Helping People Change: The Power of Group Work
If your employer is a compact member of the Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce, you may be eligible to take this program at a reduced cost. Visit the Harold Alfond Center Workforce Development Funding page for more information.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Groups help to create community to combat loneliness and isolation, and increase connection and productivity at work, within health care, and with personal relationships.
This online program will provide an integrated approach and an indispensable tool box for bringing thoughtful, nurturing, empowering practice, and strategy to relationships of all kinds through the facilitation of group work.
The assets of group work, beyond cost effectiveness and reduced isolation for patients and group leaders alike, can be utilized in many situations: teaching, team meetings, retreats, psychoeducational issues in healthcare, workshops, community gatherings, business settings, sports teams, counseling, religious organizations, and psychotherapy.
The combination of cognitive and experiential learning in this program will leave you with solid understanding, skill, and commitment to initiate group work practice in your professional, personal, and interpersonal settings.
You will become aware of your own responses to your clients, patients, students, colleagues, friends and family, and improve your ability to regulate your affect with thought and sound judgment.
You will also see the role humor plays in facilitating group work and its connecting force of cohesiveness.
DATES AND TIMES
We encourage you to sign up for the interest list to find out when future trainings are announced.
MODALITY
This interactive online program will be offered synchronously via Zoom—you’ll need access to a stable internet connection. There will be breakout sessions to connect with other participants. Participation is encouraged—this is not a recorded session.
PROGRAM BENEFITS
Through participating in this online professional development program, you’ll be able to apply the concepts below to your professional, personal, and interpersonal life.
- Learn to value humor as a serious coping mechanism to offer to patients, clients, colleagues, and community members to utilize in creating openness and lowering anxiety
- Gain insight into therapeutic or curative factors that make groups work, such as universality, catharsis, altruism, socializing, humor, and hope
- Become aware of personal issues and biases, such as countertransference, that may interfere in your role as a group leader
- Gain appreciation for the power of skilled and intimate group work in team and professional settings, and with patients and their families to connect, motivate, and change behaviors
- Predict, normalize, and handle challenges in facilitating groups (ex. anger, apathy)
- Experience the effectiveness of groups as a group leader, group member, and group observer
- Understand how group work lessens isolation and loneliness in aspects of difficult times
- Spark or reinforce your interest or skill in facilitating or participating in group work
WHO SHOULD ENROLL
- Hospice care providers
- Administrators in healthcare and education
- Physicians, nurses, dieticians, physical therapists, diabetes educators
- Community groups, clergy, and religious organizations
- Mental health professionals, social workers, psychologists
- Healthcare professionals focused on helping patients change their behavior through group work
- Business professionals who wish to create better teamwork with emphasis on humor as a coping skill
- Anyone interested in leading or facilitating group work
This program is 100% online and can be taken from anywhere! The course is offered synchronously, on Eastern Time.
Not sure if this program is right for you? Contact us at um.continuinged@maine.edu or 207.581.3113 and we can help you figure it out.
INSTRUCTOR
Wendy Rapaport, L.C.S.W., M.S.W., Psy.D, (she/her/hers) is a licensed clinical psychologist and was on the faculty at the University of Miami School of Medicine Diabetes Research Institute and the UMaine Graduate School of Social Work. She is in private practice in Boca Raton, Florida, and has specialized in individual, marital, family and group therapy for 40 years. A professional writer, Rapaport has published more than 65 articles and lectures around the country. She was awarded the National Health Information Award for her book, “When Diabetes Hits Home: The Whole Family’s Guide to Emotional Health.” Rapaport is also the author of “Approaches to Behavior: Changing the Dynamic between Patient and Professional in Diabetes Care”, “On the Couch with a Good Enough Poet”, “What Do We Tell the Children” and “Friendship Matters”. Learn more about Dr. Wendy Rapaport on her website.
PROGRAM FEE
$175
Click here to apply for a need-based scholarship.
CLASS CAPACITY
20 participants
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS
6 hours / .6 CEUs
Certificate of Completion Available Upon Request
Learn more about Continuing Education Units here.
ACCOMMODATIONS
For more information or to request an accommodation, contact us at um.continuinged@maine.edu.