Group Work for Men In Sexual Recovery:
A Strategic Model for Sex Addicts
Carol Juergensen Sheets, LCSW, CSAT
Carol the Coach
Copyright 2014 Carol Juergensen Sheets
All rights reserved
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2129-2
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
+ A Strategic Model for Sex Addicts +
This unique manual:
•Highlights a dynamic group approach for men that decreases reliance on individual therapy, while simultaneously teaching how to create a network of support that promotes recovery.
•Offers creative strategies and actual exercises that utilize the recovery task model and brief strategic therapeutic techniques.
•Recommends a format to teach men shame reduction, improved self-esteem, and life skills that enhance healthy relationships.
•Provides necessary information to develop this format in your own practice.
•Outlines how dynamic group therapy improves clinical outcomes and client satisfaction.
This is a 15-week structured program around the stages of group development, utilizing a wide variety of therapeutic activities. I trained with Dr. Patrick Carnes and have used many of his ideas as a catalyst for my groups. Dr. Patrick Carnes' "Thirty-Task Recovery Model" has been empirically validated to be an effective form of treatment for sexually compulsive behavior. This workbook was developed based on my CSAT training and the recovery work that I learned in that training. His book, Facing the Shadows, contains many additional exercises that can be useful in treating men with sex addiction. Other group exercises and activities are experiential because they are active and interactive, allowing the entire group to benefit from the experience. It must be stressed that these activities change with group needs and composition. Although there is a structured outline for the group experience due to the infrastructure of the recovery task mode, each man in recovery is unique in his struggle and therefore it is vital to be flexible and to individualize the process to each client.
It is my personal and professional belief that group work is most clinically effective when two therapists are present. Since I am in private practice, I have run this group solely without the help of a group facilitator. It would be my hope that someday I could utilize a veteran group member who has solid recovery to be my co-facilitator to provide a second guide in this therapeutic group process.
This manual will highlight group exercises that have been essential to therapeutic change and recovery. It will also allow the clinician to assess common pitfalls that naturally occur in group because of the stages of group or the length of time each man spends in group. It is common in group dynamics for members to experience ambivalent feelings about commitment to another group series of 15 sessions, so the manual will outline how to manage the influx and graduation of group members.
+ Introduction +
Historically, sex addicts have had to rely on individual therapy and 12 Step support to enhance recovery. Group therapy was provided in residential and hospital settings but was not seen as essential in the individual practice. It has come to the attention of certification programs that group work is a crucial element to recovery. Addicts appreciate the opportunity to discuss their own traumas and share openly the emotionality that precedes healing from the trauma work. This kind of intense work requires the support of group intervention.
This style of group work was specially created for men to decrease reliance solely on individual therapy while clinically promoting the development of a support network in day-to-day life. Although group work for sex addicts may be seen as a luxury in the therapeutic community, I believe that it is essential to healing the shame and trauma that has occurred before the addiction and as a result of the addiction. This group work approach is therapeutically sound, cost-effective and time-limited.
This 15-week group approach teaches men the skills to manage anger, conflict resolution, and assertiveness. Perhaps the greatest outcome of this work has been that addicts learn how to use empathy in the group which they then apply outside of group. It also gives them a chance to deal with pivotal family-of-origin issues that move them into progressive stages of change. These men demonstrate compassion and insight which is then modeled by other group members and then in outside relationships. Once the core issues have been addressed and processed, the men are free to practice the life skills that they have learned and to improve their sense of self-worth and their relationships. Understandably, we want group participants to understand how this addiction has taken total control of their lives, and how important it is to do the healing work to both manage the illness and to heal the wounded soul that may have been a part of the trauma that contributed to the desire to self medicate and that may have been caused by the addiction itself.
In this manual you will learn creative strategies and actual exercises that utilize many of the concepts from Dr. Patrick Carnes' "Thirty Task Recovery Model." The manual also uses anchoring, visualization, role playing psychodrama, re-scripting, reframing, and meditation, as well as Gestalt techniques. Additional techniques are drawn from narrative therapy, metaphor therapy, hypnotherapy, and art therapy.
As the group identity is developed, men typically attend two or three 15-week group series which allows for threading the needs of the individual men to further enhance goal completion. Due to men attending multiple group series, balancing the needs of "rookie" versus "veteran" members is of utmost clinical importance. This further reinforces the importance of having good solid sobriety, because veterans can not only be a support, but share their wisdom as to how they were able to attain sobriety. Anyone who works with this population knows that recovering from a process addiction requires a multitude of life skills and rituals that reinforce recovery.
This manual illustrates how to utilize this dynamic group approach, which improves clinical outcomes and recovery.
Breaking the Chains of Isolation, Shame and Secrecy
Addicts are notorious for coming to group with intense sadness and shame. They have lived a long period of secrecy which has put them into emotional isolation and contributed to their emotional intimacy disorder. Although most men have found much relief from 12 step work as they see that they are not alone with their feelings; they are working with a sponsor and the group to put into action a 12 step recovery plan that attends to their desire for abstinence. Many of these men have needs for intensive therapy to heal the wounds of their childhood and to do deep repair work to enhance their sense of self and their relationships.
Recurrent and predictable themes that are present in men's lives include:
•Fear of Intimacy
•Self-Esteem
•Feeling Identification
•Abuse Issues
•Family of Origin Issues
•Trust
Clearly this is not an exhaustive or inclusive list, yet these themes present themselves repeatedly in an addict's life and when addressed in a group setting, allow the addict to practice healthy recovery skills that break the chains of the behaviors, and feelings that contributed to the sexual addiction. Group members will be expected to do the work in and outside of the group. They may be given homework assignments that may be addressed in group or may build the foundation for future group exercises.
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