Mental Health Therapy Options

JE Misz, Team Leader for Adult Clinical Services:

We want to make sure that everybody who comes into Oaklawn has a place for them to go, gets immediate access to the services that they’re looking for. With that in mind, we’ve started the Groups First model here at Oaklawn, which means that every client that comes into our services will be referred to a group first in order to be connected into our services.

We do this for three primary reasons. One is because groups is an effective treatment model. Groups can be some of the most effective treatment models that we have available. And so these are gold-star rated treatments that we have for our clients. Next, these groups are efficient, which means they can get people into services quickly. We can get people in the services without waitlists. And then also, we know that groups can be cost effective for people too.

Now we have a variety of groups that people can plug into. We have groups that are available for every diagnosis that people have. And so we have different types of groups. One group that we have are psychoeducation groups, which are groups that are available for people to just learn information about their diagnoses. I encourage people to think about this kind of like a class.

So these groups might not necessarily mean that you have to divulge a lot of information about yourself. It might not require a lot of vulnerability, but you can get in, and we know that knowledge is power. And so you can get that knowledge, get that information, to find the healing that you need. We also offer skills-based groups, where you’re actually going with a group of people and learning different skills, learning how to deal with your mental illness.

And so you’re not just learning information, but you’re also learning tools and skills that you can apply right away to get the support that you need. We also offer some processing groups, which are those spaces where you can be a little bit more vulnerable, to be a little bit more open with a group of people that are safe and encouraging and supportive. So you can get that group support that you need.

And so, once people start in a group therapy, after they sufficiently engage in the group, if we’re finding that there’s a need for additional services, we’ll make those referrals: medication management, case management, individual therapy, whatever services that we offer that we find could be beneficial for the clients involved.

I’ve been facilitating a group now for five years, and it’s my absolute favorite part of the week. It’s a powerful experience to be with a group of people. That are supporting each other and encouraging each other, building each other up. And so when we’re working together to provide support for each other, that’s where healing can really happen.