Innovative Approaches to Compassion Focused Group Psychotherapy

Requirement: As this is an intermediate workshop, delegates will be required to have attended an Introduction to CFT workshop (2/3 days), either with ourselves or another provider. Please get in touch if you are unsure of your qualifications.

‍About this course

During this training, we will explore how to implement CFT into group therapy in theoretical as well as experiential ways. This workshop will provide both didactic and experiential training with an emphasis on learning together. Our view is that experiential education is both an effective and interesting way to grasp the various concepts we will cover… so, please come ready to participate throughout.

Over the course of this workshop, participants will receive didactic training on the basics of group therapy including the importance of group induction and group composition, how we can help clients see the potential benefits of group therapy, how we can help clients address their own fears/blocks/resistances to attending group therapy, and how we can help clients (and perhaps clinicians) dispel the typical myths associated with group therapy. We will also explore ways that group leaders can co-lead effectively and provide strategies and tips to do so. Workshop participants will also be given instruction on how to assess the functioning of a group using a routine outcome monitoring measure; the Group Questionnaire (GQ).

Group therapy seems to be a particularly fertile ground to encourage the three flows of compassion in real-time with peers rather than clinicians. Using experiences from workshop participants, we will discuss ways that a CFT focused group are both similar to and different than other groups. Together, we will explore a CFT group therapy manual that was developed under the direction of Paul Gilbert, Nicola Petrocchi, and James Kirby and discuss ways to use this manual in working with clients.

In this workshop, we assume that most attendees will have had exposure to CFT, and at least some exposure to group therapy. To provide participants a sense of how CFT can be ideal for a group setting, we will engage in a group experience using multiple fishbowl-style demonstration groups. Following each demonstration session, we will process reactions from group participants and observers. Given the likelihood that many will have significant CFT experience, we will work together to address questions that arise. During the experiential demonstration groups, we will integrate and focus on:

1. Group Process

• Discussing fears/blocks/resistances
• Here and now interactions- help highlight ways that groups experience the various three flows of compassion in real-time

1. Psychoeducation
2. Experiential activities (practiced together)

This training will also make space to talk about specific case examples and process together ways to move forward in incorporating CFT into group psychotherapy.