January 21, 2013
Group Therapies Support Recovery
Each week throughout the afternoons at Hopewell, residents have the opportunity to choose from groups that support their recovery in many different ways.
Mental Health Education group is a forum for information and peer support. When residents understand their diagnosis and symptoms, they are more apt to be active in their treatment and consistently take their medication.
Ben (resident): This group helps me understand my diagnosis better, which in turn helps me manage it better.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy uses mindfulness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance to help residents develop an awareness and sense of control over their emotions and behavior.
Adrienne (resident): We go through four sets of skills and when we've completed each one we get a laminated card to take with us. I have all four cards but continue to go because the group is always fresh and engaging.
Equine Assists Program helps residents explore their emotions and behavior through planned activities with horses. Hopewell staff is certified through the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA).
Cassie (resident): It helps me relate. How I act around animals gives me a deeper understanding of my emotions and behaviors.
Mindfulness Meditation teaches people how to be present and aware. Residents use this practice to increase their ability to heal and shift away from depression and anxiety towards happiness, relaxation and emotional balance.
Cathy (resident): I've learned to use my mind to relax my body and my spirit.
Nature Based Therapy members take to Hopewell's beautiful woods and fields to learn about how nature's changes can mirror our own and how we can find insight and understanding through this knowledge.
Langston (resident): It reinforces that I'm a part of a bigger macrocosm. You look at a problem in a different light and see how big things are and how small your problems are.
Resident Council was established to engage residents in how the Hopewell community functions. Three to five residents, who qualify for membership, make decisions about trips and activities and address community issues as they arise.
Candace (staff): Resident council gives council members the opportunity to provide feedback on what's happening at Hopewell and to engage their fellow residents in activities everyone enjoys.
Mood Management teaches residents the skills to have greater control over their moods. This very useful group uses cognitive behavioral strategies to help people identify the thoughts and behaviors that influence their moods.
Daniel (staff): Mood Management helps residents explore their emotional reactions to life circumstances and learn to regulate the more intense of these reactions that negatively impact their functioning and relationships.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Education helps residents identify, evaluate and change inaccurate thoughts and beliefs that lead to negative feelings. This group teaches self-management skills that help residents address negative emotions like anxiety, depression, guilt, shame and anger.
Rachel (staff): We all have experienced trauma in some way and need to learn skills that lessen the impact of this ongoing stress in our lives.
Spirituality Group encourages spiritual awareness and celebrates our spiritual/cultural differences. Activities like poetry, art, reading and field trips support residents in finding meaning and purpose in their lives.
Antonio (resident): It is fun, discovering about ourselves and others and it relaxes me.
