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For
Practitioners

Groups 4 Health is an evidence-based psychological intervention designed to improve health by providing people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to increase their social connectedness, and in particular, their group-based social identifications. In addition to this skill-based knowledge, Groups 4 Health facilitates social group memberships by offering an in vivo group experience. Participants meet new people (fellow G4H members), practice their new skills immediately, and experience first-hand how an assortment of individuals can develop, over time, into a meaningful group that is beneficial to health.

Why do we need Groups 4 Health?

“Social relationships, or the lack thereof, constitute a major risk factor for health – rivalling the effect of well established health risk factors such as cigarette smoking, blood pressure, blood lipids, obesity and physical activity,” (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1981).

Who can benefit from Groups 4 Health?

The program is designed for anyone who is concerned about feeling isolated and disconnected from others in their present life or immediate future. This includes people with a clinical diagnosis (e.g. depression, chronic pain) as well as people experiencing normal life transitions (e.g., relocation, retirement, transition to parenthood).

Can I refer clients to Groups 4 Health?

Yes! We have Groups 4 Health sessions beginning in April 2016 and ongoing from then. If you would like to refer clients, please direct them to the subscription section on our For Participants page. Here they can submit their details in order to be contacted for the next available trials.

Who can facilitate Groups 4 Health?

Groups 4 Health can be facilitated by a wide range of professionals, including psychologists, teachers, counsellors, nurses, social or youth workers. Familiarity with the G4H Manual is essential. Previous training in counselling skills, group facilitation, and suicide risk assessment is recommended, as is background reading on the social identity approach to health.

If these are issues you confront in your practice and you have the resources to facilitate delivery, then Groups 4 Health is a program that should meet your needs.

To register your interest in facilitating Groups 4 Health, please subscribe in the red section below.

If you encounter any problems registering, you can subscribe to our list directly by clicking here.

Social interaction is what makes us human.

Accordingly, many of us see and interact with other people most days. We do this at home, in the workplace, and in a range of settings within our various communities. We also interact with others in a range of capacities – for example, as friends, as parents, as colleagues, as neighbours, as service users and providers.

Whenever our social interactions are positive they make a huge difference to our lives – helping us to feel a part of something, giving us support when we need it, and even helping to keep us healthy. Interestingly, on all these fronts, evidence suggests that it is people’s relationships as members of various groups – the family, the work team, the sports club, and so on – that are most important.

It is easy to take our membership of groups for granted and to overlook the significance of group life. There are also times in our lives when it is hard to do what we need to do to keep socially connected. This is where Groups 4 Health comes in.

Through Groups 4 Health you will learn:

How groups make a difference to our lives and to our health in general;
Ways to help you keep connected to groups of people, and;
Skills you need to build new positive social connections.

Joining in and feeling well will be achieved over 4 sessions with 1 additional follow-up session to check how things are going and to ensure that your social relationships are meeting your needs.