Need help with group therapy

[grensa]

I am currently doing a psych rotation on an adult unit. This is a high acuity locked unit and the patients have diferent diagnoses ranging from schizophrenia to bipolar, to depression, etc. My dilemma is that I have to come up with a group therapy/activity for them and I am having an extremely difficult time finding something appropriate. These patients cannot go outside or leave the unit. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[beautifulbyHisblood]

Hey there!

I just did my psych rotation this past semester and I learned SO much. I didn't have to come up with my own group therapy, but I'll tell you what I learned from what I saw...

THERAPY itself is done by a license psychiatrist (which you should totally sit in on if you can!). Those sessions usually do not include psychotic patients because they cannot focus and they are distracting to other patients. However, patients with]depression, drug abuse, etc. find these groups very useful because they tend to identify with others.

Now for something YOU can do... we had a rec therapist on our unit. She did all kinds of one-hour activities like drawing something from your childhood, playing SingStar video games, exercise in the courtyard, anger management/coping mechanisms... they are very short exercises that help the patients fill time as well as channel their emotions and energy in a positive way.

Good luck! I know psych can be scary and a drag, but it can also be a wonderful learning opportunity for any area of nursing that you want to go into. :)

[Unknown member]

I just finished my first year of nursing school and also had to run a group therapy session for my psych rotation. My unit was actually geropsych so that made it a little more interesting...

My partner and I decided to create a fabric book. We had each patient sanitize their hands, and then passed around the fabric book having the patients feel one fabric at a time and stating what came to mind when they felt the fabric. It was actually really fun. It reminded patients of their wedding gowns, pets, baby blankets, summer chairs (it was a straw like material), etc. The patients seemed to really enjoy it. It was a stress-free activity that made no one feel awkward or undereducated. The best part: one patient in the group had an extensive history with sewing and design so she was extremely excited and really helped the group's flow (thank god!! haha)

A friend of mine was on another psych unit that was more for adults and not the elderly. She chose to create a tree and passed out different colored leaves. Each person had to write something they were struggling with on one leaf and then a positive/strength to deal with the struggle on another leaf (ex. alcoholism -- "I always call my sponser when I feel the need to drink") & she designed the tree in a way that showed growth from struggle --> strength.

Hope this helps!!