GROUP RADICAL OPENNESS (GRO)
Foundation level training
LIVE INTERACTIVE WEBINAR
The GRO Foundation level
training is a two-day introduction, enabling delegates to understand an
overcontrolled presentation and how it might be addressed in a group-only
format. By the end of the course, delegates will have a full understanding of
how to assess for overcontrol and how the format fosters change.
Recently, there has
been much interest in the construct of overcontrol. It appears that too much
control underpins a range of mental health difficulties including treatment
resistant depression, particular eating disorders, and difficult to treat
forensic presentations. Group Radical Openness (Booth, Egan & Gibson, 2018)
is a group therapy with a growing evidence base (Egan, Long, McElvaney &
Booth, 2021), specifically adapted for this population. Although initially informed
by the work of Tom Lynch, GRO is fundamentally different from the RO DBT model.
The approach draws on both Group Therapy and Polyvagal Theory.
Dr. Richard Booth recently retired as Director of
Psychology at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Dublin. He specialised in
the treatment of overcontrol in recent years. He pioneered skills-only classes and
published in this area before co-developing Group Radical Openness (GRO). He
was lead author on the GRO paper in the Behavior
Therapist special edition on Radical Openness (2018). He is a regular
lecturer on postgraduate clinical psychology courses and is an Honorary Fellow
at University College, Dublin.
Dr. Rachel Egan is a Principal Clinical
Psychologist at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Service, Dublin. She has over 12 years’ experience in running groups (including group
work with sex offenders and using compassion focused therapy in a group
format). For the past six years, she has been instrumental in developing the
model of GRO and was co-author on the first paper on GRO (2018). She was lead
author on "GRO: A Feasibility Study”, recently published in Counselling & Psychotherapy Research.
She has presented widely on this area and her trainings have a reputation for
being lively, entertaining and thoughtful.
Richard and Rachel’s book for clinicians on
Group Radical Openness is due to be published next year.
|
