Your Ultimate Group Therapy Guide + Activities & Ideas

These substance abuse group activities often involve having each member share their name, a brief personal background, and their reasons for joining the group. This helps members get to know one another and sets the stage for open and honest communication from the outset. By simulating real-life situations, people in recovery can practice effective coping strategies and communication. People experiencing substance abuse often need help managing drug or alcohol cravings and otherwise adjusting to a sober lifestyle. Group activities with peers in recovery both during and following treatment can provide support. These cards can be used in a SUD inpatient or outpatient setting to facilitate group discussions about recovery.

A Chronic Condition Demands Ongoing Care

A worksheet for understanding jealousy, its impact, whether it’s pathological, and how to manage jealous feelings. A 1-page handout with 25 quotes from the Dalai Lama on topics such as kindness and happiness. Finally, help group members see how much these NUTS and ANTS infiltrate their thoughts. Give group members a few minutes to identify their NUTS and ANTS and count how many they can identify within a certain period of time. When they are done, they can share their counts and their NUTS and ANTS with the group, if they are comfortable doing so. Working in a group will help relieve clients of this false belief and encourage them to share and connect with others.

Share and Cite

While some of these principles may apply to individual therapy, most of them require a group setting. People will shut down if you ask them to share their most intimate thoughts from the moment they walk in the door. You need to start slow in order to ease your clients into sharing their deeper thoughts with the group. Once your group feels comfortable with each other you can start digging deeper. For those grappling with alcohol use disorder (AUD), characterized by the uncontrollable consumption of alcohol despite harmful consequences, the path to recovery can be particularly demanding.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Exercises

This article is chock full of activities, exercises, worksheets, and techniques that can be put to effective use in group therapy. Most of these activities and exercises can be applied to a wide range of group therapy situations. Essentially, goal visualization is mental imagery of the participant’s desired positive future, whether that relates to the goal achievement itself or simply to the process of working toward it. This worksheet provides some helpful theoretical insights into the activity. While negative feelings such as guilt are not exclusive to those with a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, those suffering from these disorders often have the most trouble confronting those feelings.

Sound Therapy

• A 1-page checklist with quick tips, self-soothing, and indulgent ideas for self-care.
• According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), taking time to express gratitude can boost your emotional wellness and help with stress management.
• There are a multitude of activities that can occur during group therapy for substance use disorder, and many are evidence-based and deemed highly effective.
• CCBHCs increase access to crisis and behavioral health care in the community.
• This set of principles makes it clear that there are many advantages to working with a group rather than individually.

Groups are lead by a trained group leader who prompts discussion and encourages everyone to participate. Other than gently guiding conversation, the group leader is responsible for picking up on client issues that reoccur in group therapy and in daily life. Clients will oftentimes subconsciously demonstrate actions in group therapy that are representative of their routine patterns and thought processes.

• Print out the sheet and cut out the positive sayings and affirmations into strips or for larger groups, print out three or more copies of the affirmations.
• In addition, it can help them learn more about themselves and their partner.
• Once a few minutes have passed, they can write them on the paper or whiteboard.
• Topics could include the neurological aspects of addiction, the cycle of addiction, and the long-term effects on physical and mental health.

What is a CBT Skills Group?

It is important to understand that group therapy can only be delivered by a licensed, trained, professional therapist. Ask your clients to share what their substance use group activities tombstone would say if they were to die today. Pass out pre-printed outlines of a tombstone and ask your clients to think about this exercise seriously.

Relapse Rates After Completing Treatment

Icebreaker games inject fun and playfulness into the group dynamics, making it easier for members to open up and participate actively. These games could involve sharing something about oneself based on a prompt, playing word association games related to recovery, or even engaging in light-hearted team challenges. Icebreaker games not only foster a sense of inclusivity but also help combat nerves and hesitations that can arise when discussing sensitive topics. Poet and advocate Alicia Cook shares her grief, mental health struggles, and healing journey after a close family member lost her life to opioid addiction. These activities offer people in recovery a sense of purpose and a chance to give back to the community by focusing on the needs of others.

A letter template for individuals entering long-term residential treatment for substance use, to be opened and read at treatment completion. A 3-page worksheet for substance use recovery for planning leisure activities and enhancing wellness/spirituality. A shared bucket list that includes spaces to write in when an item was added to the list and when it was completed. A 1-page worksheet for identifying things to be grateful for in different life areas. The prompts include questions about values, potential, expectations, and more. A worksheet for clients to pass around to group members so each person can write a positive affirmation.

Check-In Questions

CBT exercises in a group setting can be invaluable in relapse prevention. Most addiction treatment programs use this form of evidence-based behavioral health therapy. To learn more about addiction recovery, please reach out to a Recovering Champions specialist. Our substance abuse treatment programs offer mental health counseling, medication-assisted treatment, and other evidence-based services to help you or your loved one stay sober.