Running group therapy - or just “group” as many Drug and Alcohol Counselors call it - is always challenging, no matter how long you’ve been doing it. Every session is different. The patients are always changing, which means that the dynamics between patients is always changing. What works for one set of people in recovery may not work as well for the next.
With the pandemic raging, many addiction treatment centers have pivoted to a more online format. Virtual group therapy is becoming the norm, introducing a new set of challenges for practitioners.
Still, there are some tried and true ways to ensure your group therapy session is productive, no matter what setbacks you may encounter along the way.
Today we’ll look at our top tips for running better virtual group therapy sessions at your addiction treatment center.
Addiction Treatment Group Counseling Tip #1: Make It Fun
Group is hard work, but socializing - the core of the group experience - should be fun. If every group session feels conflictual, boring, scripted or formulaic, your patients’ progress will suffer.
The solution: Introduce fun and therapeutic activities to mix up your groups’ routine.
There are many books with suggestions for therapeutic activities that groups can do together. Consider watching a movie that’s relevant to your groups’ theme and striking up a discussion about what group members thought and felt about the film afterward.
As a side bonus, injecting more fun into groups is not only excellent for preventing patient boredom but it can help alleviate clinician burnout as well.
Addiction Treatment Group Counseling Tip #2: Don’t Force Participation
If you have a group member who is reluctant to participate in group, the worst thing you can do is to force them into the fray.
Group therapy is not usually the first stop on the way to recovery for those with SUD. Generally speaking, the first day of group comes only after many, many steps have been taken towards getting clean and sober. Assume each group member is already operating at their fullest capacity at any given time.
It is a very big deal for many patients to even attend group at all.
Even without directly contributing, listening to the experiences of others on a similar journey can be very transformative for many patients.
Addiction Treatment Group Counseling Tip #3: Protect Patient Privacy at All Costs
With virtual group counseling comes increased privacy risks. It’s important to always use an encrypted platform for online counseling, so be sure you are using an EHR that supports HIPAA safe groups.
At Behave Health, our secure, HIPAA compliant software boasts built in Zoom and Google groups compatibility for easy group management.
Addiction Treatment Group Counseling Tip #4: Outline Group Rules at the Beginning
Don’t keep group participants guessing.
It’s standard practice to reiterate group rules at the beginning of group but as the years wear on, it’s easy to skip over this important information and jump right into group work. This is always a mistake.
Taking the time to reiterate group rules helps maintain structure and accountability to each session, offering direction and reassurance to new members as well as reinforcement and ritual for older members.
Addiction Treatment Group Counseling Tip #5: Keep Better Notes
Group notes are notoriously annoying to complete. Many EHRs are not set up to accommodate the unique needs of group counselors and they often require many, many repetitive entries to complete notes for a single group session. Group notes often become a huge time-sucking morale-deflater for clinicians and a productivity-zapper for addiction treatment centers.
Good news: there’s a better way.
Choose an EHR (like ours, Behave Health) that makes quick work of group notes with built-in templates and easy custom workflows for group management. Our frictionless documentation experience contributes to a seamless billing process, saving you time and money in the short and long term.
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