I’ve told you that every mental health professional needs regular consultation and I’ve told you about the benefits of peer consultation groups. Today I’m going to tell you how to put together a peer consultation group that ROCKS! Here are some things for you to consider as you put your own peer consultation group together.
- Mix it up. Diversity in the composition of your consultation group matters. It keep things interesting and increases the likelihood that biases are not overlooked. Those differences can help you stretch beyond your usual thinking and outside of your typical comfort zone.
- Consider safety. You are going to be talking about your strengths and your weaknesses in a consultation group. Although the discussion will most often be structured around your clients, the purpose of your consultation group is to expand and support your choices and your behaviors in therapy. As such, you are going to have your own blind spots and vulnerabilities pointed out and talked about. It’s important to choose colleagues that you can learn to trust.
- Similarity matters. If the individuals in your group are too different from you in their disciplines, ethics, or processes, you may find that there is no sense of safety in which to discuss your own vulnerabilities.
- Expertise matters, too. Look for colleagues that know more than you in at least one or two areas so that you can trust their feedback when you need it.
- Plan on mentoring. Including colleagues who know less than you in a particular area allows you an opportunity to mentor others in the field. Take advantage the mentoring that you can provide and take advantage of the mentoring that you can receive!
- Size of group. Just like in group therapy, I think 7-9 is optimal. This affords for someone to miss a group and you still have a group. And, it’s not so many that you get overlooked in the group.
- Stable composition. A consultation group functions best when the composition remains stable. In my current group, we must unanimously vote someone in before they can join us.
- Frequency of meetings. I prefer peer consultation groups that meet on a regular schedule. Mine meets monthly. Of course, we are free to consult by phone in between our regularly scheduled meetings.
- Attendance. Sketchy attendance at peer consultation groups can sabotage your group. When forming your consultation group, set the expectation for a commitment to attend each month. Obviously exceptions will crop up in anyone’s schedule. However, consistent attendance and full participation will go a long way toward building trust and confidence in your group.
So now that you know what I consider to be important when putting your consultation group together, drop me a note below and tell me about yours. Did I miss any important elements? Is yours decidedly different?
Hi there.
Ty for a great overview of forming a monthly consultation group. My question is, how long is the monthly meeting? and how does the sharing work if there are 7-9 therapists?
Is some of this about our own mental health and how much of the time during the meeting for case work? How does the sharing go so everyone has a chance to check in about a case or the specifics about keeping the sharing balanced.
Thanks!
Isabell, thanks for showing up here and asking about the structure of consultation groups.
The great thing about consultation groups is that the structure is entirely dependent on the interests of the host!
My longest running consultation group now meets for 3 solid hours (with a 15 minute break) one weekday each month.
In 2011, we started out as a monthly 2 hour group with 7 members.
Several years later, we added 2 additional members and 2 hours was no longer enough.
When I checked in with the group, they unanimously decided to expand to that third hour.
Part of the reason they made that choice is because half of our time together is clinical consultation and the other half of our time together for intentionally-focused professional development.
In the state of Colorado, our time together is accepted as part of our required continuing education.
Our typical format is to briefly check in individually i.e. “I’ve had a good / bad month . . . . This is where I’m at today . . . .”
I then ask “Who has a client we need to talk about?”
Usually there are 2-3 therapists each time that wish to consult with the group about their clients.
I always prioritize client cases first so we then begin discussing individual cases and meeting those needs.
Sometimes at this point, someone will say “I don’t have a client but I do have a question about a resource. . .” or “I want to give an update on a client we have previously discussed that I would like to share.”
So we take a few minutes to cover these.
We take a 15 minute break about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours into the meeting.
And, when we return from that break we focus on intentional professional development.
That piece of our consultation group can look a lot of different ways, too – or not be part of a consultation group at all.
Some years, we have chosen themes for the entire year and then structured our professional development around those.
But, for 2023 (which we planned in November of 2022 all together during one of our meetings) we brainstormed all the things we wanted to learn about and then voted for the top 10-12 topics that interested us.
The topics that generated the most interest were the ones that we put on the schedule.
These are the topics we have covered this year so far:
*Ethical and Clinical Reflections on Stutz – Relationships, Motivations, Deceptions, and Consequences in Client – Therapist – Supervision
*The Use of Parts Cards in Working with Self-of-the-Therapist & Rejection – Sensitive Supervisees, Students & Clients
*Recurring Themes in Therapists’ Lives & Those of Your Supervisees & Clients
*The Moral injury, Care and Feeding of Clinicians
*Elements of Dreamwork in Therapists’ Lives
Isabell, the more I write in answer to your questions, the more I think I need to write about these answers. LOL
Thanks for that nudge!
I will do that and be back sharing more about consultation groups in the future.
In the mean time, I hope others will drop in here to share their different formats for these groups.
They are so needed, can be an outlet of creativity for the host, and can be a huge resource for self-care for all who participate – a resource that extends far beyond the consultation group meeting!