I am thinking mind-body skills groups, meditation, guided imagery, teaching breathing exercises, movement therapies, mindfulness, mindful eating, art therapy, journaling, and so on. How would you put together a virtual therapy group using these techniques?
We are pilot testing an online curriculum for health professionals right now. We enrolled 200 people and are sending out the follow up questionnaires now. Should have data by December... What's YOUR project?
What modalities are you using?
MY project is . . . I developed a sexual wellness program based on the mind-body skills group that was designed by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (www.cmbm.org) and I am trying to figure out the best way to adapt it for an online group (or maybe asynchronous) course. The program involves guided imagery and meditation, easy enough, but also art therapy techniques that involve sharing and biofeedback techniques that involve simple equipment (perhaps as simple as bio-dots). Each session is designed to be 1 hour didactic and 1 hour experiential. I have considered just doing the didactic portion online and providing either written or audio instructions for the experiential but the group interaction generated around the exercises is an important part of the process.
I have a cautionary statement. Be sure that the practitioner is truly an expert (with credentials) in her field. Be sure she is an expert in online teaching. Finally, be careful about starting any kind of therapeutic experience unless you are totally able to deal with the consequences of a student who may need more than you can offer.
You may have something more interactive in mind, but there was a great review recently published on the efficacy of mindfulness and acceptance based self-help interventions:
Cavanagh, K., Strauss, C., Forder, L., & Jones, F. (2014). Can mindfulness and acceptance be learnt by self-help?: A systematic review and meta-analysis of mindfulness and acceptance-based self-help interventions. Clinical psychology review, 34(2), 118-129.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medicine
- Counseling Psychology