DAP Health to offer support groups for individuals struggling during the holiday season
The holidays are typically a time of joy, celebration and getting together with family. But for some, they can bring up feelings of loneliness and despair, especially if they are estranged from family or have lost loved ones.
Knowing that this time of year isn't always easy for people, especially after nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, DAP Health is offering two in-person, structured support groups to help people struggling during the holidays change negative thinking patterns.
Mind Over Mood meets from 2 to 4 p.m. every Thursday for 12 weeks, while Grief's Courageous Journey will meet from 2 to 4 p.m. every Wednesday, beginning Dec. 1, for 10 weeks. Both are evidence-based treatment models that follow a specific curriculum with structured therapeutic exercises, explained Jill Gover, Ph.D., director of Behavioral Health at DAP Health and a licensed clinical psychologist.
Both groups are free of charge, and no health insurance is necessary.
"Because the holidays are so focused on family, which is wonderful when you have wonderful family, it's equally painful when you don't have family," Gover said, and reasons may include being estranged from family, living geographically far away from family or losing loved ones.
The Mind Over Mood group follows a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment model developed by Christine Padesky, a clinical psychologist and cofounder of the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Huntington Beach.
Each session introduces a new piece of the thought record, which is a practice that helps an individual address negative thoughts. Gover explained an individual would identify the difference between a thought, feeling and situation; identify what are the negative thoughts they hold and the intensity of a feeling; zero in on a hot thought, which is one that gets activated and triggers a cascade of emotions; and look at evidence that supports a belief and evidence that does not.
"We start to see the error of thinking, the distorted thinking patterns that everybody has that can flare up and not allow us to see the most accurate picture," Gover said. "It's an ability to step back and change perception. I'm looking at it from one vantage point, but there are many other vantage points that can completely change the picture."
Chris Cassirer, a marriage and family therapy trainee, will facilitate each session. The first took place Nov. 4 with nine enrollees, and Gover said "everyone was excited" to be back in person. Some people even exchanged contact information already.
The deadline to join the Mind Over Mood group is Nov. 18, and those interested can call 760-323-2118, ext. 567 to speak with Cassirer.
The Grief's Courageous Journey group will also be structured with therapeutic exercises that are based off of a book of the same name by Gordon Lang and Sandi Caplan. As the director of mental health at the Scott Hines Mental Health Clinic @ The Center, Gover developed a therapeutic model using the book that tackles healing from loss in 10 steps.
There are sessions that focus on the death itself, and participants talk about what that was like for them and some emotions that may have come up while attending the funeral, Gover explained. Other sessions are focused on moving on and how to rebuild a life without that person. The group is run by Ian Struthers, a licensed clinical social worker.
The deadline for Grief's Courageous Journey is Dec. 1. For more information, call Struthers at 760-323-2118, ext. 408.
Both groups will allow participants to "take that time that we often don't allow for ourselves to step back and go a little deeper," said Gover.
Ema Sasic covers health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: DAP Health to hold support groups for those struggling during holidays
