Consultation smorgasbord: sample three different styles and discover what you want and need in consultation

Facilitated by: Deborah Sharp, LCSW-S, CGP, FAGPA

Ryan Spencer, LMFT, CGP

Event Description:

Have you felt stuck or stagnant with an individual client or group you are leading?  Are you looking for  ways to challenge yourself as a clinician?  This institute will demonstrate the powerful role of consultation in clinical growth and development. Members will experience three different types of consultation. First, we will focus on diagnosis, theory and intervention from a pragmatic lens. Next, in a structured format with a handout, we will introduce elements of process. Our third meeting will be a process-focused consultation.  Our final meeting will be one hour of processing the previous groups, concluding with 30 minutes of meta process.

About the Presenters:

Deborah Sharp, LCSW-S, CGP, FAGPA, has been running groups of various kinds for 25 years. She currently runs several modern analytic process groups in her private practice: one for individuals with chronic or catastrophic illness, one for women over age 50, one mixed age, mixed gender process group and two co-facilitated with Ryan Spencer that are open to all ages and genders. Devoted to life-long learning and growth, Deborah attends the Center for Group Studies in New York where she is a member of the Steering Committee for Social Justice. This year she will be running a formation group for the Texas Seminar of the I-RSJA. She is a Past President of AGPS, a board member for AGPA, currently serves as Chair-elect of the Affiliate Society Assembly of AGPA and as Co-Chair of the ASA/AGPA Taskforce.

Ryan Spencer, LMFT, CGP, is an active board member of AGPA and has served on the boards of the Austin Group Psychotherapy Society, 2016/2017, and Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles, 2009-2015. He has been running groups since 2006 and has had a range of group experience in hospitals, schools, clinics, and, currently, private practice. He leads an online adult process group and co-leads two adult process groups with Deborah Sharp.

What Are Group Institutes?

Institutes are a highly experiential form of small group teaching led by experienced instructors. They are intended to develop therapy skills relevant to leading groups. They often offer a chance to explore a particular theme in greater depth or to experience a different theoretical approach. Institutes are primarily designed for mental health professionals who have clinical psychotherapy experience. While institutes are not therapy, they are process-oriented and it is expected that they may stir feelings spanning the whole range of human experience. Members agree to attend the entire group, to participate actively, and to respect the confidentiality of the other members. The secure environment of these small groups allows for rich cognitive and deep emotional learning about group process and oneself, not to mention a chance for personal and professional renewal.

Schedule:

Saturday 9am - 12pm

9:00-9:15 - Introductions, group agreements and brief didactic about structure of Institute. 

9:15-10:15 - First Session.  Diagnosis, theory and intervention

10:15-10:30 - Break

10:30-12:00 - Second Session.  Structured format based on Arthur Gray’s model.

12:00-12:15 - Close out and debrief first two sessions.

Sunday 9am - 12pm

9:00-9:15 - Reorient and get volunteers for third session

9:15 - 10:15 - Third Session.  Process based consultation

10:15-10:30 - Break

10:30-11:45 - Process group

11:45 - 12:00 - Meta Process of experience

12:00-12:15 - Evaluations

Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

1. Identify 3 different models of consultation groups

2. Compare and contrast the benefits and deficits of different consultation groups

3. Explain how countertransference and parallel process can be explored, worked with” and used in a consultation group. 

6 CEUs available for social workers, LPCs, LMFTs, and psychologists.