CBT Group Therapy Curriculum for Adolescent Depression

Curriculum Overview and Goals

This group aims to help participants modify their cognitions, maladaptive schemas, and behaviors. Participants learn how to be more relaxed and engaged in more pleasant activities. Such behavioral changes trigger deeper, more profound levels of change. Group members are also helped to alter depressogenic and unrealistic thoughts, replacing them with more practical ones, thereby progressively reducing their depression. To achieve genuine, longer-term change and to lower the likelihood of depression recurring, participants must work toward modifying maladaptive schemas. The group is introduced to the concept of schemas, members are helped to identify their own schemas, and efforts are begun toward altering them. It is important to note, however, that schema transformation is a time-consuming process and will not be fully achieved by the time the group concludes. Participants complete the BHS (Beck Hopelessness Scale) and BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), record their dysfunctional thoughts daily, and acquire knowledge about depression (Corey et al., 2011).

Goals: Providing participants with depression-related information, facilitating cognitive and behavioral changes in them, and initiating the maladaptive schema change process.

Target: Students suffering from depression. It should be noted that this group is not suitable for chronic or severe depression cases.

Length: Eight sessions of 1.5 hours each.

Facilitator Training, Demographics, and Membership Selection

The ASGW (Association for Specialists in Group Work) (2007) states that group counselors are required to complete a core component of group training. Both facilitators are engaged in group process and counseling skills training as part of their postgraduate counseling program. Moreover, ASGW (2007) states that individuals engaged in such group work understand that participating in ethical practice requires ongoing supervision, professional training, and growth. All of this will be incorporated throughout the counseling group's duration. Additionally, only interventions that fall within group members' skill levels will be employed.

The adolescent group will comprise between eight and ten female and male high-school students between the ages of 14 and 18 years, who are self-identified or diagnosed as experiencing depression. A qualified counselor will act as facilitator. Group meetings will be held every Wednesday during the lunch period, in the school's counseling department. The adolescent depression group will be established in the third quarter of the academic year, with the final meeting held three weeks before school closes for the summer — allowing for approximately eight group sessions. Members will be invited to rejoin in the following academic year.

Recruitment

The school curriculum can help enhance multicultural sensitivity and awareness — including gender identity — through classroom guidance sessions on social and cultural tolerance and diversity. Following these discussions, the school counselor can announce an adolescent support group available to students experiencing depression or those who are uncertain about their status. Interested students will be encouraged to visit the school's counseling office for additional information. Written announcements will be placed discreetly throughout the school premises, such as in washrooms and on the counseling department bulletin board. Other school counselors, administrative staff, and teachers will be informed of the group's existence and may identify additional candidates (Myers et al., 2011), who can then be personally invited to participate.

Screening and Selection

Interested candidates will undergo a 30-minute screening process, during which they may express their expectations for the group, as well as any concerns or questions. The group counselor will explain the group's purpose and goals. Screening is important for both the counselor and prospective participants: the counselor can, to some degree, manage group dynamics through this process, while participants can make an informed decision about whether to join. The group will be composed of members whose needs align with group goals and whose welfare will not be put at risk by the group experience. The counselor will also seek members with diverse personalities — for instance, introverted and extroverted individuals — and varying motivation levels.

Consent will be obtained from selected individuals prior to their joining the group. New Mexico law allows adolescents aged 14 and above to consent to their own treatment or therapy (Corey et al., 2011). Given the sensitive nature of an adolescent's depression status and concerns about the potential risks of seeking parental consent, the counselor will use separate consent forms designed for this population.