Every term at Dragonfly, therapists, mentors and students discuss with each other the groups that will be put into place for that term.

Students have the opportunity to make requests and suggestions and then the therapists and mentors create a group list that best fits the mood and needs of the community in the moment. This allows our diverse team to tailor groups to the student body and to each team members unique skills. It would be much easier to create a standard list of groups and repeat them every term, but Dragonfly believes in adjusting what we do always with the growth of our community in mind.

Next each student is assigned a series of groups that will best guide them in their personal development at Dragonfly. The group space is a valuable tool in helping our students navigate those areas in their life that they struggled with previously. It compliments and enhances their time at school, in the community and in their family systems.

Below are descriptions of the winter term groups being offered.

Women’s Group

Women’s Group is a safe place for the women of Dragonfly to bond and communicate with each other. Our focus is to discuss what it means to be a women and encourage each other in this journey. Some examples of groups activities are self exploration activities, watching documentaries, empowerment circles, and creative expression. We also discuss what is currently happening in the community, in our own lives and how we want to change or keep what is good. All women in the community attend this group.

Men’s Group

Men’s Group is a forum that provides a space for the men of the Dragonfly community to grow as men and build closer more intimate relationships among themselves and others. Men’s Group is a safe place where all the of the men in the community can come share, listen, and support each other. Each group commences with introductions and a pledge of confidentiality to the group in an effort to promote vulnerability. From there we have either a specific topic for the group to discuss, or if need be, we discuss the current happenings in the men’s community. All men in the community attend this group.

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” -Albert Einstein

Meditation Group

The Meditation Group explores a broad variety of practices including techniques designed to promote relaxation, build internal energy, and develop compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness. Meditation aims at effortlessly sustained single-pointed concentration and single-pointed analysis, meant to enable the students to enjoy a sense of well-being while engaging in any life activity.

Job and Volunteer Group

During the Job and Volunteer Group we will create resumes, cover letters, and CVs. We discuss tailoring these items to a prospective employer. We discuss how to find a job and review places in town to look for employment.

We also review volunteer opportunities in Klamath Falls, including how to find them and why we require them. Next we assist student in the search for volunteer opportunities in town. the goal is that each student obtains a volunteer or paid position by the end of the group in March.

Ceremony Group

Ceremony Group is an exploration in the use of ceremony to recognize the many transitions and accomplishments of the human life cycle. This group uses ceremony as a form of experiential therapy, helping students to develop insight and new perspective about their personal path. It will include nature elements and give students a connection with the work that they may have began during their previous wilderness experience. Students will have an option to participate in an in-depth 4 day solo vision quest at the end of the term.

DBT

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is an evidenced based form of cognitive behavioral therapy that treats individuals who have difficulty regulating emotions and behaviors.

The Dragonfly DBT skills group focuses on changing one’s thoughts through the use of specific coping techniques and psycho-education. The goal is to replace problem behaviors with more adaptive ways of coping with distress.

The program is divided into four skills modules:

• Mindfulness is designed to teach a person how to focus their mind and attention.
• Distress tolerance is centered on accepting the current situation and finding ways to survive and tolerate the moment without engaging in problematic behaviors.
• Emotion regulation skills include learning to identify and label current emotions, identifying obstacles to changing emotions, reducing emotional reactivity, increasing positive emotions and changing emotions.
• Interpersonal effectiveness skills teach effective strategies for asking for what one needs, saying no, and coping with interpersonal conflict.

Insight Group

Insight Group offers students an opportunity to mindfully explore their personal process through a new lens. During the first half of each group, students share their dreams from the previous week. Mentors and students then share their interpretations of these dreams. For the second half of the group, we review the weekly astrological forecast and then open the group up for discussion.

Social Thinking

Social thinking is what we do when we interact with people: we think about them. And how we think about people affects how we behave, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotions. Whether we are with friends, sending an email, in a classroom or at the grocery store, we take in the thoughts, emotions and intentions of the people we are interacting with. In Social Thinking group, we will work to improve our social thinking abilities and apply different skills and tools to improve our social interactions with others.

Technology Related Abuse Potential Group

T.R.A.P. Group is a combination of psycho-education, skill development, cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal process and relapse prevention.

We explore the epidemiology of abuse/addiction as it relates to the use of internet connectedness and digital technology use from both a global and personal aspect. We live in a world which is often difficult to “unplug” from. Learning to effectively balance a technology dependent world can prove to be challenging. Group members are encouraged to take what they learn in group and to put the knowledge to work outside of the group experience. Group members are introduced to and practice skill development such as feelings identification/management, alternatives to engagement in technology to escape, manage negative emotions, or situations and moderation management. Cognitive restructuring techniques are employed helping group members identify core beliefs which drive unhealthy technology related.

The Alcohol and Other Drugs (A&D) Group

A&D group is an opportunity for group members to become educated about all aspects of their substance use, misuse, or addiction. We explore each group member’s personal epidemiology of substance use, the positives and negatives of substance use, post-acute withdrawal syndrome, relapse prevention, recovery planning, harm reduction strategies and more. Several evidence-based practices are utilized to fit the dynamics and needs of the group. Group member’s become actively involved in research and didactic, interactive presentations, focusing on topics of interest to them as they relate to the intention of the group. This helps incorporate and reinforce learning, while offering a safe and supportive experience. Recognizing the therapeutic benefit of processing, time is reserved for this honoring event in each group.

Recovery Group

Recovery Group is an interactive, experiential group. Students learn to interact in non-using ways to the world around them, as well as create an internal dialog that is key to long term successful recovery. Participants work to explore on and off site resources to enhance their recovery network. As group members grow and develop in their recovery process they often face situations which may prove difficult, resulting in cravings, or urges to use. These triggers, high risk situations and warning signs, as well as successes and brought to the group and processed in a safe, supportive atmosphere.

Emotional Education Group

Emotional Education Group is set up to explore how emotions are formed and how we deal & cope with those emotions. We discuss positive coping/communication skills (biking, hiking, journaling, etc.) to use in response to our emotions.

Evolutions Group

The concept of Evolutions group is to assist our students in reflecting on where we come from, where we are and where we are going vs. where we want to be. We all continue to evolve and this group is designed to provide a conscious element to the process of personal evolution by looking at examples of evolution outside of the self. For example, the evolution of humans form simple societies to society with complex technology and thought. We will solicit the students for their ideas and ask them to research and present their findings.