Week 10: Group Therapy With Children and Adolescents
Effective group treatment with children and adolescents rests upon three essential considerations: the clients that compose the group, the therapists responsible for conducting the group, and the setting in which the group occurs.

—Dr. Mark Stone, Cognitive-Behavior Group Therapy with Children and Adolescents

Group therapy may be beneficial for children and adolescents, because it often provides an environment that normalizes clients’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. However, as with any therapeutic approach, group therapy might not be appropriate for every client, every setting, or even every therapist. When selecting therapies, you must always consider the psychodynamics of the client and your own skill set.

This week, as you assess and develop diagnoses for clients presenting for child and adolescent group psychotherapy, you examine the effectiveness of this therapeutic approach. You also consider legal and ethical implications of counseling children and adolescent clients with psychiatric disorders.

Discussion: Clinical Supervision
In Week 3, you collaborated with colleagues as you participated in your first clinical supervision. This week, you have the opportunity to continue your collaboration as you reflect on and discuss your experiences with counseling children and adolescents in group settings. Psychotherapy with these clients is often more complex than psychotherapy with the general adult population. Personal reflection and discussion with colleagues are essential to your development and success as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. For this clinical supervision, consider a child or adolescent client you are counseling who you do not think is adequately progressing according to expected clinical outcomes.

Learning Objectives
Students will:
Assess clients presenting for child and adolescent group psychotherapy
Evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches for clients receiving child and adolescent group psychotherapy