The Emotional Resiliency (ER) group is a group therapy treatment designed to increase an individual’s ability to engage with their emotions in an effective and values-consistent way. This involves increasing awareness of your emotional experience, increasing the ability to put words to and effectively communicate your emotional experience to others, and increasing the ability to skillfully allow or change your emotional experience. This also involves developing an understanding of why emotional experiences occur and might differ between individuals. Because emotions affect interpersonal relationships, the treatment is also designed to help you identify and communicate your interpersonal boundaries and limits, respect the limits and boundaries of others, and increase your feelings of connectedness in interpersonal relationships.

 

Group details:

Format- This group meets once a week for 24 weeks (between 6-8 months due to holidays or cancellations). Groups are either 90 or 120 minutes long, with a short break in the middle. Groups are limited in size to allow for in-depth content discussion and to encourage group connection (group size is typically between 4-8 members).

 

Structure- Each group is run the same way. First, group starts with a check-in exercise that helps identify each group member’s current emotional experience. Next, we review the skills the group practiced over the week, after which we take a short break. After the break, we conclude the group with the introduction, discussion, and practice of a new emotional resiliency skill. Group members will be asked to practice the new skill over the upcoming week and report back on this practice in the next group session.

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Skills Focus: Group is focused on the learning and practice of new skills for emotional resiliency. The group is made up of 4 main modules, each with 6 weeks of skills content.
       Emotional Expertise (6 groups)- these skills are designed to help group members become attentive to, curious about, and better able to articulate their emotional experiences.
       Emotional Modulation (6 groups)- these skills are designed to help group members mindfully and intentionally increase or decrease the intensity or duration of their emotional experience. 
       Emotional Endurance (6 groups)- these skills are designed to help group members increase their ability to experience multiple emotional stimuli over longer periods of time, without disengaging or becoming depleted. 
       Emotional Connectedness (6 groups)- these skills are designed to help group members experience emotions effectively in interpersonal relationships. This includes the ability to share their emotions effectively, communicate their own limits or boundaries, and ask for what they need in relationships. 

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Group Entry/Exit: Group members are asked to commit to 24 groups (which is one complete round of the skills), with an opportunity to continue for longer if desired. It is a “rolling” group, which means that new members may enter and exit at specific times in the content. New group members may enter at the beginning of a module (every 6-8 weeks) and the group temporarily closes while a module completes. 

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Who is Eligible:

In order to be eligible to enter the ER group, an individual must
   -Be in individual therapy or having regular check-ins with a mental health provider (at least once every 4-6 weeks)
   -Have a desire to engage with your emotions effectively (even if you are not sure how!) 
   -Have a willingness to practice a new skill each week
   -Have a willingness to participate in group discussions about the skills, once comfortable in the group

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Who may not be a good fit:

We have found that some individuals benefit less from our group due to the severity of their current symptoms or timing of treatment. If you experience any of the following, this may not be the right time for you to enter our group (and you may be a better fit for a different TAP program):

    -If you are currently actively suicidal, self-harming, or engaged in violence towards others. You may be a better fit for our DBT program.
   -If you have current, active, impairing PTSD symptoms (e.g., flashbacks, dissociation, or intense emotional reactions to trauma cues) . You may be a better fit for our Trauma Therapies.
   -If you have severe depression, anxiety, or substance use that is significantly impairing your ability to function in day-to-day life. You may be a better fit for treatments related to mood disturbance or anxiety. 
   -If you are unwilling to practice skills while experiencing emotions, this may not be the group for you.
 

How to join the group:

Step 1- find an individual mental health provider willing to see you at least once every 4-6 weeks while you participate in group. If you are already working with a provider, great! If you need a provider, you can let our Admin Team know and they can discuss whether a TAP Clinic clinician could be a fit for what you need. 

Step 2- connect with our Admin Team (intakes@tapclinicnc.com) who can set you up with a Patient Portal and send your portion of the paperwork*

Step 3- get your provider to read and fill out their part of the paperwork
Step 4- either you or your provider can send us your paperwork by email (intakes@tapclinicnc.com), fax, or snail mail to our office. If you choose email, please be aware that there are privacy risks associated with sending your personal health information by email. Once we have received and reviewed your paperwork, we will contact you with any follow-up questions and to schedule an intake appointment to verify your fit for the group.
Step 5- complete a 45-50 minute intake with a group leader, which will be scheduled once your paperwork is received in full. 

Step 6- If you, your current individual provider, and the ER group leaders agree that this group is a good fit for your current goals, you will be given a group start date and join at next opening.

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*sliding scale group spots are available on a first come, first served basis. You can email (info@tapclinicnc.com) to determine whether sliding scale spots are currently available and what your sliding scale rate would be if you qualify.