Welcome to the DBT Graduate Group!
We created this page to answer a few questions for you about our current DBT Graduate Group and how it works. If ever you have a question, feel free to call our main number for more information. We hope you find this group helpful to building lives worth living and maintaining the skills!
What is a DBT Graduate Group |
Unlike a DBT Skills Group, this group is loosely modeled after the DBT Consultation Team for therapists. We begin with mindfulness, check-in with each other, set an agenda for the meeting that best supports our needs, and finish with committing to working on something before the next group. We also fully expect to support each other both inside and outside of group time.
|
Our Goal |
I don't need to tell you how difficult life can be or how easy it is to find yourself drifting away from skills use. Life is really hard! And doing it without support is nearly impossible. The primary function of this support group is to:
|
Member Expectations |
This Graduate group leans a bit more process-oriented, which means the group itself plays more of a role setting the agenda of what we will be discussing in group. This is different than a DBT skills group which leans more goal-oriented and classroom style. It might take a couple sessions to get used to it, but there's much to benefit from this group style.
To help with the transition, here are a few bullet points to keep in mind. These were a few suggestions offered by Marsha Linehan to her clinicians on a Consultation Team (which this is loosely built off of):
|
Group Structure
|
This Graduate Group begins and ends with each member participating in the process. We start the group by passing around a check-in sheet that asks the following questions:
At the end of group, we then check out by answering the following statements:
|
Member Roles |
To keep the group intact, we have found it helpful to carve out certain roles that we all participate in. It helps keep us actively involved and also provides a little more structure so we keep the group on track with the groups' goals. The roles currently are as follows:
Meeting leader
Observer - observes and rings the bell lightly when:
Note taker
Skills Refresher
Mindfulness
Team Leader (this role does not rotate)
|
Getting Started |
If it's your first time in group since graduating, welcome! Before you begin, here are a few housekeeping tasks and things to do beforehand.
|