The Eight Key Ingredients and Four Phases of Group Process
Executive summary
PHASE ONE:
INTRODUCTION (SESSIONS 1-3)
KEY INGREDIENT 1:
ENCOURAGING ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
e.g. physical warm-up; visual warm-up;
body scan
KEY INGREDIENT 2: LEARNING SKILLS
e.g. mindful movement; breathing exercises;
artistic techniques and practices
PHASE TWO:
BUILDING STRENGTHS (SESSIONS 4-6)
KEY INGREDIENT 3:
DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS
e.g. mirroring; witnessing; changing leadership;
group drawing
KEY INGREDIENT 4:
EXPRESSING EMOTIONS
e.g. symbolic movement communication;
spontaneous mark-making; automatic writing;
moving in response to the felt sense
PHASE THREE:
ADDRESSING CHALLENGES (SESSIONS 7-9)
KEY INGREDIENT 5:
PROCESSING AT A DEEPER LEVEL
e.g. active imagination; movement metaphor
KEY INGREDIENT 6:
GAINING UNDERSTANDING
e.g. creative writing; reflecting on own work;
receiving feedback
PHASE FOUR:
CLOSURE (SESSIONS 10-12)
KEY INGREDIENT 7: EXPERIMENTING WITH
DIFFERENT WAYS OF BEING
e.g. improvising; role-playing; creating
movement
KEY INGREDIENT 8:
INTEGRATING USEFUL MATERIAL
e.g. visual or poetic summaries of therapy
journey; engaging in regular arts-making
Who is the group for?
There are several inclusion and exclusion criteria that need to be considered on top of routine initial assessment:
INCLUSION CRITERIA
- 18 years or older
- Depression or symptoms of depression (assessed by PHQ9>5)
- Interested and willing to take part in group work
- Interested and willing to take part in the creative interventions
- Sufficient English to participate in the group
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
- At risk of harming themselves or others
- Current alcohol or substance use disorder
- Other difficulties that would make attending and participating in a group difficult