington, DC
We will explore the odd-yet-winsome blend of modern analysis and Relational Life Therapy (RLT). RLT tells the story. Modern analysis rewrites the story. We will identify our relational style and how it detracts from psychological maturation and satisfying connection. Concepts such as grandiosity and shame, will be demonstrated experientially and didactically.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Apply RLT (Relational Life Therapy) principles as a supplemental and beneficial frame to modern analytic work in group.
2. Cite the two self-skills necessary for full-respect living.
3. Describe the four relational patterns as derivatives from the center of health.
4. Contrast the use of leverage with the support of adaptive defense.
5. Apply active engagement in furthering maturational development.
6. List the four-stage process of relational maturity as detected in a modern analytic group.
7. Differentiate and utilize the wounded child, the adaptive child and the functioning adult as identified in the group process.
Course References:
1. Billow, R.M. (2017). Relational Group Psychotherapy: An Overview: Part I: Foundational Principles and Practices. Group Analysis, 50 (1), 6-22.
2. Black, A.E. (2019). Treating Insecure Attachment in Group Therapy: Attachment Theory Meets Modern Psychoanalytic Technique. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy.
3. Evans, M. (1996). The subjective countertransference experience for the beginning modern group therapist. Modern Group, 1, pp. 46-60.
4. Holmes, L. (2009). The technique of partial identification. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 59:2.
5. Ormont, L. (1994). Developing emotional insulation. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 44 (3), 361-375.
6. Real, T. (November/December 2012). Joining Through the Truth. Psychotherapy Networker, (pp. 36-43).
7. Real, T. (2007). The New Rules of Marriage. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
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Section XI
Forging Relationships in Turbulent Times
Instructor:
Jeanne Bunker, LCSW, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Our world is in flux -- there is a push for acknowledging prejudice, oppression and violence, efforts to heal a fractured world; and there’s a strong push, internally and externally, against this evolution, towards stasis and marginalization. Within this volatile context, we will work with need, desire and conflict, opening ourselves to a deeper experience of our feelings, learning to tolerate affect, developing somatic awareness, and building skill utilizing our aggression for connection and healing.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define need, desire & aggression.
2. Compare common understanding of aggression with analytic understanding of aggression (objective countertransference).
3. Identify destructive aggression.
4. Identify healthy aggression.
5. Identify subjective factors (subjective countertransference) in destructive aggression.
6. Identify subjective factors (subjective countertransference) in healthy aggression.
7. Define observing ego.
8. Define progressive emotional communication.
9. Utilize progressive emotional communication.
10. Use observing ego to inform intentional, progressive emotional communication.
11. Identify personal bias that impedes progressive, emotional communication.
12. Utilize somatic awareness for affect regulation.
Course References:
1. Bernstein, J. (1994). Anger: Impulse and Inhibition -- Impressions and Reflections of a Modern Analyst. Modern Psychoanalysis, 19, 7-17.
2. Brown, B. (2015). Rising Strong: How the ability to reset transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. New York, NY: Random House.
3. Holmes, L. (2006). Becoming an Analyst: Learning to Live with Madness, Aggression, and the Unknown. Modern Psychoanalysis, 31, 113-118.
4. Kirman, J. (1986). The Management of Aggression in Modern Psychoanalytic Treatment. Modern Psychoanalysis, 11, 37-49.
5. Levine, R. (2018). A Group Analyst’s Perspective on the Trump-Clinton Election and Aftermath. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68: 1-29.
6. Levine, R. (2011). Progressing While Regressing in Relationships. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 61:4, 621-643.
7. Traister, R. (2018). Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
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Section XII
Group Process as a Method of Change from Compliance to Authenticity
Instructor:
Shoshana Ben-Noam, PsyD, CGP, LFAGPA, Adjunct Professor, Pace University, New York, New York
When compliance is a primary mode of relating to others, one’s needs and authentic-self are compromised. We will explore compliant versus authentic interactions through the group’s ‘hall of mirrors’ and didactic learning; the impact of these characteristics on one’s professional/personal lives; and interventions for reducing compliance and enhancing authenticity.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Cite the origins and development of compliant and authentic characteristics.
2. Recognize the development of 'relational templates'.
3. Identify the impact of compliance on one's self-assertion and connections to others.
4. Identify the effect of an authentic-self on one's assertive behavior and relationships with others.
5. Formulate the impact of both compliance and authenticity on a person's professional and personal lives.
6. Cite interventions for reducing compliance and enhancing authenticity.
Course References:
1. Bader, M.J. (1995). Authenticity and the psychology of choice in the analyst. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 64:282-305.
2. Billow, R. M. (2010). Models of therapeutic engagement Part II: Sincerity and authenticity. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 60: 29-58.
3. Herzog, B. (2015). Compliance, defiance, and the development of relational templates: What a ballerina taught me about myself and the supervisory process. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 35:298-311.
4. Riefolo, G. (2014). Truth and falsity: Reflections about the authenticity process. Italian Psychoanalytic Annual, 8:41-61.
5. Safran, J.D. (2017). The unbearable lightness of being: Authenticity and the search for the real. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 34(1):69-77.
6. Thompson, M.G. (2006).Vicissitudes of authenticity in the psychoanalytic situation. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 42: 139-176.
7. Wallin, D.J. (2007). Attachment in Psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press.
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Section XIII
Group Psychotherapy Supervision and Clinical Consultation
Presented in cooperation with the International Board for Certification of Group Psychotherapists
Instructor:
J. Scott Rutan, PhD, CGP-R, DFAGPA, Private Practice, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Psychotherapy is an apprenticeship profession. For many of us, at some time in our career we also offer clinical supervision and/or consultation to others. In this didactic and interactive Institute, we will focus on how to provide effective supervision and consultation. Each participant will present a current group they are facilitating. This event is approved to meet 12 of the supervisory hours required for group certification as a Certified Group Psychotherapist.
(50% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Distinguish between therapy, supervision and consultation.
2. Articulate how the supervisor and supervisee establish an educational alliance.
3. Identify the healing factors that each participant relies on most heavily.
4. Explain how parallel processes occurring between client, group and supervisee is transmitted to the supervision session.
5. Describe the ethical and legal issues in both supervision and consultation.
6. Supervise case material to examine and utilize countertransference.
Course References:
1. Alonso, A. (1995). The Quiet Profession: Supervisors of Psychotherapy. New York: MacMillan.
2. Bernard, H.S., & Spitz, H. (2006). Training in Group Psychotherapy Supervision. New York: American Group Psychotherapy Association.
3. Kassan, L.D. (2010). Peer Supervision Groups. New York: Jason Aronson
4. Tracey, T.J.G., Bludworth, J., & Glidden-Tracey, C.E. (2012). Are there parallel processes in psychotherapy supervision? An empirical examination. Psychotherapy, 49(3), 330-343.
5. Counselman, E., & Abernethy, A. (2011). Supervisory Reactions: An Important Aspect of Supervision. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 61(2) 197-217.
6. Rutan, J.S., Stone, W.N., & Shay, J.J. (2014). Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.
7. Bernard, J.M. (2014). The use of supervision notes as a targeted training strategy. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 68, 195-212.
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Section XIV
If Not Now, When: Access the Power of Immediacy to Renew Vital Engagement
Instructor:
Hilary Levine, PhD, CGP, Private Practice, New York, New York
This Institute will focus on developing safety and cohesion in group therapy with optimal member-to-member engagement. This process offers the opportunity for members to gradually become more vulnerable, and to connect with others more deeply, while holding on to a vital sense of self with considerable potential for growth. Fears of engagement will be explored. Interventions for the group therapist to engage members with each other with compassion and humor will be demonstrated.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Cite concepts of the "here-and-now" and "immediacy" in group therapy.
2. Demonstrate interventions to build safety and cohesion in the group.
3. Describe how to help group members express feelings towards others in a constructive and progressive way.
4. Identify the group leader's task of redirecting the group's attention and focus to the present moment.
5. Explain how to use your feelings, as an essential instrument of the group leader, to further the group process.
6. Demonstrate the use of "bridging" to connect members to each other.
7. Formulate how to facilitate the development of an affective and enlivening group culture.
Course References:
1. Ehrenberg, D. (2012). Perspective on different kinds of therapeutic process and therapeutic action. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 9(1): 31-40.
2. Leszcz, M., & Malat, J. (2012). The interpersonal model of group psychotherapy. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), The Wiley and Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy. West Surrey, UK: Wiley- Blackwell, 33-58.
3. Levine, R. (2017). A modern psychoanalytic perspective on group therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(sup1); 109-120.
4. MacColl, G. (2016). The art of bridging revisited. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66(3); 443-454.
5. Zeisel, E. (2012). Meeting maturational needs in modern group analysis: A schema for personality integration and interpersonal effectiveness. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), The Wiley and Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy. West Surrey, UK: Wiley- Blackwell, 217-229.
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Section XV
Individuation in Groups: A Jungian Approach to Group Psychotherapy
Instructor:
Justin Hecht, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, Adjunct Faculty, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
This Institute will approach group from a Jungian perspective. The leader will use a symbolic approach to facilitate appreciation of the dynamic unconscious and the influence of archetypes in our stories. We’ll attend to paradox, transference, individuation, and the problem of the opposites. A didactic presentation will conclude the Institute.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Apply a Jungian orientation to group psychotherapy interventions.
2. Identify archetypal material in personal stories.
3. Describe the characteristics of complexes.
4. Utilize a Jungian approach to the transference to facilitate individuation.
5. Describe Jung’s approach to the unconscious.
6. Define individuation, and encourage it in groups.
Course References:
1. Greene, T. (1982). Group Therapy and Analysis. In M. Stein (ed.), Jungian Analysis (pp 219-231). London: Open Court Publishing.
2. Hecht, J.B. (2011). Becoming who we are in groups. GROUP.
3. Whitmont, E.C. (1964). Group therapy and analytical psychology. Journal of Analytical Psychology.
4. Willeford, W. (1967). Group psychotherapy and symbol formation. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 12, 137-160
5. Zinkin, L. (1989). The group’s search for wholeness: A Jungian perspective. Group, 13, 252-264.
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Section XVI
Living Out Loud: Attuning the Leader's Voice
Instructor:
Marie Sergent, PhD, CGP, Private Practice, Rochester, New York
An attuned therapeutic voice allows the group leader to respond spontaneously and therapeutically to members’ emotional communications to offer corrective, maturational interventions. The leader’s personal history, however, can interfere with access to an authentic therapeutic voice. This Institute explores methods for resolving leader obstacles to potent emotional communication with members.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define emotional communication and its significance in group psychotherapy.
2. Name the relationship between emotional receptivity, attunement, and the group leader’s voice.
3. Define the role of immediacy in illuminating participants’ histories and resistances.
4. Describe the difference between induced and subjective countertransference.
5. Describe how countertransference feelings are used to resolve resistances.
6. Identify three sources or signs indicative of group leader resistance.
Course References:
1. Black, A. E. (2017). On attacking and being attacked in group psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(1), 291-313.
2. Geltner, P. (2013.) Emotional Communication: Countertransference Analysis and the Use of Feeling in Psychoanalytic Technique. New York: Routledge.
3. Levine, R. (2017). A modern analytic perspective of group therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67S(1), 109S-120S.
4. Maroda, K. J. (2013). The Power of Countertransference: Innovations in Analytic Technique. New York: Routledge.
5. Zeisel, E. M. (2009). Affect education and the development of the interpersonal ego in modern group psychoanalysis. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 59, 421-432.
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Section XVII
Longing for Home: Past Attachments and Reparative Re-Attachments in the Therapy Group
Instructor:
Myrna Frank, PhD, CGP, Private Practice, Bethesda, Maryland
What makes us long for home? Do we all long for home? And what, after all, is “home”? This Institute will explore the various aspects of longing for home, be it a real home (land) left behind, a symbolic space that houses our fantasized yearnings, or some mix of our early attachment to personal codes of smell, taste and sounds. Can a therapy group provide a home which facilitates repair via meaningful connection.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify similarities and differences in participants' respective experiences of notions of home.
2. Specify ethno-cultural features of home in self and other.
3. Recognize notions of longing, belonging, and unbelonging.
4. Specify variations of migration, immigration and emigration.
5. Enumerate the traumatic effects of home loss via war, financial ruin, or divorce.
6. Acquire sensitivity to the impact of otherness.
7. Apply an object relations understanding to longing or not longing.
8 Identify what makes us shift from a stranger group to a home group.
9. Explain how the Institute group functions as a new home in which to heal.
10. Apply the concept of longing for home--its presence, absence and vicissitudes- to their group work.
Course References:
1. Beltsiou, J. (2016). Seeking home in the foreign: Otherness and immigration. In J. Beltsiou (Ed). Immigration in Psychoanalysis: Locating Ourselves, 1st Edition.
2. Laub, D. (2013). On leaving home and the flight from trauma. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 23 (5), 568-580.
3. Schlapobersky, J. (2015). On Making A Home Amongst Strangers: The Paradox of Group Psychotherapy, Foulkes Lecture. Group Analysis, 48(4).
4. Seiden, H.M. (2009). On the longing for home. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 26, 191-205.
5. Seiden, H.M. (2014). You can't go home again. In Willock, Curtis, Bohm (Eds.): Understanding and Coping with Failure: Psychoanalytic perspectives.
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Section XVIII
Managing Love and Hate in the Group Setting
Instructor:
Ronnie Levine, PhD, ABPP, CGP, FAGPA, Faculty, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
This Institute is designed to help therapists understand and work more comfortably with loving and angry feelings in groups and in themselves. This Institute will help participants to identify the indicators of disguised feelings, to control destructive aggression, and to transform anger into its creative potential for creative growth.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify the leader's fears that interfere with addressing loving and angry feelings in group.
2. Identify individual and group manifestations of love and hate.
3. Formulate interventions that address emotional needs of group members.
4. Develop the technique of joining as an emotional intervention in group for individuals, subgroups and groups.
5. Develop the techniques of bridging to promote ego support, feedback, subgroup and group cohesion.
6. Identify the group member's fear of expressing feelings.
7. Examine the interpersonal adaptations to fear and desire that are being expressed in the group.
8. Develop emotional interventions that take in to account the individual and groups' capacity to tolerate and regulate affect.
Course References:
1. McColl, G.. (2016) . The art of bridging revised. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66(3), p. 443-454.
2. MacColl, G. (2014). The group therapy contract revisited. Group, 38(2), 103–113.
3. Zeisel, E., (2016). Plenary Address to the 2015 AGPA Institute: Undaunting Courage and The AGPA Institute. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66(4), p. 624-631.
4. Billow Richard. (2016). Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group Treatment: Part II: Testing Reality. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66(4), 551-570.
5. Levine, Ronnie. (2017). A Modern Psychoanalytic Perspective of Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(1). S109-s.120.
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Section XIX
Racism's Cost of Disconnection: Can We Reconnect?
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Racial and Ethnic Diversity SIG
Instructors:
Phillip Horner, LCSW, CGP, Clinical Director, Whole Connection, Boulder, Colorado
Marcée Turner, PhD,
CGP, Licensed Psychologist, Florida State University Counseling Center, Tallahassee, Florida
Race roles and dynamics influence our personal, professional and community group interactions. This Institute's interracial leadership will offer participants opportunities to examine internalized racial beliefs in cross racial interactions. Participants will reflect on internalized tensions and take risks as they honestly examine their own and others' narratives.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify racial power dynamics in group process.
2. Define internalized racial oppression, including inferiority and superiority.
3. Define aspects of one's racialized self.
4. State an empathic worldview about one's racialized self and others.
5. Explain the benefits of creating a brave space versus a safe space when learning from different positions of power.
6. Explain how a large group format aids the uncovering of repressed feelings about race.
7. Identify ways to lovingly interrupt racially offensive communications.
8. Explain how White guilt impedes open, honest discussions about racism.
Course References:
1. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2018). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America (5th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
2. Carter, R. T. (2007). Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35, 13-105. doi:10.117/001000006292033
3. DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3 (3), 54-70.
4. Helms, J.E. (2008). A race is a nice thing to have: a guide to being a white person or understanding the white persons in your life (2nd ed). Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street Press.
5. Schmidt, C. (2018). Anatomy of racial micro-aggressions. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68 , 585-607. doi:10.1080/00207284.2017.1421469
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Section XX
Reconnecting Masculinity: Reworking the Terms of Manhood
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Community Outreach Task Force
Instructors:
David Dumais, LCSW, CGP, Faculty, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
Craig Haen, PhD, LCAT, CGP, FAGPA, Adjunct Faculty, New York University, New York, New York
Terry Real characterized masculine development as a “process of elimination, a successive unfolding of loss,” capturing how males learn to distance from feelings and, in turn, from others. Self-reliance, however, defies fundamental attachment needs. This Institute focuses on replacing disconnection with safe forms of male intimacy. All male-identified participants welcome.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. List three ways that gender socialization inhibits male intimacy.
2. Identify and explore two experiences from participants' own masculine development that reinforce or inhibit connection.
3. Identify two ways that processing present-moment experiences of connection can inform clinical practice.
4. Describe two ways of adapting the therapy frame to work more effectively with male-identified clients.
5. Name two ways that meta-processing can resolve moments of impasse between group members and foster increased intimacy.
6. Describe four ways that the group process facilitates the movement from disconnection to connection.
7. Distinguish adult male intimacy from defensive forms of self-reliance.
8. Identify the impact of gender roles on their professional lives.
Course References:
1. Dvorkin, K. (2015). Working with men in therapy. Group, 39(3), 241-250.
2. Haen, C. (2011). Engaging boys in treatment: Creative approaches to the therapy process. New York, NY: Routledge.
3. Provence, M. M., Rochlen, A. B., Chester, M. R., & Smith, E. (2014). “Just one of the guys”: A qualitative study of gay men’s experiences in mixed sexual orientation men’s groups. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 15(4), 427-436.
4. Rabinowitz, F. E. (2013). Innovative group therapy with men. In A. B. Rochlen & F. E. Rabinowitz (Eds.), Breaking barriers in counseling men: Insights and innovations (pp. 67-76). New York, NY: Routledge.
5. Real, T. (1997). I don't want to talk about it: Overcoming the secret legacy of male depression. New York, NY: Scribner.
6. Verhaagen, D. (2010). Therapy with young men: 16-24 year olds in treatment. New York, NY: Routledge.
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Section XXI
Relationships as Addictions: Untangling and Healing Self in Group
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Community Outreach Task Force
Instructor:
Suzanne Phillips, PsyD, ABPP, CGP, FAGPA, Adjunct Full Professor of Clinical Psychology, APA Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, LIU Post, Brookville, New York
There is a striking correspondence between our understanding of addiction, in terms of patterns of use, abuse, impairment, increased tolerance, withdrawal, relapse and addictive relating. This Institute will consider the efficacy of group in untangling the addictive bonds and making possible the healing of self.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify addiction in terms of patterns of use, denial, impairment, increased tolerance, and withdrawal.
2. Explain how and why another person becomes “ the fix.”
3. Describe the three elements of any addiction reflected in the addictive relationship.
4. Explain why addictive relationships are actually co-dependencies.
5. Discuss the intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics and definitions of self that underscore a person’s addictive relating.
6. Give four group dynamics that make group process uniquely suited to addressing relationships as addictions.
7. Describe at least one way on each level of group (Leader, the group-as-a-whole, and the individual members) the dynamics of addictive relationships unfold and offer opportunity for understanding and change.
Course References:
1. Grossmark, R. (2018). The Unobtrusive Relational Analyst: Explorations in Psychoanalytic Companioning. Routledge: New York, NY.
2. Meissner, W. (1981). Addiction and Paranoid Process: Psychoanalytic Process. International Journal of Psychanalytic Psychology, 8, 273-310.
3. Person, E. (1988). Dreams of love and Fateful Encounters: The Power of Romantic Passions. New York: WW Norton.
4. Phillips, S. (2002). Desperately Keeping Someone: Relationships as Addiction. Analytic Insights, 1,64-74.
5. Rosenberg, R. (2018). The Human Magnet Syndrome: The Codependent Narcissist Trap. Morgan James Publishing: Virginia.
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Section XXII
Social Identities, Power and Privilege: How Difference is Essential for Group Cohesion
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Racial and Ethnic Diversity SIG, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Identities SIG, and the College Counseling and Other Educational Settings SIG
Instructor:
Paul Gitterman, LICSW, MSC, CGP, Psychotherapist, Williams College Integrated Wellbeing Services, Williamstown, Massachusetts
This experiential group will explore how difference in social locations and experiences of power and privilege provide foundations for group cohesion. In exploring difference, the group establishes protective norms and can therefore effectively negotiate mis-attunements and micro-aggressions.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Describe how difference is experienced from an early developmental perspective and how it can impact future representations of difference.
2. Describe how the group serves as an attachment function.
3. Explain how members of privileged and minority identities may experience their attachment to the group differently.
4. Explain how different experiences of the dominant culture may impact group members’ trust and transferential experiences in group.
5. Describe how to welcome difference as a way of building group cohesion.
6. Explain why the leader’s knowledge of their social identities is so important in group work.
7. Describe how ego supportive interventions are useful in addressing microaggressions in groups.
8. Explain how groups naturally want to join around homogeneity and fear difference.
9. Describe how disclosure of emotional vulnerability lessens the potential of replicating oppressive dynamics.
10. Describe how groups with strong cohesion can be curious about difference.
Course References:
1. Gitterman, P. (2019). Social Identities, Power, and Privilege: The Importance of Difference in Establishing Early Group Cohesion. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 69:1, 99-125, DOI: 10.1080/00207284.2018.1484665
2. Leary, K. (2012). Race as an adaptive challenge: Working with diversity in the clinical consulting room. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 29(3), 279-291.
3. Smith, L. C. & Shin, R. Q. (2008). Social Privilege, Social Justice, and Group Counseling: An Inquiry. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33(4), 351-366.
4. Shah, S. A. & Kosi, R. (2011). Diversity in Groups: Culture, Ethnicity and Race. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 667-680, doi: 10.1002/9781119950882.ch33
5. Zeisel, E. (2011). Meeting Maturational Needs in Modern Group Analysis: A Schema for Personality Integration and Interpersonal Effectiveness. In J. Kleinberg (Ed.), in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy. Chichester, UK : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, ( doi: 10.1002/9781119950882.ch11
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Section XXIII
Stepping Up, Stepping In: Challenges and Rewards of Leadership (AGPA Leadership Track)
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Affiliate Societies Assembly Leadership Track
Instructor:
Sara Emerson, LICSW, MSW, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Our early training as group therapists is often "trial by fire", as we are cast in the role with little or no training or experience. Frequently the same is true moving into leadership positions. This two-day Institute is designed to help group therapists develop confidence and the skills to effectively lead professional organizations. The different skills and responsibilities of being a group leader and an organizational leader will be explored and delineated.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. List various leadership styles.
2. List the strengths and limitations of various styles.
3. Identify and define the ways in which ones own character influences their leadership style.
4. Identify and describe their own unique qualities which contribute to their capabilities and strengths.
5. Develop strategies to build and sustain a vital organization.
6. List the types of interpersonal skills which are particular to a leadership position.
7. Distinguish between goals, process and decision making as leadership function.
8. Distinguish between the qualities of a therapy/ process group leader and an organizational leader.
Course References:
1. Brent, M., & Dent, F. (2014). The leaders guide to managing people. Financial Times Press: UK.
2. Grosz, S. (2013). The Examined Life. How We Lose and Find Ourselves. WW Norton & Company.
3. Harvard Business Review (2015). HBR's 10 Must Reads of Emotional Intelligence. Cambridge, MA: H BR and
Amazon Digital Services.
4. Rutan, J. S, Stone, W. N., & Shay, J. (2014). Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy, fifth edition. NY and London: Guilford Press.
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Section XXIV
Racialized Trauma in Black, Indigenous, or People of Color Therapists
Instructors:
Kavita Avula, PsyD, CGP, President, Puget Sound Group Psychotherapy Network, & Faculty, National Group Psychotherapy Institute, Seattle, Washington
Marcus Hummings, PsyD, CGP, Private Practice, Washington, DC
This Institute is for Black, Indigenous or People of Color therapists and will explore the impact of race-based trauma on the therapist and the therapeutic encounter. The experience will offer participants the unique opportunity to dialogue in a safe space with other black, indigenous, and therapists of color. The Institute will empower members of target groups to work effectively against systems of oppression in what aspires to be a healing experience with BIPOC co-leaders.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Explain the process for addressing race-based trauma.
2. Utilize the terms Agent and Target to move beyond simplified ways of thinking about Rank dynamics.
3. Prepare group members to work through internalized oppression.
4. Apply Leticia Nieto’s Target Skill Model of Survival, Confusion, Empowerment, Strategy, and Recentering.
5. Detect attributional ambiguity, which can deplete BIPOC’s psychological energy to interpret meaning of Agent's actions.
6. Appraise who is staying awakened to their own internalized biases, including power imbalances between and among BIPOC group members.
7. Analyze whether repair of micro-aggressions is effective or ineffective.
8. Detect the moral Third, a space of embodied witnessing that can be created when therapists recognize the inevitability of hurting others.
9. Describe Resmaa Menakem’s cultural somatic approach and delineation of clean pain versus dirty pain.
10. Distinguish Menakem's white body trauma, black body trauma and police body trauma.
11. Define Robyn D'Angelo's concept of white fragility.
Course References:
1. Bemak, F., & Chi-Ying Chung, R. (2019). Race dialogues in group psychotherapy: Key issues in training and practice. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 62 (2), 172-191.
2. Comas-Díaz, L. (2016). Racial trauma recovery: A race-informed therapeutic approach to racial wounds. In A. N. Alvarez, C. T. H. Liang, & H. A. Neville (Eds.), The cost of racism for people of color: Contextualizing experiences of discrimination. Cultural, racial, and ethnic psychology book series (pp. 249 –272). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3. Haen, C., & Thomas, N.K. (2018). Holding history: Undoing racial unconsciousness in groups. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68 (4), 498-520.
4. Menakem, Resmaa. (2017). My grandmother's hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies. Central Recovery Press.
5. Nieto, L. (2010). Beyond inclusion, beyond empowerment. A developmental strategy to liberate everyone. Washington: Cuetzpalin.
6. Schmidt, C. (2018). Anatomy of racial micro-aggressions. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(4), 585-607.
7. Sue, D.W., Alsaidi, S., Awad, M.N., Glaeser, E., Calle, C. Z., & Mendez, N. (2019). Disarming Racial Microaggressions: Microintervention Strategies for Targets, White Allies, and Bystanders. American Psychologist, 74 (1), 128-142.