Group therapy is essential in ensuring a smooth recovery from drug addiction. it provides support and community through a safe space that allows people to be vulnerable, expressive, open, and true.
It is one of the best healing methods available for people who want to fully live a life free from drug abuse.
This is the case because facilitators in facilitating effective substance abuse group sessions go out of their way to engage and encourage everyone.
Facilitators promote a smooth healing journey for all recovering individuals who used to be at the mercy of substance use by deploying the following:
1. Ground Rules
No home is built well without a solid foundation. As in all things in life, facilitating a group therapy session requires standards, boundaries, and limits.
This is essential if a facilitator wishes to ensure that the healing space provided remains safe and open for all. An effective facilitator provides the following:
- Clear expectations are gathered and made known
- Clear boundaries are enlisted and defined
- It becomes a priority to create a respectful and safe environment
- Confidentiality is set
- It is established that punctuality is expected among all members
- Definite examples of expected and prohibited behaviors are given
- All participants agree upon all given ground rules
- Periodical reminder is done
2. Active Listening
A good facilitator dedicates time to discuss active listening — what it is, why it is needed, and how it is done.
Active listening is a must to ensure that all members are fully and truly heard. Healing from addiction is primarily done through talking and listening.
Recovery is done by releasing stories and narratives that no longer work and replacing them with empowered and love-centered ones.
This very work can’t simply be achieved if no active listening is done. Active listening requires a person to fully be attentive and present while sharing takes place. To practice active listening, the following can be done:
- Nodding in a way that is not distracting while a person is sharing — this is a reassuring gesture that lets the person sharing know that you are listening and fully attentive to what is being shared
- Summarizing can also be done to ensure that the message of what has been shared was fully listened to, understood, and absorbed.
- Reflecting back can also be done. This can be practiced by bouncing of one’s understanding to the sharer.
A facilitator is the very person who can and should model active listening at all times.
Dedicated time must be spent on encouraging and empowering everyone to actively listen.
It is imperative that all participants feel heard and supported whenever they speak their minds. Besides, it is no easy feat to open up and choose to be vulnerable.
However, it takes immense courage. It is hungry work that deserves nothing but full attention. It is impossible to love, let alone show support if a person is not capable of managing attention.
This can be improved and boosted by practicing active listening.
3. Open-Ended Questions
Our words, the way we use them, and the way we speak them, are our bare invitation for other people to come into our lives.
Words are extremely powerful. When said at the right place and time, it can make or break a person.
This is why facilitators are intentional in their questions. Their questions invite engagement and participation.
It is truly uncomplicated as facilitators simply avoid questions that can be answered by yes or no.
They opt for questions that invite explanations, discussions, and further questions. This encourages everyone to open up and express themselves.
Asking questions that only require a yes or a no is not inviting at all as it sends a message that there is a desire to be straight to the point and direct which is the very opposite of healing through talking.
Good facilitators are great at encouraging people to fully speak their minds and express their feelings through words. Intentional facilitators ask the following kinds of questions:
- How do you feel about your recovery journey?
- What do you think led you to substance abuse?
4. Psychoeducation
This is one of the most important things that take place during group therapy sessions.
This is essential as it allows recovering individuals to own their lives, their stories, and control their narratives in a loving, forgiving, and freeing manner.
During psychoeducation, participants will fully learn about the following:
- Addiction
- Healthy coping mechanisms
- Relapse prevention
This can be done by dedicating a full session to it or having pocket discussions every meeting. This is best done with the use of visual aids and handouts.
Each member should be encouraged to learn more and dig deeper to allow for full healing.
The most amazing thing that happens during psychoeducation is the realization that addiction is a mental health that is merely a symptom of a bigger problem.
No human being wakes up one day and just decides to abuse substances.
No healthy human being intentionally sabotages and ruins their relationships and prospects of a good and peaceful life.
We all want to thrive and live our best lives. People who get into substance use know the truth of the goodness in their hearts but their desire to escape emotional pain leads them astray.
One can only do so much if one is burdened with repressed psychological pain. This is something that is fully explained to members during psychoeducation.
Understanding that people who suffer from addiction are not well and are not to blame takes place during psychoeducation.
The last thing that people who suffer from addiction need is judgment, they need help. And that help is always available.
In addition, Getting insights on smoking shrooms and its effects can be as enlightening as understanding the benefits of group therapy, both of which offer valuable perspectives on personal well-being.
