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We
believe that participation in groups can be a very
helpful part of recovering from psychosis as well as
something that can be enjoyable and way of meeting other
people who may have had similar experiences. For that
reason, we do try to encourage our clients to attend
some of our groups. We offer various groups in the FEP
team, running different groups at different times of the
year.
On
this page we've put some information about the various
groups that we run in the FEP team. If there is a
particular group you are interested in, please let a
member of staff know, and we'll do what we can to make
sure we run that particular group. Or if you have an
idea for a group that you'd like us to run, do let us
know and we can talk about if we could do that.
Groups that we run regularly include our 'Straight
Talking' group, which is a group where we share
information about psychosis, and our 'Adventure Club',
which is an activity-based group. We also run a
'Storytelling Group', where the focus is on how we each
develop our own story to make sense of our experience.
Other groups that we have run in the past, and may offer
again in the future (particularly if there is demand for
them) include a 'Philosophy Group' and a group where we
discuss issues relating to medication, 'Medication
Matters'. |
STRAIGHT
TALKING
The Straight Talking
group is usually run about 3 times per year. This group is open to
clients of the FEP team. Information about the group is below.
This group consists of a
series of workshops to help you find out more about psychosis, to
start to consider how it may impact on your life and to develop some
understanding of the experiences you may have had.
Some things we will discuss are:
What actually is
psychosis?
What helps people
recover?
Uncover some of
those myths about mental health?
Would you like to meet
with some others that have had a similar experience of psychosis?
Dale Rook and Tim Hurley are the main co-ordinators of this group.
ADVENTURE
CLUB
In 2005, we are running an Adventure Club which runs for an 8
week cycle, involving one afternoon per week, and one full day
activity.
Rationale and Objectives:
-
To enhance social
and community integration skills.
-
To reduce stigma and
isolation and facilitate re engagement with communities.
-
Build confidence and
self esteem through graded activity and supported risk taking.
-
To foster hope and
sense of mastery by providing opportunity to make choices and
set personal goals.
-
To experience
meaningful and fun occupations that promote physical health and
emotional wellbeing that are acceptable to this youthful group
of clients.
-
Experience a sense
of belonging to a group, develop and practice a range of roles
within the group context.
Format
- Closed and structured group
- Participants commit to attending 6 sessions
- Funding costs cover activities, transport and staffing
- Facilitated by 2 FEP staff
- Sessions are 2-3 hours long; last session is a full day
- Clients buy or bring their own refreshments
Example of activities arranged for 2005
group:
-
Week1: Trip to beach
-
Week2: Mini Golf
-
Week3: Ten-pin bowling
-
Week4: Kayaking
-
Week 5: Rockclimbing
-
Week 6: Full day trip to Rangitoto Island
STORYTELLING
GROUP
The storytelling group is usually run by Dale
Rook and Jim Geekie. We hope to run the group later this year
(2005). If you are keen for us to run this group, then please let us
know.
We want to encourage clients, both past and present to share
their stories. We believe that some people can find it helpful to
make their in story (in whatever form the choose, such as a
narrative, or a photography, a painting, music, etc). If you would
like to add your story to our web site, please contact
Jim Geekie. We will put
these stories on this web site here.
Purpose of group
The purpose of this group is to look at the importance of stories in
our lives, as a way of communicating our thoughts and feelings about
our experiences to other people. We will have a bit of a look at
stories in general, then focus on how we can ‘story’ experiences of
mental health difficulties in particular.
Overview of groupThere will be four sessions.
Our plan each of the sessions is as follows:1. Introductions;
purpose of group; different ways of telling stories
2. Invited speaker to tell his or her story of mental health;
starting to work on our own stories.
3. Sharing our stories with the group (only as much or as little
as you feel comfortable with).
4. Finishing our storytelling; reflections on storytelling, and
‘where to from here?’.
We can be flexible about what we include in the group, so if you
have any ideas for something we should talk about, please let us
know and we will try to include that too.
Structure of group
We hope to vary how the group is run, and would encourage everyone
to participate. Sometimes we will discuss things as a large group,
other times we may break up into smaller groups. We will have a few
stories, a couple of poems and even a song to listen to, all of
which will, hopefully relate to our discussions.
PHILOSOPHY
GROUP
The Philosophy Group
usually runs about 3 or 4 times over a year, sometimes during the
day, sometimes in the evening. The group usually meets weekly for
about 6 - 8 weeks.
What?
A discussion group to help develop ways of looking for answers to
important questions. Topics covered will include, but not be limited
to questions relating to mental health. In past groups, we have
discussed “What is real? How do we know what is real?”; “Does
medication change your personality?”; “How do we evaluate our
beliefs?”.
When?
We have not arranged a start time for the next group at the
moment. Talk to a member of the FEP team if you are keen to do this
group.
Where?
At St Lukes CMHC, 6a Western Springs Road.
Who?
The group is open to clients of the FEP team.
Jim Geekie and Jim Burdett usually run the group. For more
information contact Jim Geekie on 845 0940.
MEDICATION
MATTERS
This group runs from
time to time depending on when we have a group of clients who are
interested in participating in this group.
This group is aimed
specifically for clients of the FEP team. The purpose of this group
is to discuss matters relating to medication, such as:
-
Should I take
medication or not?
-
What are the effects
of medication?
-
What are the
unwanted effects of medication?
-
How does taking
medication effect me personally?
-
How to deal with the
some of the problems associated with taking medication,
including increased appetite, stigma etc.
WHERE: St Lukes CMHC, 615 New North Road, Morningside.
This group will be run
by clinical staff from the FEP team, and we will also have a dietician
for one session.
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Ministry of Health
