Group Therapy Program
Core Groups
Core groups are designed to provide residents with a thorough education regarding their adddiction. Each group therapy session lasts ninety minutes, and is utilized as a learning platform from which residents become educated on various aspects of their disease. Common educational topics include early recovery skills, relapse prevention, co-occurring disorders, relationships in recovery, family systems, triggers, body chemistry and others. Other softer topics such as healthy lifestyles, stress reduction, “one day at a time”, and thought-stopping techniques are frequently covered.
The core group therapy program schedule is designed to deliver all relevant educational material during the course of the typical 30 day residential stay. Core groups (or other educational components) are delivered each morning, followed by a process group in the afternoon. Patients are not encouraged to process during the morning core group and instead are encouraged to process relevant material from the morning group/activity in the afternoon process group.
Process Groups
Cliffside’s process groups are designed as an open forum during which residents have the opportunity to process any issues and feelings relevant to recovery. While the group leader facilitates group process, content is driven by the needs and desires of residents. Process group is a forum where patients can discuss personal material, and group therapy program facilitators may also bring in simple topics to be discussed. Examples of these simple topics include anger, fear, forgiveness, gratitude and others related to recovery.
