Facilitating with confidence: Group skills for practitioners in forensic services

Strong group facilitation skills are foundational for eliciting therapeutic change among participants, including justice-involved populations. Yet, educational courses tend to offer few opportunities for formal training in group facilitation skills relative to individualised work. As such, practitioners may feel less confident or ill-prepared to navigate the complex, varied, and often-evolving personalities, symptom presentations, and relational dynamics that arise during the life of a treatment group. This workshop will provide professionals working in forensic services with an overview of interpersonal process-oriented group therapy principles and techniques, their relevance in treating justice-involved clients, and unique implementation considerations for this population. The workshop will review therapeutic factors underlying the process of change in a group setting and provide practitioners an opportunity to practice recommended facilitation approaches in a supportive environment. Practitioners will also learn methods to systematically evaluate group process outcomes to better inform their work with clients. This workshop is intended for practitioners working in forensic services with backgrounds in psychology, psychiatry, social work, criminal justice, and related disciplines. If you have questions about your suitability for the workshop, please contact [email protected] Facilitators: Ashley Batastini, Associate Professor of Forensic Psychology, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology Maddison Riachi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Swinburne University of Technology