Episode 40 | Group for Parents of Teens Who Self-Harm

The Group Work Podcast. Find out what happens in the space where group therapy takes place.

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Summary

Groups for teens are not enough. Teens need to be part of a holistically validating environment. When teens go through rigorous group therapy but their caregivers are excluded from the healing journey, there is a disconnect. Healing is slower, rockier, and more painful. Having parent support groups reduces the friction for teens and their families. What I’m saying is, that when parents are informed, invested, and involved, you’ll stop receiving really long emails from parents asking you why therapy hasn’t worked yet.
In this episode, I walk you through why you want to have parent support groups, how to run these support groups, and even give you an opportunity to swipe my entire parent support group curriculum.

Timestamps
[00:31] Episode overview: group for parents of teens who self harm
[00:55] Why run a group for parents?
[03:11] What are parent support groups like?
[08:02] How long are parent support groups?
[09:30] The content covered in the caregiver support group
[12:03] Referral process and caregiver interviews
[13:50] Swipe my parent group curriculum

3 Key Takeaways

1. Integrating caregivers into your group practice is a way of providing more holistic services. For example, teens will be able to have a more wholesome healing journey if their caregivers are informed, effectively involved, and on board.
2. Having a supportive environment in a healing journey is crucial. Nobody heals in a vacuum. So, it wouldn’t be fair to assume teens heal in a vacuum. As therapists, we must be mindful of the environments teens heal in and ask ourselves: is there a way we can make it better?
3. When structuring the logistics of your group, consider what would make it easy for your target clients to join the group. Would hosting it online make it easy? Would a certain time of the day make it easy? Would a specific length or frequency make it easy?

Tools & Resources

SWIPE MY PARENT GROUP CURRICULUM: Fill your group FAST workshop Creative Healing