When a referral is made to Adult Mental Health Psychology, you may wish to consider making the patient aware that, at their screening appointment, they could be invited to engage in a Group Intervention.

Patient’s attending groups are not expected to disclose their own personal circumstances / trauma(s) - rather they are provided with psycho-education and strategies to develop their understanding and better manage their symptoms.

Group discussions focus on the application of the material, strategies and troubleshooting.

The Psychology Department currently run the following four Group interventions throughout the year:

Change UP group (mixed gender)

A Group aimed at helping patients overcome a range of anxiety and mood disorders. The Group uses an integrative approach bringing together a range of techniques to help participants develop mindful emotional awareness, become more flexible in their thinking and reduce avoidance and problematic behaviour.

Survive and thrive (a separate group is run for men and women)

A skills development group for patients who are struggling with trauma symptoms (e.g. flashbacks, nightmares and hyper-vigilance) in response to past interpersonal trauma (i.e. trauma inflicted by another person, rather than an event). This group provides psycho-education and promotes grounding techniques and other strategies to help patients to better understand and manage their symptoms.

Compassionate mind group (mixed gender)

A skills development group for patients who have high levels of distress associated with frequent shame-focused / self-critical thoughts.

The group uses mindfulness and compassionate exercises along with providing psycho-education.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy group (mixed gender)

A skills development group that support patients with repeated bouts of depression using CBT methods in collaboration with mindfulness meditative practices.

Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 04/04/2023

Next review date: 04/04/2025

Author(s): Fionnuala Edgar.