Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy for Depression

Course details

Join a community of over 1100 students learning how to treat depression in a group format!

The Changeways Core Program is the most widely used group therapy protocol for depression in Canada. Groups based on this model have been offered with diverse populations in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South America, as well as across Canada.

This course, based on our live two-day training seminar, teaches experienced clinicians how to provide the program for their own clients.

As part of the course, students receive PDF copies of the 90-page Participant Manual, the 251-page Clinician's Guide, and all related documents required to offer the program. You are given permission to copy the manual for your own clients.

These written materials are provided in three formats: US Spelling on 8.5x11 USLetter paper; Imperial Spelling on USLetter, and Imperial Spelling on A4. You are given access to translations of the Participant Manual in Farsi and Arabic (which may be used with clients even if the therapist does not speak these languages).

You are also provided links to access the Antidepressant Skills Workbook (ADW) - a self-guided program based, in part, on the Core Program and coauthored by your presenter. The ADW was developed for physicians to offer to newly diagnosed clients. Together, the ADW and the Core Program group therapy protocol provide resources for an easy-to-implement stepped care system.

Here is the course outline:

• Introductions and Materials
• A Brief Introduction to the Epidemiology of Depression
• Development and of the Core Program
• Evaluation and Dissemination of the Core Program
• The Function of Psychoeducation
• Open or Closed, Mixed or Stratified Variations
• Group Leadership, Number of Sessions, Setting
• Who Benefits?
• Personality Disorders and Depression Group Therapy
• Other Client Characteristics
• Intake and Assessment

And then, step by step, we take you through the process of leading the group itself:

• Breaking the ice
• Introducing the cognitive behavioural model
• An acceptance-based stance toward difficult emotion
• Goal setting and behavioural activation
• Ultimate goals versus immediate goals
• Setting goals with your group
• The nature of stress
• The nature of depression
• Lifestyle-based approaches: Diet, exercise, sleep, and more
• The cognitive model
• How to prove that thoughts can occur outside awareness
• Strategies to detect negative thinking
• Cognitive biases and dysfunctional beliefs
• Cognitive traps that appear when mood rises or falls
• Cognitive challenging
• Four worry management strategies
• The role of social life in depression
• A social census
• Strategies for improving the social network
• A brief introduction to assertive communication
• Relapse prevention strategies
• Closing your group

Join us!

Not sure? We offer a 30-day complete money-back guarantee, no questions asked. In addition, some of the course lectures are available for free preview so you can get a feel of what the course looks like without first buying.