About the Course

Group interventions are an important tool for promoting recovery processes among individuals with mental health challenges and their families (Hadas-Grundman et al., 2021). Rehabilitation specialists* conduct a variety of group interventions, ranging from task-oriented groups to psychodynamic-style train groups (Yamin et al., 2022). The expectation and desire to facilitate different types of groups in the field of community-based rehabilitation require knowledge of group processes and facilitation skills. This course offers a range of tools that rehabilitation workers can use in this area.

Course Objectives

The goal of the course is to provide practical tools for facilitating groups in the field of rehabilitation, which are characterized by a wide range of types and styles. The course will integrate theoretical knowledge in the field of group work with practical application, with an emphasis on practical tools tailored to the challenges encountered in rehabilitation group settings, such as: the use of projective techniques in facilitation, dealing with challenging situations, tools from the field of psychodrama, and psychoeducational tools. In addition, we will learn how the ability to identify conscious and unconscious processes emerging within a group can promote various components of recovery: a sense of competence, meaning, identity, self-worth, hope, and various aspects of functioning among participants, and we will be exposed to the variety of groups that exist in the field of rehabilitation.  In the training groups held at the end of each study day, we will explore dilemmas in group facilitation faced by course participants and see how the principles learned in the course are applied in practice. Furthermore, the group training will include experience in peer facilitation and receiving feedback on one’s facilitation.  

Course Structure:

15 weekly sessions, each lasting 6 academic hours, with the last two hours devoted to a training workshop divided into two groups.

Participants: Approximately 30 female professionals holding at least a bachelor’s degree in one of the following disciplines: social work, psychology, occupational therapy, art therapy, psychotherapy, and the like, who work in community-based rehabilitative or therapeutic settings and facilitate rehabilitative or educational groups as part of their daily work.

Course Requirements:

• Mandatory attendance in 90% of classes and in the training group
• Active participation in lessons, discussions, the training group, and classroom exercises
• Dilemma presentation in the training workshop and its processing in a written assignment.
• Submission of a final assignment.

Admission Requirements

• At least one year of experience working in the field of mental health rehabilitation.
• Currentlyfacilitates(or did so until three months ago, or will facilitate a group that will be formed during the course) a group in the field of community mental health rehabilitation.
• It is important to emphasize that female professionals who are notcurrently engaged ingroupfacilitationwill not be accepted into the course!

*The text is written in the feminine form but refers to both genders.