Expanding group therapy offerings enables the clinic to streamline services and offer patients increased access to care. Establishing a robust EBP-centered group therapy program gives a clinic the option of routing the majority of new cases into a course of group therapy (especially mild/moderate cases) as the primary modality for treatment within the clinic. This will significantly increase available weekly appointments for higher acuity cases, while also ensuring that clinic patients can receive weekly treatment with an EBP for common conditions (e.g., CBT-for depression, CBT for insomnia). Having many groups available reduces the overall workload on providers, and can decrease wait times for follow-ups, as most new cases are seen in weekly group formats. Clinics can also create multiple process groups, allowing providers to transfer longer term therapy cases into these process group, and dropping them from weekly individual follow-up sessions. An excellent starting point for this topic is to review the Implementing Best Practices in EBP Group Therapy training, which covers best practices for identifying which groups your clinic should run and how to best set-up a group therapy program.
There are several steps to the process of expanding group psychotherapy services in a clinic, which are detailed in the Implementing Best Practices in EBP Groups Training, as well as the SOP/OI Establish EBP Group Procedures. You can also encourage providers to run groups with the Expanding Group Services: Benefits & Best Practices training. This training will provide information on the different steps and gives an overview of the additional supporting toolkit items that help with each step. Some examples of the steps and associated toolkit items are:
- Decide on what groups to add to the clinic. The toolkit has several tools that can give you a sense of what groups would be most beneficial to your patient population. This includes a brief Clinic Gap Analysis: Patient Form that patients complete as part of the intake process, which lets you know how many need help with areas like depression, stress, anger, etc. The items for this topic are covered on the Clinic Gap Analysis page.
- Streamline referrals and scheduling processes. The toolkit has multiple tools that can help improve marketing for groups, and information on how to simplify your clinic’s referral process. The items for this topic are covered in the Group Referrals and Marketing section of the table below.
- Set up a Pre-Group education and screening process. We have several items that can be used to help patients know what to expect from group, as well as a process where any pre-group screenings that are needed can be delegated to a behavioral health technician (BHT). The items for this topic are covered in the Pre-Group Education & Screening section of the table below.
- Reduce the administrative burden of running groups. The toolkit has several items that can ease the burden of running groups, including tracking sheets for attendance, note templates for common groups, and how to best use BHTs to support your group therapy program. The items for this topic are covered in the Group Administration section of the table below.
Relevant Toolkit Items: General
These toolkit items will help you to implement a group therapy program in your clinic. It is best to start with the initial training deck, Implementing Best Practices in EBP Groups. From there, you will be introduced to some of the other toolkit items and can explore which would be most applicable to your clinic’s situation.
| Item Name | Description | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Implementing Best Practices in EBP Groups Training Deck: Slides (PDF) Slides (PDF with notes) |
Training presentation on the benefits and logistics of identifying any gaps between the capabilities a clinic possesses and the needs of its patient population. Slides X-Z cover the process for assessing provider training in EBPs. | Clinic Managers |
| Expanding Group Services: Benefits & Best Practices Training Deck: Slides (PDF) Slides (PDF with notes) |
Training presentation on how to optimize a group therapy program for the clinic, meant to help convince clinic providers that expanding group use would be beneficial to them and their patients. | Providers |
| SOP/OI Establish EBP Group Procedures | Template to streamline the group referral process, patient assignment, and group management procedures using behavioral health technician support. | Clinic Managers |
Group Referrals and Marketing Toolkit Items:
| Item Name | Description | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Clinic Services Sheet | Patient handout to describe available group treatments in the behavioral health clinic and other services for behavioral health care. | Providers |
| EBP Groups | Handout that describes EBP groups, how they are different from other groups, which ones are available, and who to contact if interested. | Patients |
| Benefits of Group Therapy | One page handout for patients to help convince them to try group therapy | Patients |
| What to Expect from your EBP Group | Explains general information and rules about EBP groups to patients. | Patients |
| Referral Binder Cover Sheet | Cover sheet for front desk binder containing group rosters. Includes reminders about group size, patient privacy, and checking referral sources | Clinic Managers |
| Referral List | A customizable form that providers use to refer patients into groups, includes contact information and diagnoses for patients being referred. | Providers |
| Scheduling Form and Referral Binder Procedure | Instructions to describe the process a provider/Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) will use to schedule a patient for group therapy in the clinic | Providers |
| Scheduling Forms | Provider form to indicate which groups, individual follow-ups, and outcome measures are needed for a patient. Also includes reminder slips for patients with their next group and/or individual appointment(s), as well as instructions on crisis procedures | Clinic Managers |
| Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depression (ACT-D) Group Patient Flyer | Patient flyer for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Depression Group. Provides a basic explanation of the therapy and is customizable for clinics to input outcome data from previous group iterations and testimonials. | Patients |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression (CBT-D) Group Patient Flyer | Patient flyer for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression (CBT-D) Group. Provides a basic explanation of the therapy and is customizable for clinics to input outcome data from previous group iterations and testimonials. | Patients |
| Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD Group Patient Flyer | Patient flyer for Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD Group. Provides a basic explanation of the therapy and is customizable for clinics to input outcome data from previous group iterations and testimonials. | Patients |
Pre-Group Education & Screening Toolkit Items:
| Item Name | Description | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Group Agreement Form | Patient agreement to abide by the attendance policy and rules of the EBP group to which s/he is joining. Includes acknowledgement that homework is a regular part of treatment. Provides emergency contact information in case of patient crisis | Providers |
| Pre-group Screening Form | Form to be used to screen patients for EBP groups. To be used in conjunction with the Pre-group Screening Instruction Guide | Providers |
| Pre-group Screening and Orientation Instruction Guide | Provides instructions for screening patients prior to referring to an EBP group. Includes a records review checklist and screening interview criteria | Providers |
Group Administration Toolkit Items:
| Item Name | Description | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| Group Therapy Attendance and Outcomes Tracking Sheet | Provider/ Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) form to track patient outcome measures for group members across sessions | Providers |
| Group Therapy Session Note Tracking Form | Provider/Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) form to track patient name, outcome measure scores, participation, homework completion, mood, and comments for a group session | Providers |
| Group Evaluation Form | Patient form to provide feedback on group leader(s), features, and perceived symptom reduction | Patients |
| CBT for Depression (CBT-D) Group Note Template | Session-by-session template for documenting a CBT-D group | Providers |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) Group Note Template | Session-by-session template for documenting a CBT-I group | Providers |
| Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) Group Note Template | Session-by-session template for documenting a CPT group | Providers |
| Problem Solving Therapy (PST) Group Note Template | Session-by-session template for documenting a PST group | Providers |
| Administrative Separation (ADSEP) Group Note Template | Session-by-session template for documenting an ADSEP group | Providers |
It may also be helpful to visit the Clinic Gap Analysis page to find tools that can help you determine what groups are needed and the Utilizing Technicians page to find tools to help you reduce the workload on providers by using provider extenders to help expand groups.
To return to the Clinic Optimization Toolkit, click here.