Mental Health Group Programs
Group therapy can be a very effective and accessible treatment for people who are seeking support, and often more cost effective than individual therapy sessions.
Our experts teach group members specific skills to help them cope with and manage their own mental health and wellbeing. Loneliness is a big contributor to mental health issues, and in group therapy people are in a supportive environment where they can more easily connect with one another.
A GP or psychiatrist referral is needed. A range of funding options are available including private health insurance and self-funding
Location
Northern Beaches Clinic
Level 3, 105 Frenchs Forest Road
Frenchs Forest
NSW 2086
Referrals
Ask your GP or psychiatrist for a referral to be faxed or emailed to the details supplied on this page.
Cost
Usually covered by private health insurance. For those with Work Cover please contact us for further information.
When: Mondays 9:00am – 2:00pm
Participants are welcomed to join at any time.
This program aims to support people in improving and maintaining their mental health by providing psycho-education, awareness and therapeutic skills for managing mental health related symptoms. The program incorporates a number of therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness.
The program will help you to:
- Look at your recovery holistically
- Improve your mood
- Develop effective coping skills
- Challenge your negative thinking
- Set boundaries and be assertive
- Cope with change
- Identify and manage emotions
- Explore your values
- Move forward in your recovery
Managing Worries/Anxiety
When: Wednesdays or Thursdays 9:00am – 2:00pm
Please check with day program administration team regarding starting dates.
This 6-week program aims to support people with Generalised Anxiety Disorder or those who struggle with excessive worry from a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) framework. The program aims to provide therapeutic intervention, psycho-education and skills training.
The program will help you to:
- Understand worry and anxiety
- Challenge your anxious thinking
- Confront your anxiety using behaviour experiments
- Relax the anxious body
- Manage uncertainty
- Maintain gains and prevent relapse
Creative Therapy
When: Monthly - Wednesday 9:00am – 2:00pm
Participants are welcomed to join at any time.
Please check with day program administration team regarding starting dates.
The aim of this program is to provide a supportive and safe space for clients to discover their strengths as well as their challenges as they navigate their way in life. This program supports and reinforces skills that may have been developed as an inpatient. Whilst each session can be stand alone, each outpatient creative therapy session is based on a particular theme and is designed to build upon awareness and understanding throughout the course of the program.
The program will help you to:
- Explore sense of self
- Improve social connectedness
- Create safe spaces
- Explore the negative impact of perfectionism
- Improve self-efficacy
- Develop inner strength and outer supports
- Appreciate acceptance
- Live a life enriched with your values
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy – Lite (DBT Lite)
When: Wednesdays 9:00am – 2:00pm
Please check with day program administration team regarding starting dates.
This 3-week program provides an introduction to Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and is a pre-requisite to the 24-week DBT full program. It introduces the fundamental principles of DBT.
The program covers:
- Introduction to Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
- Understanding difficult emotions and unhelpful coping behaviours
- Basic skills to tolerate emotional distress
- Introduction to dialectics
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy – Full Program
When: Thursdays (Mixed ages): 9:00am – 2:00pm
Fridays (17-25 years old): 9:00am – 2:00pm
Please check with day program administration team regarding starting dates as there are regular intakes throughout the year.
The DBT Full program covers the four core principles of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy over three modules spanning a total of 24 weeks. Modules cover interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance, each beginning with two weeks of core mindfulness skills.
The program helps you to:
- Develop skills to regulate emotions
- Develop skills to tolerate emotional distress
- Communicate your needs effectively
- Increase self-awareness through the practice of mindfulness
Preparing For Change - Alcohol and Other Drugs
When: Tuesdays 9:00am – 2:00pm, Wednesdays 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Participants are welcomed to join at any time.
This program supports people to make change or maintain abstinence from substance use. The program incorporates motivational interviewing, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy to provide therapeutic intervention, psycho-education and skills training. The program’s approach is trauma-informed and underpinned by the strengths-focused philosophy and recovery model of care.
The program will help you to:
- Understand addiction
- Develop effective coping skills
- Learn skills to manage urges and cravings
- Learn skills to manage triggers
- Challenge negative thinking
- Learn skills to manage emotions without substances
- Look at your recovery holistically
- Explore your values in relation to substance use
- Move forward in your recovery
- Set boundaries and be assertive in relationships
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy – Graduates Group
When: Monthly – Wednesday: 9:00am – 2:00pm
Please check with day program administration team regarding starting dates.
The DBT Graduates group aims to provide an opportunity for people to strengthen and
consolidate their understanding and application of DBT Skills and to experience and integrate the
skills into everyday life. The program is suited for people who have completed a full DBT program (12 months or more) and am currently in a skillful, stable place emotionally and psychologically.
The program will help you to:
- Strengthen, reinforce and consolidate understanding of DBT Skills
- Broaden understanding of DBT concepts
- Move beyond an intellectual understanding of the skills into greater experiential practice