What is Group Psychotherapy?
Group psychotherapy consists of 4-8 appropriately selected people who would be helped by a group experience and can serve as learning partners for one another. In sessions, usually 90 minutes, members are encouraged to talk in a spontaneous, honest fashion with a professionally-trained group psychotherapist who guides the discussion such that a productive examination of life issues and concerns affecting the individuals and the group is conducted.
Group therapy usually focuses on issues surrounding interpersonal development and interpersonal patterns. However, in tandem with interpersonal domains, manners of dealing with intimacy, effective ways of reducing anxiety, tension, and depression, and in exploring emotional experience are introduced and practiced. A psychotherapy group differs from a support group or self-help group, in that in addition to providing support for one another, a psychotherapy group facilitates ways to cope with problems in the present and evokes authentic change and growth. In group psychotherapy, you discover ways in which you are not alone, share universal human experiences, and notice how your concerns/patterns are not as unique as originally thought. Group psychotherapy allows us to learn with and from other people, discover ways to understand our thoughts/behaviors and those of others, and test the validity of our beliefs and practices, learn how members react to us and one another in group. Perhaps most importantly, group members learn to work together on shared problems. By doing so, members in the group transform their interpersonal patterns, directly starting in group.
In group, the group psychotherapist encourages members to share information only at the degree one wants to at the moment and guides/paces group members to approach their areas of concerns as well as factors that serve as barriers for success.
What is a System’s Oriented Group?
A System’s-Oriented group is facilitated using the principles of System’s-CenteredTM Therapy. In this model, issues are approached in a phase-specific manner, phases which recognizes the impact of the environment/context; in the case of group, the developmental level of the group. For example,members in a group must be able to manage anxiety and fears before more intense and complex issues/emotions or complicated interpersonal patterns of dealing with conflict & emotion can be functionally explored in-depth . Therefore, in a Systems-Oriented group, as members truly approach the targets of their goals for entering group, they have been are prepared to manage the 'extraneous' sources of anxiety and distraction, and then may truly explore alternative perspectives and pathways, now not having the problem(s) or issue(s) infused with unrelated anxieties, social concerns, or convoluted emotional reactions.
What is a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)?
The National Register for Certified Group Psychotherapists is the only national certifying agency for group psychotherapists. A Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) is a licensed mental health professional who has completed numerous academic course requirements in human development, family development, and group psychotherapy and group dynamics, and has completed a requirement of supervised group therapy hours under the supervision of a licensed mental health professional. In addition, CGP’s are required to complete 40 Continuing Education Hours (CE’s) specific to group psychotherapy every two years.
For more information, contact:
www.agpa.org
www.systemscentered.com
drken@kennethfrontman.com
"CHANGES”
An Adult Psychotherapy Group
A group designed to help members find more functional ways to reach goals, overcome barriers, and work with the complexities of adult life and family/individual development.
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Cost: $50.00
Kenneth C. Frontman, Ph.D., CGP
Licensed Psychologist
Certified Group Psychotherapist
1150 Upper Hembree Road
Roswell, Georgia 30076
678-624-0930 ext. 16
Clinical Member of American Group Psychotherapy Association & Atlanta Group Psychotherapy Society
