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Digital Seminar

Group Therapy Certificate Course: Evidence-Based Strategies to Develop and Facilitate Dynamic, Purposeful and Effective Group Therapy


Speaker:
Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP
Duration:
12 Hours 12 Minutes
Language:
Presented in EN, subtitles in EN and FR, handouts in EN and FR
Copyright:
May 07, 2025
Product Code:
POS054945
Media Type:
Digital Seminar


Description

The influx of clients these days has left you feeling like there just isn’t enough time to really get to the root of your client’s problems …

… giving them each the attention and level of care you know you can provide, and that they truly deserve.

But what if there is a way? One backed by neuroscience that would allow you to have a greater impact on more clients, without sacrificing even more of your already limited time?

THAT’s the power of Group Therapy!

Watch internationally board-certified group psychotherapist, author, and trainer Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP, as she uses her 25 years of experience to give you a solid framework for effective group therapy sessions, helping you explore and analyse methods and techniques that can be used to help treat anxiety, depression, trauma and so much more with greater confidence, creativity, and enthusiasm than ever before!

You’ll leave with:

  • A platform for modelling secure attachment-based interpersonal behaviour
  • Strategies to build immediacy, cohesion & relational trust
  • Common client reactions to group termination and how to handle them
  • Modifications for work with children/adolescents
  • Multicultural considerations pertaining to group work
  • … and so much more!

As the demand for therapy continues to grow faster than the length of the workweek or hours in a day, you really can’t afford to miss out on these tools.
 

Credit

Program Information

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.



Canada Credit - *

NOTE: Tuition includes one free CE Certificate (participant will be able to print the certificate of completion after passing the online post-test (80% passing score) and completing the evaluation). Instructional methods will include PowerPoint, didactic lecture, and others.

Continuing Education Information:  Listed below are the continuing education credit(s) currently available for this non-interactive self-study package. Program content is reviewed periodically per accrediting board rules for currency and appropriateness for credit. Credit approvals are subject to change. Please note, your licensing board dictates whether self-study is an acceptable form of continuing education, as well as which credit types are acceptable for continuing education hours. Please refer to your licensing board's rules and regulations. If your profession is not listed, please contact your licensing board to determine your continuing education requirements and check for reciprocal approval. 
For other credit inquiries not specified below, please contact info@pesi.com or 800-844-8260 before purchase.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of your profession.  As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your profession's standards.  

For Planning Committee disclosures, please see the statement above.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

 


Canada Credit - ---

Earn up to 12.5 CE hours. Please see below, for more details, as credit amounts vary by jurisdiction and profession. 


Canada Credit - Canadian Counsellors and Psychotherapists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association to offer continuing education for counsellors and psychotherapists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This self-study activity is approved for 12.5 credit hours.


Canada Credit - Social Workers - National ASWB ACE

PESI, Inc., #1062, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: January 27, 2023 - January 27, 2026. Social workers completing this course receive 11.75 Clinical continuing education credits.

 

Course Level: Intermediate Format: Recorded asynchronous distance. Full attendance is required; no partial credits will be offered for partial attendance.

 

Canadian Social Workers: Canadian provinces may accept activities approved by the ASWB for ongoing professional development.


Canada Credit - Canadian Psychologists

PESI, Inc. is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PESI, Inc. maintains responsibility for the program. This program is approved for 12.5 self-study continuing education hours. Full credit statement at: www.pesi.com/cpa-statement


Canada Credit - Other Professions

This self-study activity qualifies for 12.5 continuing education clock hours as required by many national and local licensing boards and professional organizations. Save your activity advertisement and certificate of completion, and contact your own board or organization for specific requirements.



Handouts

Speaker

Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP's Profile

Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP Related seminars and products

Potential Finders Network, LLC


Hannah Smith, MA, LMHC, CGP, an author, business owner, and innovator, is a licensed mental health therapist and internationally board-certified group psychotherapist, consultant & clinical trainer with nearly 25 years of experience in her dual passions: helping others recover from multiple difficult life circumstances and improve their well-being and enhancing the knowledge of clinicians who work in the field of clinical care. With undergraduate degrees in hard sciences and master’s degrees in in special education and counseling psychology, she combines her knowledge in unique ways to analyze and synthesize difficult concept into "feet-to-the-pavement," practical applications for clinical practitioners at all levels. She has done extensive study and work in neuroscience-informed treatment of anxiety and trauma and is certified in interpersonal neurobiology through the Mindsight Institute. Her work experience, both in the US and abroad, has given her a unique perspective, cross-cultural awareness, sensitivity & respect, and a relatability that puts people at ease and makes her highly approachable. Her dynamic and thought-provoking, teaching style is invigorating, making learning fun, personal, and practical.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Hannah Smith maintains a private practice and receives a speaking honorarium from Cascadia Training. She receives royalties as a published author. Hannah Smith receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Hannah Smith is a member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, and the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association.


Additional Info

Program Information

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.


Questions?

Visit our FAQ page at https://www.pesicanada.ca/faq or contact us at https://www.pesicanada.ca/contact-us.


Objectives

  1. Analyse the core principles of Modern Psychoanalytic, Systems-Centred Therapy, Expressive, and Cognitive-based models.
  2. Utilise neuroscience understanding of human attunement in the practice of group therapy.
  3. Identify the challenges of group therapy to increase therapeutic effectiveness.
  4. Determine appropriate group structure, topic choice, and membership to enhance engagement.
  5. Examine the stages of group development, including the creation of subgroups, “levelling out”, synergising, and identification of termination needs and practices.
  6. Identify traditional paradigms regarding the value of silence, resistance, and degrees of empathy in group interactions.
  7. Examine the ethics involved in group therapy, including HIPAA/confidentiality, facilitator role, and dual-relationship issues.
  8. Determine your leadership style, orientation, approach, and methods of self-care to reduce burn-out.
  9. Examine how transference, countertransference, immediacy, bridging, and reciprocity increase group connections and build intimacy.
  10. Utilise new skills in addressing microaggressions, resistance, and other threats to vertical and horizontal group cohesion.
  11. Connect group modalities and their issues as they apply to children, adolescents, adults, and special populations.
  12. Create a plan for effective evaluation of group progress and responsive modification.

Outline

Why Group Therapy?
  • Harness the “right-brain-to-right brain” benefits (modern neuroscience advantages)
  • Real-time practice of skills learned
  • Remediation of attachment, injuries, positives for the provider, and more
  • Understand group dynamics and logistical issues
  • Client and group-type selection
  • Get client, family, and colleague “buy-in”
  • Attrition and dealing with maladaptive group behaviours
From Where We Have Come – Foundations in Group Psychotherapy
  • A brief history of group (development of group as a specialisation/key players)
    • Predominately support/adjunct orientation
    • Yalom’s therapeutic factors
To Where We Are Going – Modern-Day Considerations
  • Predominately brief, solution-focused, psychoeducational orientation
  • Integrated approaches
  • Neuroscience-informed care
    • Brain-based treatment necessitates group process
    • The group modality in the current age
      • Increase our sense of efficacy in the current infrastructure
      • Limitations in the infrastructure – changes needed
Integrated Approaches to Group Psychotherapy
  • Interpersonal neurobiology
    • Domains of integration
      • Consciousness
      • Bilateral
      • Vertical
    • Attachment issues
  • Positive connections to neuroscience
    • Address comorbid attachment issues by rewiring the brain
    • Model secure attachment-based interpersonal behaviours
    • Reduce shame and increase a sense of acceptance, connection, and self-worth in clients
  • Challenges & limitations
    • Current understanding
    • ”catch 22” issues (anxiety – the very thing we need to treat – naturally shies away from this modality
    • Time/finances
Engage the Client
  • Reduce shame with a whole-person, neuroscience-informed approach
  • Create buy-in in client-friendly terms (educate client on brain-body-social connection)
  • Increase motivation by prioritising symptom relief (reduce emotional pain) and teach agency (increase self-efficacy)
Dynamic Group Formulation And Implementation
  • Principles & goals for effective group practice: pre-group development
    • Group types: psychoeducational, process, cognitive, expressive, support, etc.
    • Group structure: logistics, duration, open/closed
    • Topic, approach, & member selection
    • Agreements & goal setting
  • Stages of group development
    • Sub-grouping, attuning, synergising
  • Termination needs
Contributory & Maladaptive Group Behaviours – Enhance Group Cohesion & Reduce Disintegration
  • Emotional granularity, intimacy, empathy & resonance
  • Transference/countertransference
  • Immediacy, reciprocity, bridging
  • Connection, intimacy, & emotional communication
  • Micro-aggressions and affective dysregulation
Analyse and Expand Clinician Skill
  • Define yourself as group leader
    • Personal philosophy
    • Interaction orientation
    • Self-and-object issues
    • Emotional communication skills
    • Self-care
Evaluate For Effectiveness and Course Corrections
  • Evaluation methods and tools
  • Responsive modifications within the existing group
Supervision, Practice, and Debrief
  • Mock group practices
  • Case-study & video evaluations
  • Supervision group
  • Next-step planning

Target Audience

  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Counsellors
  • Marriage and Family Therapists
  • Case Managers
  • Addiction Counsellors
  • Therapists
  • School Counsellors
  • School Psychologists
  • School Social Workers
  • Nurses
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

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