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
Acknowledging the Diamond Years: The Trials and Rewards of the Senior Group Therapist
Instructors:
Patricia Barth, PhD, CGP, DLFAGPA, Private Practice, Houston, Texas
Robert White MD, CGP, LFAGPA, Private Practice, Houston, Texas
Senior group therapists experience rewards and trials in their work with patients. They have years of life experiences from which to draw, yet multiple factors associated with aging can impact their work issues. This Institute is structured as a process group to explore and identify these experiences. (90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify one's concerns about aging and practice.
2. Identify possibilities for continuing to work as a therapist.
3. Discuss rewards and difficulties of practicing as a senior therapist.
4. Identify the narcissistic wounds of the aging process.
5. Identify the transference issues that emerge in patients.
6. Identify the counter-transference issues seen in the clinician.
7. Discuss end of practice and aging issues.
8. Discuss the role of loss and grief in the aging therapist.
9. Identify and discuss the impact of physical changes in the therapeutic process.
10. Discuss the limitations that time and aging have on the therapeutic process.
Course References:
1. Messner, E., Groves, J., & Schwartz, J.H. (Eds.). (1989). What Therapists Learn About Themselves & How They Learn It: Autognosis. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, Inc.
2. Gray, J.D. (1987). The Personal Life of the Psychotherapist. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience.
3. Becker, E. (1973). The Denial of Death. New York: The Free Press.
4. Gold, J.H. (1993). Beyond Transference: When the Therapist's Real Life Intrudes. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub.
5. Yalom, I., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
6. Yalom, I. (2005). The Schopenhauer Cure. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
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Section III
Addiction and Recovery: Groups as Cultures of Resilience
Instructors:
Deborah Schwartz, MD, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Vancouver, BC
Marcia Nickow, PsyD, CADC, CGP, Private Practice, Chicago, Illinois
People with addictions--alcohol, drugs, food, sex, love, internet, technology, work, money--transform by "attaching" to a culture of recovery. Building on attachment, group relations and family systems theory and integrating 12-step principles, this institute targets healing from addictive disorders, underlying developmental wounds and intergenerational trauma.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Understand addiction as a dynamic disease with multiple manifestations such as substance abuse, eating disorders and process addictions (e.g., gambling, sex and relationships, internet, work, compulsive spending)
2. Define "cultures of resilience" in the context of addiction and recovery.
3. Explain how the Group Relations-Informed Addiction Treatment model (GRAT), detailed in the July 2015 issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, departs from traditional addiction treatment models.
4. Discuss how the GRAT model's emphasis on "progressive recovery" promotes long-term healing and interrupts chronic relapse patterns.
5. Specify how treatment models that downplay histories of abuse, neglect, and exposure to conflict and rage contribute to high relapse rates.
6. Demonstrate how treatment applications that identify and address co-occurring addictions can minimize relapse risk.
7. Explore how clinicians' personal and family histories may enhance treatment effectiveness when countertransference reactions are worked through in clinical supervision groups.
8. Explain how transparency in group around specific addictive behaviors and patterns helps promote abstinence from those behaviors.
9. Cite examples of common themes relevant to the conscious and unconscious transmission of trauma.
10. Describe intergenerational and transgenerational themes impacting addiction and recovery across cultures.
11. Summarize the benefits of process oriented psychotherapy groups for people active in 12 Step recovery and other self-help programs.
12. Articulate how the GRAT model may increase recovery success rates even for people resistant to 12 step recovery.
13. Challenge commonly held beliefs in academia that addicted populations do not benefit from long-term therapy or psychodynamic interventions.
Course References:
1. Korshak, S. J., Nickow, M. S., & Straus, B. (2014). A group therapist's guide to process addictions. New York: American Group Psychotherapy Association.
2. Flores, P. J. (2007). Group psychotherapy with addicted populations. 3rd ed. Binghamton, New York; Haworth.
3. Khantzian, E. J., & Albanese, M. J., (2008), Understanding addiction as self medication: Finding hope behind the pain. Lanham, MD; Roman & Littlefield.
4. Nickow, M. S. (2005). From the backstreets to the high road: A portrait of black survival and resilience. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
5. Schwartz, D. C., Nickow, M. S., et al. (2015) A substance called food: Long-term psychodynamic group treatment for compulsive overeating. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Number 65 (3).
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Section IV
Beyond Binaries: Gender, Sexual Identity, and Sexuality in Group
Presented under the auspices of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues SIG
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
Each person has gender and sexual identities by which they understand themselves. Often these identities are limited by society to binary and static categorization. We see group members, and experience ourselves, as more complex and fluid. We will demonstrate an expansive style to allow movement and breadth of identity.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Compare binary and static understanding of gender and sexuality with 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 and sexuality in group.
4. Identify their own countertransference issues related to gender and sexuality.
5. Detect ways their own groups may be limited by binary and static perspectives.
6. Formulate new interventions to expand the conversation of gender and sexuality in group.
Course References:
1. Rodriguez-Rust, P.C. (Ed.). (2000). Bisexuality in the United States, A Social Science Reader. New York: Columbia University Press.
2. Rankin, S. (2006). LGBTQA students on campus: Is higher education making the grade? Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education, 3 (2/3), 111-117.
3. Gozlan, O. (2008). The accident of gender. Psychoanalytic Review, 94(4), 541-570.
4. Killerman, S. (2017). A Guide to Gender: The Social Justice Advocate's Handbook. Austin, TX: Impetus Books.
5. Navaro, L., and Schwartzberg, S. (2007). Envy, Competition and Gender: Theory, Clinical Applications and Group Work. London: Routledge
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Section V
Cultivating the Internal Secure Base: Aligning Psychodynamic Technique with Attachment Theory in Group Therapy
Instructor:
Aaron Black, PhD, CGP, Private Practice, Rochester, New York
Developmentally, secure attachment promotes flexible, robust internal working models of relationships characterized by the effective mentalization of emotional experience. This Institute explores how secure attachment may be cultivated by resolving intrapsychic, interpersonal, and group resistances to emotional immediacy and communication. Essential concepts will be demonstrated experientially and didactically.
(80% 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 how interaction with the secure base facilitates emotional self-regulation.
3. Distinguish between secure vs. insecure self-states.
4. 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. (2014). Externalizing the wish for the secure base in the Modern Analytic group. Modern Psychoanalysis, 39, 70-102.
2. Flores, P. J. (2017). Attachment theory and group psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67 (sup 1), S50-S-59.
3. Fonagy, P., Campbell, C., and Batemen, A. (2017). Mentalizing, attachment, and epistemic trust in group therapy, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67 (2), 176-201.
4. Levine, R. (2017). A modern analytic approach to group therapy, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67 (sup 1), S109-S120.
5. Mikulincer, M. & Shaver, P. R. (2017). Augmenting the sense of attachment security in group contexts: The effects of a responsive leader and a cohesive group, International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(2), 161-175.
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Section VI
Developing Resilient Group Leadership
Instructor:
Gail Brown, MA, CGP, Director of Academic Training, Center for Group Studies, New York, New York
Effective and successful group leaders are resilient and flexible in the face of intense feelings that naturally emerge during the group process. Through an experiential process, this workshop will examine and explore the integration of three factors that contribute to this resilience. These factors are: 1) fostering permeable insulation; 2) maintaining a healthy observing ego and 3) identifying and using induced feelings to make interventions.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define Emotional Insulation.
2. Define Observing Ego.
3. Define induced Feelings.
4. Describe 3 obstacles to staying emotionally present.
5. Utilize the observing ego to distinguish between historical and present feelings.
6. Formulate interventions based on the leaders understanding of induced feelings.
7. Differentiate subjective from subjective feelings.
8. Describe the leader’s obstacles to resilience.
9. List 3 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. IJGP 61(4)
3. MacColl, G. (2016). The art of bridging revisited, IJGP 66:3
4. Ormont, L. (1994) Developing emotional insulation. IJGP, 44(3)
5. Zeisel, E. (2012). The Ormont Lecture. AGPA 2012
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Section VII
Excitement and Shame in Group Psychotherapy
Instructor:
Stewart Aledort, MD, CGP, FAGPA, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington School of Medicine, Washington, DC
The institute will demonstrate the Omnipotent Child and its function to stabilize identity and serve as a template for intimacy. Excitement and Shame will be explored. The function of hidden excitement will be explored in relationship to the origins of Shame. The role of the therapist is highlighted.
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Identify and list the characteristics of the Omnipotent Child.
2. Identify the power of the passion in the group.
3. Describe the leader's techniques at the start of the group process.
4. Describe how the group develops as a group in this leader centered process.
5. Identify the hidden excitement in shame.
6. Describe the developmental stages the group traversed.
Course References:
1. Aledort, S. (2014). Excitement in Shame: The Price we pay. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. 64, 91-103.
2. Aledort, S. (2002) The Omnipotent Child Syndrome: The role of passionately bad fits in the formation of identity. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy 52, 67-89.
3. Aledort, S. (2009) Excitement: Crucial Markers in Group Psychotherapy. Group, 33(1) 45-62
4. Morrison,A. (1989) Shame. The Underside of Narcissism. New York and London: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group.
5. Mahler,M. (1968). On human Symbiosis and the vicissitudes of individuation. New York: International University Press.
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Section VIII
Expanding the Emotional Range in Group: The Leader’s Emotional Receptivity
Instructor:
Jeffrey Hudson, MEd, LPC, CGP, FAGPA, Private Practice, Austin, Texas
This institute helps participants examine the impact of the leader’s emotional receptivity on groups. Of special significance is the leader’s openness to all the emotions experienced as countertransference. We will explore ways of encouraging a wide range of feelings. This includes learning to freely welcome positive and negative transferences.
(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. Cite fears and concerns about emotional communication in group.
7. 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 IX
Humiliation, Shame & Guilt: Healing Assaults to Self in the Context of 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
Traumatic events are experienced existentially as an assault on self. They often evoke feelings of humiliation, shame and guilt with correlates of anger, self-hate, and retaliatory violence. This institute invites a close look at these feelings and demonstrates the use of group as a context for connection, integration, and healing.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Define traumatic events and the physical, social, psychological and neurophysiological impact of trauma on sense of self.
2. Discuss the differential impact of trauma associated with Developmental Trauma (Child Abuse, Neglect etc.) vs. Adult Onset Trauma in terms of stress responses, memory, and attachment patterns.
3. Define and differentiate the human experiences of humiliation, shame and guilt attendant to traumatic events and the assault on self.
4. Identify feelings and behaviors associated with humiliation, shame and guilt (anger, self-hate, revenge and retaliatory violence, loss of identity)
5. Explain that humiliation includes anger and shame because the fear or the failure to retaliate induces more shame.
6. Discuss the use cost of revenge and retaliatory violence as a defense against shame helplessness, loss and grieving as well as a way to reverse the vertical position of dominance.
7. Explain at least four important processes (containment, symbolization, narration, compassion, mentalization, empathy, collective grieving, connection, acceptance, forgiveness of self and others, mutuality) that move a trauma survivor from the traumatic loss of self and the attendant humiliation, shame, guilt, and anger to regulation and constructive integration of the traumatic event(s).
8. Describe four ways that the group leader and members facilitate the three stages of healing and recovery of trauma i.e. the creation of safety, remembering and morning, and reconnection.
Course References:
1. Bohm T. & Kaplan, S. (2011) Revenge: On the Dynamics of a Frightening Urge and Its Taming. London: Karnac.
2. Klein, R.H., & Schermer,V.L. ( Eds.).(2000). Group Psychotherapy for Psychological Trauma. New York: The Guilford Press.
3. McCauley,C. (2017) Toward a Psychology of Humiliation in Asymmetric Conflict. American Psychologist, Vol.72. No.3,255-265.
4. Phillips, S. B. (2015) The Dangerous Role of Silence in the Relationship Between Trauma and Violence: A Group Response. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy Vol. 65, No. 1: 64–87.
5. Boulanger, G. (2009). Wounded by Reality: Understanding and Treating Adult Onset Trauma. New York: Psychological Press.
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Section X
If Not Now, When? Deepen Emotional Communication through Group Process
Instructor:
Mary V. Sussillo, LCSW, BCD, CGP, FAGPA, Adjunct Faculty, National Institute for the Psychotherapies, New York, New York
In an age of social media with instant connections and often fleeting ties, practice how to engage with others while maintaining awareness of yourself. Craft interventions to enable you, as group leader, to facilitate member-to-member interaction, responsiveness and inclusion, and to develop group cohesion.
(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. Describe how to help group members express feelings towards others in a constructive and progressive way.
3. Identify the group leader's task of redirecting the group's attention and focus to the present moment.
4. Explain how to use your feelings, as an essential instrument of the group leader, to further the group process.
5. Describe when the leader needs to step back and allow the members to move the process.
6. Explain 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. Leszez, M. and Malat, J. (2012). The interpersonal model of group psychotherapy. The Wiley and Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy, Ed., Jeffrey Kleinberg. 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, Elliot, (2012). Meeting maturational needs in modern group analysis: A schema for personality integration and interpersonal effectiveness. The Wiley and Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy, Ed. Jeffrey Kleinberg. West Surrey, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 217-229.
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Section XI
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 workshop.
(70% 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. Characterize 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, Justin B. (2011) Becoming who we are in groups. GROUP, in press, June 2011 edition.
3. Whitmont, Edward C. (1964) Group therapy and analytical psychology. Journal of Analytical Psychology
4. Willeford, William (1967) Group psychotherapy and symbol formation. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 12, 137-160
5. Zinkin, Louis (1989) The group’s search for wholeness: A Jungian perspective. Group, 13, 252-264
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Section XII
Less Lonely at the Top: Strengthening Ties and Group Leadership Skills (AGPA Leadership Track)
Instructor:
Lise Motherwell, PsyD, PhD, CGP-R, FAGPA, Consultant, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Effective leaders harness the power of groups through self-awareness, social-awareness and self-management and build lasting and meaningful relationships with co-workers. We will examine our leadership strengths and challenges through interactive exercises, group process, and consultation, and focus on skills such as affiliation, influence, authority, and building effective teams.
(70% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Name four styles of influence.
2. Name the four quadrants of Emotional Intelligence.
3. Differentiate group therapy leadership skills from organizational leadership skills.
4. Use self-management skills.
5. Observe group dynamics with regard to authority.
6. Assess personal leadership challenges and develop strategies for dealing with them.
7. Learn to recognize and work with issues of diversity.
Course References:
1. Brent, M & Dent, F. (2014). The leaders’ guide to managing people. Financial Times Press: UK.
2. Grant, A. (2014). Give and take: Why helping others drives our success. Penguin Books
3. Harvard Business Review (2015). HBR’s 10 must reads of emotional intelligence. Cambridge, MA; HBR and Amazon 3. Digital Services
4. Lebowitz, S. (2016). Scientists say your personality can be deconstructed into 5 basic traits. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider/com/big-five-personality-traits-2016-12
5. Zak, P. (2017). The neuroscience of trust. January-February. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review.
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Section XIII
Listening Deeply in a Multicultural World: Interpersonal Neurobiology with a Humanistic Perspective
Instructor:
Marti B. Kranzberg, PhD, ABPP, CGP, FAGPA, Clinical Psychology Faculty, Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California
We are all influenced by a variety of cultural factors that inform how we experience ourselves, view the world & interact with others. In this institute participants will explore their own cultural identities, share with the group & attend to their own responses as they focus on listening to others.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Explore & identify their cultural identities.
2. Observe their own internal processes when listening to others experiences.
3. Recognize internal reactivity.
4. Learn strategies for emotional self-regulation when distressed.
5. Practice listening fully to group members.
6. Identify different states of mind.
7. Utilize a dual focus of attention.
8. Increase self-reflection.
Course References:
1. Adams, D. M. (2015). The unbearable lightness of being white. Women & Therapy, 38 (3-4) 327-340. http://dx.doi.org.fgul.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/02703149.2015.1059215
2. Case, K. A. (2015) White Practitioners in Therapeutic Ally-Ance: An Intersectional Privilege Awareness Training Model. Women & Therapy, 38 (3-4) 263-278. DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2015.1059209
Published: 2015-10-02
3. Nettles, R. (2012). Multiple minority identities in group psychotherapy: Within and Between. In Nettles, R., and Balter, R. (2012). Multiple minority identities: Applications for practice, research, and training. New York, Springer Publishing Company.
4. Parent, M. C., Deblaere, C., & Moradi, B. (2013). Approaches to research on intersectionality: Perspectives on gender, LGBT, and Racial/Ethnic identities. Sex Roles, 68(11-12), 639-645. doi:http://dx.doi.org.fgul.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11199-013-0283-2
Siegel, Daniel J. (2016). Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
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Section XIV
Longing for Home: Past Attachments and Reparative Re-Attachments
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 workshop 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?
(70% 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. Explore the institute group as a new home in which to heal.
4. Apply the concept of longing for home--its presence, absence and vicissitudes--in group work.
5. Acquire sensitivity to the impact of otherness.
6. Apply an object relationship understanding to longing or not longing.
7. Differentiate nostalgia, melancholia, and homesickness.
8. Address the realization that we can't go home again.
9. Explore the institute group as a new home in which to heal.
10. Apply the concept of longing for home- its presence, absence, and vicissitudes- in group work.
Course References:
1. Beltsiou, J (Ed.) (2016). Seeking home in the foreign: Otherness and immigration. In Beltsiou, J (Ed): Immigration in Psychoanalysis: Locating Ourselves 1st Edition, Routledge.
2. Cohen, R. (2014). In Search of Home. New York Times 04/06/2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/opinion/cohen-in-search-of-home.html?ref=rogercohen&_r=0
3. Seiden, H.M. (2009). On the longing for home. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 26, 191-205.
4. Seiden, H.M. (2014). You can't go home again. In Willock, Curtis, Bohm (Ed.): Understanding and Coping with Failure: Psychoanalytic perspectives, Routledge
5. Schlapobersky, J (2015), On Making A Home Amongst Strangers: The Paradox of Group Psychotherapy, Foulkes Lecture, Group Analysis 48(4).
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Section XV
Modern Gestalt Group Therapy: A Relational Approach to Healing and Growth
Instructors:
Peter Hayes Cole, LCSW, CGP, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UC Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California
Daisy Reese, LCSW, CGP, Co-Director, Sierra Institute for Contemporary Gestalt Therapy, Berkeley, California
Modern Gestalt Group Therapy is a relational approach integrating insights from Gestalt theory, intersubjective psychoanalysis and "group-as-a-whole" understandings and approaches. In this experiential workshop participants will be provided a safe, contained experience in which they will have an opportunity to explore and better understand themselves and their relationship to others.
(80% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Name the three elements of Dialogue.
2. Define “Here and Now” as it is used in Gestalt Group Therapy (GGT).
3. Summarize how a greater understanding of shame has affected the practice of GGT and moved it out of the old “Hot Seat Model” and into an interactive process model.
4. State the relevance of Affective Process to GGT.
5. Specify the role of identifying and working with polarities in the group process.
6. Summarize the “paradoxical theory of change” as it is applied in GGT.
7. Describe “The Shadow of the Leader” and its relevance to group development.
8. Discuss Gestalt therapy’s egalitarian tradition: its limitations and promise.
9. Discuss the Primacy of Relationality in both GGT and in human health.
10. Summarize how the Cycle of Experience is applied in GGT.
Course References:
1. Cole, P., & Reese, D. (2013). Relational Development in Gestalt Group Therapy. Group: The Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society 37(3), 185-218.
2. Cole, P. (2013). In the Shadow of the Leader: Power Reflection and Dialogue in Gestalt Group Therapy. Gestalt Review, 17(2), 178-188.
3. Feder, B. (Ed.) (2008), Beyond the Hot Seat, Revisited: Gestalt Approaches to Group. Metairie/New Orleans: Gestalt Institute Press.
4. Hycner, R., & Jacobs, L. (1995). The Healing Relationship in Gestalt Therapy. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press.
5. Woldt, A., & Toman, S. (Eds.) (2005). Gestalt Therapy: History, Theory and Practice, Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage.
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Section XVI
Reconnecting Males by Reworking Masculinity
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.
(70% 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 their 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. Consider how 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. Rabionowitz, 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. Verhaagen, D. (2010). Therapy with young men: 16-24 year olds in treatment. New York, NY: Routledge.
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Section XVII
Social Identities, Power and Privilege: How Difference is Essential for Group Cohesion
Presented under the auspices of the AGPA Racial, Ethnic, & Diversity Issues SIG and the College Counseling SIG
Instructor:
Paul Gitterman, LICSW, MSc, CGP, Adjunct Faculty, Smith College School for Social Work/Private Practice, 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 homogenitiy 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. Leary, K. (2012). Race as an adaptive challenge: Working with diversity in the clinical consulting room. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 29(3), 279-291.
2. Ormont, L.R (2001). Meeting Maturational Needs in the Group Setting. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 51 (3), 343-359.
3. Debiak, D. (2007). Attending to Diversity in Group Psychotherapy: An Ethical Imperative. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 57(1), 1-12.
4. White, J.C. (1994). The impact of race and ethnicity on transference and countertransference in combined individual/group therapy. Group, 18(2),89-99.
5. Stevens, FL & Abernethy, AD (2017) Neuroscience and racism: The power of groups overcoming implicit bias. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 00 : 1-24.
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Section XVIII
Systems-Centered's Functional Subgrouping and its Neurobiology
Presented in cooperation with the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute
Instructor:
Susan Gantt, PhD, ABPP, CGP, FAGPA,Director, Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, Atlanta, Georgia
Functional subgrouping enables differences to be more easily integrated instead of scapegoated. This institute explores how functional subgrouping creates mindful group systems by lowering reactivity and increasing emotional resonance and containment, heightening neural integrations, and exploration of novelty in each of the phases of group development.
(70% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Differentiate between explaining which activates top down invariant experience and exploring which orients to bottom up or spontaneous experience.
2. Apply functional subgrouping to develop the group system and potentiate greater neural integration.
3. Identify the experiential conditions that promote neural development.
4. Describe how to use functional subgrouping for lowering reactivity to difference.
5. Describe how to use functional subgrouping for increasing social engagement system.
6. Describe how to use functional subgrouping for increasing group's capacity for exploring novelty.
7. Summarize the interpersonal neurobiological research most relevant to group psychotherapy.
Course References:
1. Gantt, S.P., & Agazarian, Y.M. (2010). Developing the group mind through functional subgrouping: Linking systems-centered training (SCT) and interpersonal neurobiology. In Gantt, S.P., & Badenoch, B. (Eds.), The interpersonal neurobiology of group psychotherapy and group process (pp.73-102). London, UK : Karnac Books.
2. Siegel, D.J. (2012). The developing mind, second edition. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
3. Agazarian, Y.M. (1997). Systems-centered therapy for groups. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
4. 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.
5. 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
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 XIX
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Vulnerable: Experiencing Different Self States in the Context of Relational Group Therapy
Instructors:
Haim Weinberg, PhD, CGP, FAGPA, Academic Vice President, Professional School of Psychology, Sacramento, California
Sharon Sagi Berg, MA, Group Therapist, Supervisor & Trainer, Be’er Yaacov Mental Hospital, Be’er Yaacov, Israel
Relational approaches emphasize the emergence of multi self-states and the occurrence of enactment in groups. The participants will experience the challenge concealed within enactments, explore the needed flexibility while moving between self-states, acknowledge the experience of the other, and meet with the therapists' limitations and their impact on the group
(90% experiential learning)
Learning Objectives:
The attendee will be able to:
1. Recognize their own and the other members' subjective experience.
2. Work with the different emerging self-states in the group.
3. Focus on relational issues in group psychotherapy.
4. Use relational/intersubjectively-informed interventions in groups.
5. Review the ability to move flexibly between different self-states.
6. Work with enactments and reparations in group therapy.
7. Accept and utilize their limitations as group therapists.
8. Understand the meaning of being relational.
Course References:
1. Berman, A. (2012). Resonance among members and its therapeutic value in group psychotherapy. In J. L. Kleinberg, The Wiley, Blackwell Handbook of Group Psychotherapy (1st Ed.) 187-197. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
2. Bromberg, M.P. (2011). Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys. Taylor & Francis Group. Routledge. New York. N.Y
3. Grossmark, R. (2013). Repairing the Irreparable: The Flow of Enactive Engagement in Group Psychotherapy. In Grossmark, R. & Wright, F (Eds.), The one and the many, Relational approaches to group psychotherapy (pp. 75-90). New York: Routledge.
4. Stern, D.B. (2004) The eye sees itself: Dissociation, enactment, and the achievement of conflict. Journal of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Vol 40, 2004 issue 2. Pages 197-237 | Published online: 23 Oct 2013
5. Tubert-Oklander, J. (2014). The one and the many: Relational psychoanalysis and group analysis. London: Karnac.
6. Weinberg, H. (2015) The group as an inevitable relational field, especially in times of conflict. In Grossmark, R. & Wright, F (Eds.), The One and the Many, Relational Approaches to Group Psychotherapy Ch. 3: pp. 38-56. New York: Routledge.
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Section XX
Working with Love and Hate: Bringing Passion to Group Therapy
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, Gregory. (2106) The art of bridging revised. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. 66. (3). 443-454.
2. MacColl, G. (2014). The group therapy contract revisited. Group, 38(2), 103–113.
3. Zeisel, Elliot, (2016) Plenary Address to the 2015 AGPA Institute: Undaunting Courage and The AGPA Institute. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. vol 66. (4)624-631.
4. Billow Richard,. (2016) Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group Treatment: Part II: Testing Reality. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. vol 66 (4)551-570.
5. Levine, Ronnie. (2017) A Modern Psychoanalytic Perspective of Group Psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy Vol. 67 , Iss. sup1,2017 . S109-s.120