GOALS: Through experiential learning and storytelling, clients will reframe the approach to residential with strategies and perspectives that increase existential meaning through interpersonal relationships.
RELATION NATION: SOCIAL SKILLS GROUP Presented by John-Arthur Ingram M.A. Residential Treatment Programming 4 weeks. 2 modules. Saturdays/Sundays 11am and 2pm Group size: 6-10 MISSION: The purpose is to educate, empower, and equip residential treatment clients with experiential knowledge to confidently navigate the evolving professional terrain. As a result, clients will increase individual strengths and social support, integrate treatment planning/skills into social settings, and reduce discharge anxiety by embracing uncertainty.
OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ● ● ● ●
Identify and describe interpersonal values Talk about mental health in the workplace. Manage intense emotions and communicate needs Increase a sense of control over behavior Build sustainable relationships
Group Leader: John-Arthur Ingram John-Arthur Ingram is a full time Group Facilitator at Montare Behavioral Health and graduate of Antioch University's Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Through his specialization in Applied Community Psychology, John-Arthur promotes community based activities to enhance wellness, ameliorate social problems, and develop opportunities for people to become empowered.
MODULE MAP Module 1: Communication (Saturdays) Voice and Values Process Topic: Choices Activity: What Am I Saying? What’s the Script? Process Topic: Archetypes and Roles Activity: Family scripts Intention Mission Process Topic: Intentions and Goals Activity: What's the point? Body Speak Process Topic: Enactments Activity: Silent Moves
Module 2: Emotions (Sundays) What’s the Vibe? Process: Mood Music Activity: What's this Feeling? Get Attached Process Topic: What’s my style? Activity: Patterns and Needs Intensity Process Topic: Action Urges Activity: Intensity Aftercare Quest Process: Uncertainty Activity: Know Your Quest
WEEK 1: Voice and Values WEEK 2: What’s the Script?
MODULE 1: COMMUNICATION
WEEK 3: Intention Mission WEEK 4: Body Speak
VOICES AND VALUE:
PROCESS: CHOICES ACTIVITY: WHAT AM I SAYING?
PROCESS: CHOICES GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt specific to how one communicates; ie “Who do they communicate with most in their lives; this week? What choices have you made with intention? What are things you tell yourself when in distress or frustrated with a relationship?” The intention is to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group.
ACTIVITY: WHAT AM I SAYING? GOALS: Clients will learn about the goals and factors related to building sustainable relationships with oneself and others. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ●
Understand and identify communication styles and values Goals and factors of interpersonal effectiveness
ACTIVITY: Leader will provide an overview of passive, assertive, and aggressive communication styles via handout and short video. Clients will identify and describe their default style of communicating with family and intimate partners. MATERIALS: TV or laptop. Pencil and paper. White board and markers.
WHAT’S THE SCRIPT
PROCESS: ARCHETYPES AND ROLES ACTIVITY: FAMILY SCRIPTS
PROCESS: ARCHETYPES AND ROLES GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group. ACTIVITY: Leader will provide a handout or short video describing narrative archetypes. Clients will select fictional characters whose traits they admire or dislike and describe similarities in their family of origin. MATERIALS: TV or laptop. Pencil and paper. White board and markers.
ACTIVITY: FAMILY SCRIPTS GOALS: This activity will provide clients with the experiential process of identifying family roles and expectations. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ●
Identify cognitive distortions and negative self talk scripts identify intergenerational messages.
ACTIVITY: Family sculpting: Clients assign roles/archetypes to members of their family of origin and select peers to participate or clients can draw, sculpt clay, position objects to describe the interactions. MATERIALS: White board, clay, pencil and paper, a bag of fidget toys
INTENTION MISSION
PROCESS: CONNECTION ACTIVITY: WHAT’S THE POINT?
PROCESS: CONNECTION GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group.
ACTIVITY : Facilitating a card or board game similar to Apples to Apples to provide the experiential process of communicating with their peers and evaluating communications styles in the present.
ACTIVITY: WHAT’S THE POINT? GOALS: This activity will assist clients in identifying and prioritizing needs in conflict scenarios through objective, relationship, and self respect effectiveness. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ●
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Communicate the goal of a specific interaction and identify the individual need in the moment. Identify obstacles that interfere with clarity of objective/needs Prioritize and evaluate the emotional effects of the interaction Identity behaviors that demonstrate self respect
ACTIVITY: Provide one page handout. Show short clips from movies/ shows that exemplify confrontations between two people. Leader will facilitate discussion with these prompts: ● ● ● ● ●
When did each character become activated? What does each character need? How does each character define the objective? How do you think each character feels about their choices? Which character is acting intentional/reacting?
MATERIALS: One page handout identifying: DBT’s Objective, Relationship, and Self Respect Effectiveness. TV with YouTube or streaming service access. Or laptop that can connect to a TV. Pencil and paper.
BODY SPEAK
PROCESS: ENACTMENTS ACTIVITY: SILENT MOVES
PROCESS: ENACTMENTS GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group.
ACTIVITY: This activity can be explored further in the emotions module.
OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group. Additionally, clients will explore how their emotions are communicated interpersonally and interpersonally.
Leader will divide clients into two teams and facilitated an activity that encourages nonverbal communication and teamwork. The goal is to increase awareness of objective and relationship effectiveness. A Pictionary type game; Leader divides clients into two teams. Each team decides on a name. Clients are given 5mins to decide on the rules and rewards. Each team rotates artists to draw and 30 seconds to guess. MATERIALS: White board, clay, pencil and paper, notecards
ACTIVITY: SILENT MOVES GOALS: This activity provides experiential practice in communicating and interpreting needs through behavior. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ● ●
Identify and interpret behavior in social settings Understand how behavior communicates emotions Understand strategies for communicating and interpreting attachment needs
ACTIVITY: With the feelings wheel as a guide, Leader will write down a feeling word on each note card and place them in a small box. Clients can randomly pick a card from the box and either draw or enact the emotion. Leader will provide a one page handout on attachment strategies in pursuing and withdrawing when communicating needs. MATERIALS: Feelings wheel printout, notecards, shoe box, pencils and pens.
WEEK 1: What’s the Vibe? WEEK 2: Get Attached
MODULE 2: EMOTIONS
WEEK 3: Intensity WEEK 4: Aftercare Quest
WHAT’S THE VIBE?
PROCESS: MOOD MUSIC ACTIVITY: WHAT’S THIS FEELING?
PROCESS: MOOD MUSIC GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group.
ACTIVITY: Leader will direct clients through selecting an emotion and describing it as music album with artwork. Clients have the option of painting the album artwork or simply drawing with color pencils. The goal is to practice externalizing emotions and creating a visual language to communicate them. MATERIALS: TV or laptop. Color pencils, water color paint, small canvas boards.
ACTIVITY: WHAT’S THIS FEELING? GOALS: This activity will provide clients with an overview of emotions and a model for describing how they experience emotions. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ● ●
Understand emotions and how to identify them Connecting emotions with facts and experiences Describe choices and behavior patterns motivated by emotions
ACTIVITY: Feelings Jenga: Leader will direct clients through a feelings identification game and facilitated discussion about connecting emotions to experiences and managing intensity. Leader will provide psychoed on DBT's emotion regulation and how emotions work. MATERIALS: Feelings wheel, one page handout outlining the goals, mini Jenga set.
GET ATTACHED
PROCESS: WHAT’S MY STYLE? ACTIVITY: PATTERNS AND NEEDS
PROCESS: WHAT’S MY STYLE? GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group. ACTIVITY: Leader will show a brief video on the definition of attachment styles and facilitate discussion on expectations in relationships. MATERIALS: TV or laptop. Pencil and paper. White board and markers.
ACTIVITY: PATTERNS AND NEEDS GOALS: This activity helps clients understand and describe attachment patterns that influence choices in building sustainable relationships. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ● ● ●
Learn and describe early attachment patterns Understand pursuit/withdraw strategies in anxious/avoidant styles Understand how to communicate needs when in distress Examine boundaries in relationships.
ACTIVITY: Leader will provide a one page handout illustrating the four quadrants and resources to attachment materials/online content. Leader will provide real world examples/scenarios for discussion. MATERIALS: TV, laptop, pen/pencil, paper or phone, one page handout
INTENSITY
PROCESS: ACTION URGES ACTIVITY: INTENSITY
PROCESS: ACTION URGES GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group. ACTIVITY: Leader will facilitate discussion on vulnerability and experiencing extreme emotions. Leader will encourage clients to identity three emotions they experience often and describe the intensity level. MATERIALS: TV or laptop. Pencil and paper. White board and markers.
ACTIVITY: INTENSITY GOALS: This activity will provide clients with strategies for increasing control over the experience of activated emotions and behavioral patterns. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to: ● ● ●
Fact check activated emotions. Evaluate the intensity and urgency. Identify vulnerabilities to impulsive behavior
ACTIVITY: Leader will provide a one page handout describing three DBT strategies for evaluating the facts, urgency, and intensity of emotions. Leader will facilitate discussion on current experiences with impulsive behavior and outcomes. Clients are encouraged to process examples from current relationships. MATERIALS: one page handout, pen/pencil, white board
AFTERCARE QUEST
PROCESS: UNCERTAINTY ACTIVITY: KNOW YOUR QUEST
PROCESS: UNCERTAINTY GOALS: To increase awareness of how each client is experiencing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics of the group. OBJECTIVES: Begin with a check in prompt to identify how each client feels in the moment toward themselves and the group. ACTIVITY: Leader will facilitate discussion on embracing uncertainty in aftercare planning and long term expectations for living with mental illness.
ACTIVITY: KNOW YOUR QUEST GOALS: This activity assists clients in reframing their approach to aftercare planning and embracing uncertainty in post residential life. OBJECTIVES: Clients will be able to locate themselves in these three story spheres: ●
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Knowledge ■ What have you learned/what are you learning: academically, creatively, spiritually Relationally ■ New and current relationship dynamics; socially and culturally. ■ What’s beginning and ending for you? Generationally ■ Millennial, baby boomer, Gen z ■ Stages of psychosocial development; ie Erikson’s model
ACTIVITY: Leader will provide one page handout with three questions to answer. Leader will facilitate discussion on the three spheres and provide resources for treatment programs and support groups. MATERIALS: One page handout, flyers/brochures describing outpatient programs and case management resources. Pen/pencil, white board, laptop.