The Group Programme at Newbridge House
"The group programme is the cornerstone of our success at Newbridge House. It is very important and we were clear, right from the start, that the group programme would be a priority and address a broad range of needs. It compliments individual therapy work very well, with issues arising within groups frequently being developed by individual in their one-to-one therapy sessions."
Medical Director,
Newbridge House
Newbridge House places a great emphasis upon the importance of group work within the core therapy programme. We have developed a broad range of groups, addressing the psychological, social and practical needs of our patients in different ways.
The Group Programme is designed to differentiate work for young people at an early stage of their treatment to those at maintenance weight who are moving towards discharge, reflecting their different needs. In some groups, patients are divided into younger and older groupings, if that is appropriate and enables the group to work more effectively.
Our multi-disciplinary team of specialists work very closely together to ensure the group work is well integrated within the core therapy programme and supports the overall progress of each individual.
What is the group programme and what role do groups play?
The team of psychologists at Newbridge House design and run a range of different groups for young people within the inpatient treatment. Our occupational therapist also runs occupational therapy groups.
Each day, young people take part in activities to meet their psychological, social and educational needs. Therefore a typical day may include school and college work, an individual therapy session and attending one or more groups. Many of the young people enjoy group work and find the groups very valuable.
The groups
PSYCHO-EDUCATION GROUP
This is a well-established group approach within eating disorder treatment, exploring the physical, social and psychological issues which arise from anorexia.
SELF-ESTEEM GROUP
This group incorporates a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approach to help build self-esteem. Young people are encouraged to challenge negative thoughts and beliefs. They are set individual challenges to try during the forthcoming week and then describe how they have got on.
"There is so much secrecy and shame around eating disorders. The groups help young people to see they are not alone, or ‘going mad’ as they sometimes feel. Some groups provide a very practical, problem solving approach, others explore wider issues around eating disorders, which our patients tend to enjoy and engage with very well."
Gemma Brisco, Psychology Assistant
Newbridge House
BODY IMAGE GROUP
This is an important and well established group approach within eating disorders treatment. When patients are at an early stage of treatment, the group begins with low intensity work, starting to think about body image, for example, what is a normal body image, exploring perception, prior knowledge and experiences. At a later stage, when young people are near to maintenance weight, they begin mirror work, for example supporting them to go shopping and trying clothes on in front of a mirror, especially clothes they have previously found very difficult to wear. The overall objective of the body image group is to de-sensitise each individual to body image issues and help them to gradually overcome their distorted perception of their own body.
DEBATING GROUP
This is an innovative group developed at Newbridge House which the young people tend to enjoy a great deal. It helps patients to build confidence and covering a wide variety of interesting general topics, the group provides a less intense contrast to parts of the therapy programme more closely focused upon their individual experiences.
WEIGHT, SHAPE AND THE MEDIA
This is another innovative group which is also very popular. Young people engage with this group very readily and like the debating group, it provides a welcome opportunity to explore eating disorder issues from a more general viewpoint. Due to the age range of Newbridge patients, we run two different sessions for this group, one for older patients, one for younger patients.
"Every individual is unique and some will find particular groups very helpful, for others, different groups are valuable. We have extensive feedback from patients and consistently review and develop what we do. We are clear that group work is a key part of the core therapy programme."
Emmy Hudd, Psychology Assistant
Newbridge House
RECOVERY
Patients join the recovery group once they have settled into Newbridge House and are ready to do so. The group explores what are the individual triggers for eating disorder behaviour returning and how to cope with them. For example, the group considers how to challenge perfectionism in body image. There are two groups – recovery group one and recovery group two to reflect the different stages in the patient journey.
MOVING ON GROUP
This group takes up some of the themes from the recovery group and addresses them in a very practical way. There is strong liaison between this group and parents, because the group is looking ahead to life beyond Newbridge. Therefore, for example, if a young person identified being at home alone for the day as being a possible trigger for food restricting, we would work with both the young person and her family to find ways of reducing that risk.