Fall 2016 Newsletter
Volume 24, Issue 2 
Editor's Note:
This is only my second issue as editor, so I still feel I am learning the ropes. I am incredibly grateful for the support I have been getting from the MAGPS Community and my fellow Board Members. Spending time with MAGPS -- whether in person, on email, or while engaged in this project -- feels like basking in the warmth of a log-burning fireplace in late autumn. (Which seems apropos, since this is the Fall Newsletter!) 

I am filled with gratitude that I was so welcomed into this group, where I can feel safe in expanding my learning of the delicate and messy, yet emotionally enriching practice of providing group therapy. I look forward to meeting more MAGPS members and affiliates at the upcoming Fall Conference on the Chesapeake Bay. Please reach out to me with any feedback you have for how we can improve this newsletter -- and please come say hi at the conference. I look forward to knowing you all better in the months to come.
-Sonia Kahn, PsyD
Come One, Come All -
Looking Forward to our  Fall Conference and  Return 
to the Hyatt
Rose McIntyre, LCSW, CGP 
 Co-Chair of the Fall 2016 Conference
I am happy to write about our upcoming conference, "Loss and Desire in Group Psychotherapy: A Lacanian Perspective" to be held on November 4-6, 2016 at the Hyatt on the Bay in Cambridge, Maryland. It is sure to be an exciting event, both individually and collectively. Under the guide of Scott Conkright, PsyD, Robert Schulte, MSW, and the Red Well Theater Group, we will be exploring desire and  lack , attachment, endings, and the navigation of primitive feelings.  The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay offers a serene setting on the water. During breaks one can enjoy the many activities offered at the resort, take in the historic town of Cambridge, MD, or visit the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge for hiking, kayaking, and even birding. 

Book your room  at the 
Hyatt Regency 
Chesapeake  Bay today!
 
Book your hotel room  by Friday, 
October 7 to get the discounted MAGPS Conference reservation rate ($139.00/night+ 13.5% tax).

To book your room, call 
888-421-1442 

What's Inside
Letter from the President
Nancy Hafkin, PhD, CGP 
Maryetta Andrews-Sachs and Nancy Hafkin
There is a common element in each of these roles: Brownie Leader. National Zoo Tour Guide.  Class Parent. Basketball Referee.  Conductor - Underground Railroad Experience. MCSL Stroke & Turn Judge. DC Grotto Chairperson. MAGPS Board of Directors, President and Conference Chair.  The common element: each is a volunteer position that I have held at some point in my adult life. Curiously, many have to do with leadership or interaction with a Group.

Another commonality is that there were many hours of "work" involved, and in every situation, I received far more that I gave.

Here are some of the reasons why people say they volunteer: to give back, to learn, to strengthen a community, to "make a difference," to work with others, to reduce stress. There is also the opportunity to put talents to use, and to express passion for a cause. I can relate to each of these and I bet you can, too.

MAGPS is where I am spending my volunteering hours these days. I have found an energetic and caring community united around a passion for Group. Committee members have become friends, and ideas envisioned have become Conferences and Workshops. I have had a chance to learn about running a Board Meeting, to visit Chicago and New York City, to create a Conference or two, and to work and play with dedicated, energetic people. 

MAGPS is looking for people who have time and energy and we will find a place for you to volunteer. Give me a call and let's talk about what you might want to do within the organization. I will look forward to our discussion.

-Nancy
301-951-9002
Looking Forward to the Fall 2016 Conference
MAGPS Fall 2016 Conference:
Attachment, Loss, and Desire in Group Psychotherapy: A Lacanian Perspective
Scott Conkright, PsyD 
The Red Well Theater Group
Desire and lack permeate group psychotherapy and are available for expression and elaboration among group members as long as the group leader is willing to tolerate the tensions evoked by these primitive feelings, often directed towards him or her. In this conference,  Scott Conkright, PsyD , will demonstrate the power of the group to both elicit and cope with these powerful dynamics through the integration of theory, research, and clinical practice. A  Red Well Theater Group  reading of the play Dinner with Friends  will dramatically illuminate the human struggle between longing for attachments and the inevitability of endings and goodbyes.

 Register by October 28  for the best rate and a guaranteed space. 
No day-of registrations will be accepted.

MAGPS supports the professional development of students, interns, residents, and clinicians early in their careers by offering discounted rates for first-time attended and new professionals. Various scholarships are also available, which can be used to cover registration and banquet costs. If you are interested in obtaining a scholarship, you must  apply by October 21.

Questions? Email conferences@magps.org


Interview with Our Fall Conference Presenter, 
Scott Conkright, PsyD
David Heilman, MPsy

In preparation for our approaching fall conference, I had the pleasure of asking our presenter Scott Conkright, PsyD a few questions. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation.

David: Given the conference title, Loss and Desire in Group Psychotherapy: A Lacanian Perspective, what can the conference attendees anticipate learning about while attending the conference?

Scott: Many people, if they know of Lacan at all, are intimidated by the denseness of his writing and the strangeness of his concepts. I hope to make some of his more clinically relevant theories accessible and applicable to group therapy. Overall, I hope attendees will be left satisfied, intrigued and yet wanting more. 

David: Along those lines of wanting more, how did you originally become interested in Lacanian theory? 

Scott: I was first introduced to Lacan's theories as an undergraduate in a literary theory course. I returned to him in graduate school after one of my professors did a short lecture on him. Lacan's theories are about how the unconscious works but also about what it means to be human. Lacan posits very distinct limitations to self-understanding that I believe each clinician should be clear on, as they shape how therapy is done. 

David: Who has influenced your own work the most?

Scott: I got my undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota where B.F. Skinner did his preliminary work and where the MMPI was created, both which gave me a strong foundation in research and learning theory. My clinical outlook is the result of my immersion into Lacan as well as relational psychoanalysis, with an emphasis on attachment developmental theory, and now, more recently, the work of Porges, whose polyvagal theory is revolutionizing our field. 

David: What have been the most important lessons you have learned from your own experiences as a group leader?

Scott: I am forever humbled by my ignorance. Running groups is the best way to keep one's narcissism in check ;)












About the Presenter
Scott Conkright, PsyD

Scott Conkright, PsyD is a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Conkright has specialized in the treatment of depression, anxiety, sexual addiction, and issues of sexual orientation for over twenty years. He received his doctorate from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago, and taught at both Argosy and Oglethorpe University. A regular presenter at national conferences, Dr. Conkright has conducted workshops on sexuality, the use of metaphor in group therapy, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Dr. Conkright served as the President of the Atlanta Group Psychotherapy Society and is a member of the American Psychological Association and the American Analytical Society. He is particularly interested in the application of Lacanian theory to group psychotherapy and recently completed a novel involving these subjects. 


David: What do you hope the conference attendees take away from this conference weekend?

Scott: I hope more than anything else they get some familiarity with Lacan's theories, have some fun, challenge each other, and also keep me on my toes. I am very fond of MAGPS and have many friends here. I am very honored, and very excited, to present this year.

David: We are thrilled to have you join us.  It sounds like the conference will be a very enriching weekend!

Red Well Theatre Group at the 
MAGPS Fall 2016 Conference
Robert Schulte, MSW

I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which 
a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be human. 
- Oscar Wilde
 
Attachment, Loss, and Desire
The Red Well Theater Group (RWTG) of Washington, D.C. will present a dramatic reading
of  the  Pulitzer Prize winning play, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies, on Saturday, November 5th at the MAGPS 2016 Fall Conference. The reading, directed by Rob Williams, features MAGPS members John Dluhy, Mary Dluhy, Liz Marsh, and Yavar Moghimi. Dinner With Friends is presented in cooperation with the Dramatists Play Service of New York.
We approach this play as a theatrical, group case study of attachment, loss and its cascading 
effects on the families and friends of two young couples. The play also serves as a parable of what can happen in a therapy group when co-therapists find themselves struggling to function together as a team, potentially imperiling a group's survival and wellbeing. The play opens in the fashionable Connecticut home of professional food critics, Karen and Gabe. They are hosting a dinner for their married best friends, Beth and Tom, which Beth attends alone. Beth keeps her secret until dessert is served, when she blurts out that Tom has left her for another woman. Gabe and Karen are heartbroken, having expected "to grow old and fat together, the four of us." Humans needs for both secure attachment and exploratory excitement are at times quite challenging to reconcile within enduring intimate relationships-as well as therapy groups. It will be instructive to look at how each couple uniquely works to reestablish harmony between these two basic dimensions of intimacy-one couple choosing to restructure their family through divorce, the other couple choosing to deepen the commitment to their marriage. A quote from the late Stephen Mitchell (1988) has been an inspiration in our preparation of this play reading:

"The central dynamic struggle throughout life is between the powerful need to establish, maintain, and protect intimate bonds with others and various efforts to escape the pain and dangers of those bonds-the sense of vulnerability, the threat of disappointment, engulfment, exploitation and loss."

Theater and Group Therapy
The Greek philosopher Aristotle saw a moral purpose to creating theater.  Poetics (Halliwell, 
1998), with its dramatic concepts of tragedy, plot, moral character, motivation, speech, melody, thought, reversal of fortune, and spectacle, is a kind of prequel to modern-day texts of group psychotherapy principles and practices.  J. L. Moreno's development of psychodrama in the 20th century reflected his own moral mission to restore theater to its original healing purposes of facilitating mutual recognition and communal wellbeing. Moreno eschewed the written text of a distant playwright/other in favor of working improvisationally with the patient-as-playwright-as-actor.  The concept of unconscious enactment recognizes the emergence of trauma-tinged dramas in dynamic group therapy and their value in the facilitation of therapeutic aims. The place of dramatic action in theater and group psychotherapy is well established.

The Origins of Red Well Theater Group
In 2001, I was President-Elect and Conference Chair of MAGPS. While planning the Fall
Conference  I had an epiphany-to use the play 'ART' as a plenary presentation. I was familiar with the effectiveness of play reading from a prior career as a theater director, and felt that its simplicity in conveying interpersonal and group themes was appealing. The play reading featured MAGPS members John Dluhy, John Thomas, and Bernard Murphy. Over the next 15 years we presented 10 different plays to audiences of training and practicing group therapists, notably at the AGPA Annual Meetings.
We are a cadre of group therapist colleagues who share a love of theater and a commitment
to  dynamic group therapy training. Using dramatic play readings, RWTG offers experiential learning for the therapist-as-actor and for the therapist-as-audience through a bearing witness experience and shared reflection. Our educational goals are to illuminate themes of mutual recognition and communal wellbeing in and beyond the therapy group, deepen the therapist's empathy for the challenge of being in a group, and provide a vitalizing experience in support of the therapist's self care.
I am grateful to the members and guest artists for their creativity, talent and collaborative
spirit  in  our work together. All of us have a natural affinity for empathy, collaboration and expressiveness-great qualities for the theater and group therapy. A guest artist program invites kindred spirits to participate with us on a per project basis. Working with diverse, multi-generational acting ensembles has enhanced the range of our theater presentations and enriched our group process. Mentoring the next generation of group therapists has become a highly valued experience for the members and our guest artist colleagues.
Members include Kavita Avula, Maryetta Andrews-Sachs, John Dluhy, Mary Dluhy, Molly 
Donovan, Hallie Lovett, Liz Marsh, Yavar Moghimi, Bob Schulte, Rosemary Segalla, Paul Timin, Barry Wepman and Rob Williams.  Guest artists have included Connor Dale, Matt Fleming, Belinda Friedrich, Sheela Kadakar, Barbara Keezell, Cheri Marmarosh, Justin Newmark, Tom Teasley, John Thomas, Tom Wessell, Eleanor Counselman, Macario Giraldo, and Ron Goldman.
 
Our Version of Broadway
On March 5, 2017, RWTG will present a day-long Special Institute at the upcoming AGPA
Annual  Meeting in New York City titled, "Wounded Healers and Suffering Strangers: Navigating Ethical Dilemmas Together," We will present Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies and The Great God Pan by Amy Herzog.  Both plays effectively illuminate ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, fidelity, and justice as well as the core ethical virtues of the moral practitioner including compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, integrity, and conscientiousness. We will outline a process of group-centered resolution that emphasizes the dynamic interplay of information gathering, empathy, transparency, and collaborative decision-making in the here-and-now (Brabender, 2006). The Special Institute provides 6 Ethics CE credits.
 
References
Brabender, V. (2006). The Ethical Group Psychotherapist. International Journal of Group 
Psychotherapy. 56 (4), 395-414.
Halliwell, (1998).  Aristotle's Poetics. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co.
Herzog, A. The Great God Pan. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
Mitchell, S. (1988). Relational Concepts in Psychoanalysis: An Integration. Cambridge:  Harvard 
University Press.
Margulies, D. (2000). Dinner with Friends. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
Schulte, R. (2016). AGPA Group Circle Newsletter. Special Institute to Examine Ethics through 
Theater.
SPOTLIGHT!
turning the focus on exciting things going on in the MAGPS community 

The MAGPS  Outreach Project and You
Trish Cleary, MS, CGP, FAGPA

The Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society Outreach Project was initiated in 2014 when Venus Masselam requested sponsorship from the MAGPS Board of Directors to address the varied and diverse needs of the membership with year-round training opportunities. Dr. Masselam, PhD, LCMFT, CGP (Certified Group Psychotherapist) was appointed Chair of the Outreach Project Committee and she assembled a team that includes: Nina Brown, PhD, CGP; Trish Cleary, MS, LCPC-MFT-ADC, CGP, FAGPA (AGPA Fellow); Joan Medway, PhD, CGP, FAGPA; Reggie Nettles, PhD, CGP; and Nancy Swain, MSW, CGP. As the committee's work progressed, Trish Cleary was designated Vice-Chair.
 
MAGPS is well-known for providing a unique blend of experiential and didactic group therapy training to its members and area mental health professionals. In 2015, standards and procedures were established by the MAGPS Board of Directors and the MAGPS Outreach Project Committee as guidelines to ensure quality programing. Two pilot programs supported the criteria for these guidelines. The first, offered by Dr. Venus Masselam, was a group for MAGPS members facing or approaching professional transitions. Next were two one-day Process Group Experience (PGE) trainings, co-facilitated by Dr. Joan Medway and Trish Cleary both of whom are AGPA Fellows, CGPs, and AGPA National Designate Institute Faculty.
 
The Outreach Project, under the umbrella of MAGPS, now provides free year-round programing to MAGPS members. These trainings meet for shorter periods of time and in less formal settings. For a nominal fee, Outreach Project trainings also attract area mental health providers interested in learning about group psychotherapy and our MAGPS community.
 
In early 2016, the first program application was submitted using the newly designed standards and procedures. The program consisted of two, one-day Process Group Experience (PGE) trainings facilitated by Trish Cleary and Ginger Sullivan, MA, LPC, CGP - both AGPA National Designate Institute Faculty. These Category B CEU trainings were based on the "here-and-now" process group format used by MAGPS' Conference Small Groups and AGPA's Institute PGE Groups. Their application was approved by the MAGPS Board of Directors and the Outreach Project Committee. These trainings were enthusiastically received and resulted in five area professionals joining MAGPS.

Have you ever wanted to facilitate a lecture or seminar on your specialty topic?
How about a leading a discussion group after a Cinema Series feature movie?

The MAGPS Outreach Project Committee celebrates the rich talent of our membership. You are each important to our future programing efforts. Let us help you harness your ideas into a proposal that matches your training style.

Contact: venus@masselam.com / 301-365-3948 or trishcleary@comcast.net / 301-654-4936
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On April 16, 2016, Jonathan Lebolt, PhD, CGP and Melanie Ricaurte, PsyD presented 
Letter Salad: Relational Practice with Clients who are LGBTQIA-2S  at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
Experiential 
Supervision Groups for 
Group Therapists
Rob Williams, MBA, LICSW, CGP
 
For the past eight years I have participated in an experiential consultation and supervision group for group therapists. The model was developed by David Altfeld (1999). In this model, cases presented in a supervision group are worked with through the associations (images, feelings, sensations, etc.) that are stimulated in the group members. This parallel material is then used to gain insight into what has taken place in the case presented and inform future interventions, helping to move past "stuckness" and enhance group functioning.
 
In one memorable session, I was presenting a case involving my gay men's group. This group had been losing members for several years and I had had difficulty finding new members suitable for the group. The supervision group took up the task of associating to my situation and relating feelings, imagery, metaphors, and thoughts that had arisen for each of them as I talked about the case. An association was made to children growing up and leaving home. Listening to this, I felt tears come to my eyes.
 
My own first therapy group had been a group for gay men. While I was participating in that group, I made the decision to go back to school for my MSW. During my time in graduate school, the group had been my constant and supportive companion and I did not leave that group until I had been working for several years as a therapist in private practice myself. Gently, the group leader asked the question, "Rob, maybe it's you who is ready to leave the group?" I was stunned. The idea had not entered my mind. Much discussion ensued about the shame of leaving, what it means to be left, and letting go. It took another year, but I did eventually decide to bring my participation in the group to an end. The process of doing so was very meaningful for myself and the group members.
 
Inherent in Altfeld's supervision model is the assumption that the perfect group therapist does not exist and enactments are inevitable in group work. Obstacles to attuned therapist/client interactions are based in formative life experiences that disrupt our capacity to understand and resonate with a particular client or the group-as-a-whole. In the supervision group, here-and-now responses, associations, and interactions illuminate the counter-transferences that have eluded the presenter. Once known, they can be worked through on emotional as well as cognitive levels.
 
My supervision colleagues and I greatly benefited from this first-hand insight, using this model to expand our capability, knowledge and skills. I am such a fan of this model, that I am starting a consultation group of my own for therapists leading groups, or actively planning to start a group, so they too can have this transformative experience. My work with therapy groups provides a deep sense of satisfaction as the therapy group members expand their emotional maturity. The power of the experiential supervision group is in its capacity to illuminate unconscious processes and understanding the emotional and cognitive lenses through which we view interpersonal interactions-thereby encouraging me to keep learning and expanding my capacity in this exciting field.
 
Altfeld, D. A. (1999). An experiential group 
model for psychotherapy supervision.
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 49(2), 237-254.

At the 2016 Spring Conference, 
Impossible, you say?  Not for Haim Weinberg. 
Lorraine  Wodiska, PhD, ABPP
On the weekend of April 9-10, 2016 we met to consider Impossible Groups:  Absorbing a New Paradigm for Group Therapy?  

We had nearly 80 participants in the historic venue of Saint Elizabeths Hospital. Our guest small group leader was Dr. Martha Gilmore, the current Conference Chair of AGPA. Our small group leaders were Adam and Karen Klein, Elaine Klionsky and Daniel Turetsky, Gloria Myers Beller and Emily Jones, Susan Jacobson, Rosemary Segalla, and Jonathan Stillerman. 
 
Dr. Haim Weinberg is an internationally acclaimed leader in the field of group therapy and has co-edited a series of books about the social unconscious. However, his most recent interest and publication is The Paradox of Internet Groups: Alone in the Presence of Virtual Others. As he does in his book, Haim encouraged us to push further from the typical paradigms presented in group textbooks to consider a more current state of group, including internet groups and video groups, discontinuous groups and groups that are not held in any solid space or time. How do we achieve cohesion and productive dynamics under these conditions? 
 
During three plenary groups Haim offered us a picture of the minimal conditions needed for a group to flourish. These included a shared purpose or task; a sense of safety or containment; curiosity; arriving punctually and attending regularly; encouraging enough relaxation of censorship; and managing boundaries. He also offered additional "theoretical musings" which included the need for the group leader to be a secure presence; the group being held in the group leader's mind, and the invisible group held in the participants' minds. He was quick to remind us that we do not to toss out what we have learned about creating a space for a group to flourish; rather, to stay current with how our field is changing (e.g., with Internet groups, video groups) we need to create new paradigms that are reflective of current times and needs. 
 
During the plenary sessions, Haim led a stable demonstration group with the same participants in all three sessions. At the end he shared what he had been thinking and how he managed the challenges that came forward during those groups, noting elements of the "impossible" and how he tried to impose structure and intervene so the group might flourish in the brief time we had together.
 
At the end of the last plenary, Haim made clear that group therapists are not in the land of "either/or" - we must move to a space of "and." Using the principles we learned, many of us left ready to tackle new challenges in our groups and think about our groups in new ways. Although we might be a bit more uncomfortable with these new structures at first, he allowed that with the right ingredients (almost) anything was possible in group therapy. What a concept!
 
At first, I thought my ideas to be old-fashioned but as the weekend proceeded, I found I was stimulated to broaden my scope of comfort and ready consider how I might join the group world in this new period of change.
 
Impossible? No. And thanks to Haim, not so fearsome any more.
MAGPS Leads the Way in Training 
Educational  Process Group Leaders 
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and I: 
An Exploration of the  Group Leader Role  - April 8, 2016
Lorraine Wodiska, PhD, CGP, ABPP; Farooq Mohyuddin, MD, CGP, FAPA; 
 & Victoria Lee, P hD
 
Karen Eberwein had an idea, and with Farooq  Mohyuddin's encouragement and MAGPS Board support, put together a committee (Victoria Lee, Farooq Mohyuddin and Lorraine Wodiska) that  has worked for the past 12 months to provide a unique opportunity for group therapists. The committee created an innovative training program that, to our knowledge, has never been offered in the country. We offered a pilot program that encouraged process group leaders to consider their leadership roles in educational settings, such as leading a MAGPS or AGPA process group. As such, we offered scholarly readings; questions for reflection throughout the day; an assessment of the participants' theory; and an intriguing schedule that allowed each participant to co-lead a group of peers and receive feedback from the group members, the observers, and the consultants. 
 
We hoped this would be a place to create an innovative blend of experiential and didactic learning. Furthermore, we thought this was one of (if not the) first training program in the country to truly focus on leadership of process groups by offering immediate and real-time feedback on the strengths and challenges of each person's leadership.
 
Eight adventurous souls joined us for an exciting day on April 8, 2016, the Friday before our Spring Conference. We began with introductions, an overview of the day, and an hour of didactic exploration and discussion. During this discussion we examined several questions: What is a process group? What are the group phases? How can you identify your group theory? Every participant was assigned a co-leader, and each co-leadership team took some time to meet as a dyad. Subsequently, Co-Leadership Team One led a 45-minute group followed by a process evaluation. We then did the same with Co-Leadership Team Two. 
 
A catered lunch was followed by a second didactic and discussion session examining decision making; group techniques; and group ethics.  We followed the same process in the afternoon with Co-Leadership Teams Three and Four.  We spent the last hour integrating the leaning and feedback, as well as offering informal and formal evaluations of the program and discussants. 
 
We were excited to have been so well received by the participants. They were fully engaged and hungry for knowledge and a deeper understanding of the group process as it relates to their role as process group leaders. Even with a small number of participants, we were able to work with dynamics pertaining to issues of diversity (gender, race, and age). Participants also looked at their respective valences for taking up certain roles and/or playing out dynamics in the group space. This process was possible principally because participants were willing to be transparent and self-reflective within the environment we created.
 
We were gratified that participants were open to feedback and transparent about their real-time experiences in leading, which allowed for exploration at a deeper level and provided more material to explore.
 
As a committee and individually, we were reminded of the power of group as well as the significant responsibilities we take on as process group leaders.  All in all, we considered the experience a roaring success. We plan to offer this program again sometime in 2017 (likely as a two-day experience), refining the program based on the excellent and thoughtful suggestions for improvements we received from the five participants.
Advertisements from Our Community Members
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Announcing Two Exciting Group Experiences
A New Psychotherapy Group

People join a therapy group to learn about themselves, and through this process, improve their relationships. This group will examine the relationships that develop between members of the group, and between members and me, experiencing and examining interactions in the here-and-now. This leads to greater self-understanding, as well as learning about oneself in relationships - what helps and what impedes having more satisfying relationships. Sharing feelings about oneself and about others in the group is strongly encouraged. 

Weekly on Thursdays 8:45 - 10:00 AM 
 this is a mixed, ongoing therapy group. Will start with 6 or more members.
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Process Group Experience for Group Therapists
 
Working with The Interplay Between Envy, Jealousy, Competition and Shame: 
Its impact on Intimacy in Groups
 
In our groups, members cope with vacillating experiences of inclusion and exclusion that arouse powerful feelings of attraction and identification, as well as frustration, envy, and shame. Envy, and its consequent influence on competitive and potentially destructive action is so common and pervasive that no group therapy is without their interplay. In these ongoing weekends, via didactic and experiential learning, we will explore ways in which the group therapist, members, and the group-as-a-whole work with envy and competition, and how the group process holds the possibility of transforming them into creative/constructive energy. Through the leader's containment of these powerful experiences and through his modeling, participants will identify and analyze various ways of constructing intimacy and competing for relatedness, and learn to identify and verbalize passionately held feelings of envy, rejection, shame, and perceived loss of power as a way of neutralizing its destructive potential.
 
Group will meet 2-3 weekends per year
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Group Leader: Steve Van Wagoner, PhD, CGP, FAGPA is a licensed psychologist and certified group psychotherapist in private practice in Washington, D.C. He is currently on faculty at the National Group Psychotherapy Institute of the National Group Psychotherapy Institute of the Washington School of Psychiatry, is an adjunct clinical faculty member at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland, a Fellow of the American Groups Psychotherapy Association, and currently the Editor of "The Group Circle," AGPA's newsletter. Dr. Van Wagoner, an author of several book chapters and articles on group psychotherapy, has 35 years of experience leading groups and is an experienced teacher and presenter.

2440 M Street, Suite 429
 Washington DC
 202-296-5299
Please call for interest or further details.
Supervision Group Opportunity
with Barry Wepman, PhD, CGP, LFAGPA
I have openings in a long-running,  process-oriented supervision group.  The focus of the group is the inner experience  of the therapists, as stimulated by their  work with particular patients. 

The group centers around countertransference issues to help members understand and  resolve clinical impasses,  and to deepen the therapeutic experience.  It is made up of moderately to  very experienced therapists  who are  committed  to their own  professional  and  personal  growth using  psychodynamic  reflection  a nd group process. 

The group meets weekly  in my office in Georgetown. 
  If you are interested and wonder if this group may be right for you, please contact me at 
(202) 337-0705 or bjwep@aol.com.
Attractive, Bright, Quiet 
Offices for Rent  
3000 Connecticut Avenue, NW 
(Woodley Park) 
Large Office (320 sf)
Bright, beautifully furnished. 
Great for Groups/Families. $8 - 20/hr. 
This office could be rented 
hourly,  daily  or full time 
 
Small Office (130 sf)
Attractive, sunny, comfortable. 
Good for Individuals/Couples. 
Low hourly rates ($5-11/hr).

More pictures and rate sheets here:  Offices

  Contact Lynn Hamerling | 202-722-1507
Office Space Available
in Old Town Alexandria
buddha_holding_flower.jpg

Newly renovated office space available in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, 2½ blocks from King Street and 2½ blocks from the Potomac River. Three offices are available, and each comes with a free parking space. Two offices are large and perfect for groups (255 sq ft and 276 sq ft); and one office is smaller (119 sq ft) with a skylight. All offices have windows and transoms. Part-time rental is also available.
 
The suite has a kitchenette for all to use, and there is a separate entrance from the street, with excellent, free street parking for clients.
 
We are the Alexandria Counseling Group, a collaboration of four independent psychotherapists who strive to do excellent work while prioritizing our personal and clinical growth. We offer a full range of psychotherapy services including group therapy, conjoint couples counseling, individual therapy, and family therapy. 

We are looking for colleagues who are 
a good fit with our personal and
professional interests and outlook. 
Consider joining us!
 
Emily Jones ( emilyjoneslcsw@gmail.com  )
Jen McLish ( jennifer.mclish@gmail.com )
Adam Sowa ( sowaaj@verizon.net )
Fox Vernon ( fox@foxvernon.com )


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Thank you for taking the time to read our bi-yearly newsletter. Please let us know what you think by emailing Sonia Kahn, PsyD at newsletter@magps.org