Ideas for psychiatric groups
health advisory
Hospital
Mental Health
2007-11-15 19:00:51
Hope this helps or at least made sense.
Vicki
I used to do groups for psychiatric patients. We always had one called "What's on Your Mind?" and it was open discussion on anything anyone had a need to talk about. We had a Goals group for folks to focus on their goals or if they had none for them to create some goals. We had a Womens group and a mens goup for folks to talk about issues they felt uncomfortable talking about in mixed company. We had a Cognitive Therapy group in which the therapist tried to help people understand how the thoughts they think influence their mood. That's what I remember off the top of my head. I hope you find more ideas. Good luck! It's a tough job but it is very gratifying at times.
Try the WRAP plan by Mary Ellen Copeland. It has each consumer go thru and figure out what THEIR sypmtoms are when they go downhill, and what best THEY can do to deal with it, nip it in the bud, and figure out when they need help from a friend/family member so far as an intervention. After a person gets that worked out, and they are symptomatic, they can go to this plan and go down the checklist of things to try, things they worked out for themselves.
For me, the fear of coercion by mental health providers is a MAJOR issue. Many patients remember being forced into treatent, into an abusive system (including me).
If you are new at this, remember that the patients in your group may have dealt with mental illness for decades, even. So don't be thinking these groups are a new thing for them or talk down like they are idiots. Usually it isn't psychologist types who are guilty of this, I must say. Usually psychiatric nurses, and they have gotten a lot better the past few years.
Good luck!!
This may not be what you are asking for but I can make a suggestion for a group that I have not been able to find....a support group for single people who have been completely unable to be successful in a relationship... or have never even had one for whatever reason... and now they feel like their life is over, they'll always be lonely, etc. I feel like a freak for being in my mid-thirties, single, never had a boyfriend because i suppose of all the psychological abuse I suffered as a child... I wish I could know that there are others out there with the same fear, that they will always be alone....