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ACT Groups for Partial Hospitalization/Intensive Outpatient Programs (PHP/IOP)

I work in the Birches Program at the Brattleboro Retreat in Southern Vermont, a Partial Hospitalization/Intensive Outpatient Program (PHP/IOP). Participants usually stay in our program four to six weeks. I have developed a set of a dozen ACT-based groups that are inter-related and mutally supportive. Themes of: mindfulness; compassion; matrix; defusion; acceptance; anger; assertiveness; self-care; healthy relationships; finding motivation; values and action. Partcipants also have daily check-in groups that are more freely structured. I facilitate these themes on a rotating basis. I don't recommend them as stand-alone processes.  I got most of the practices and metaphors from ACT trainings and books; if there is anything original, it's how I've sequenced things (and how I interact with the participants, with humor and on equal footing). I hope you will find these write-ups helpful.

Charlie Laurel, MS, LCMHC

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