I am privileged to have been trained in Group Psychotherapy at the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in New York City, considered by many of my colleagues to be among the best post doctoral training programs in the country. The two-year certification program emphasized combining individual and group in treatment planning. This approach influenced the development of the Group Training Program at the New Jersey Institute in Teaneck, which I founded and developed in 1997. In my current practice I use the combined approach and/or group exclusively. Below is a "poem" which I believe captures the essence of the group modality.

There are those among us who were blessed with two nurturing parents. The less fortunate had only one available parent, never knew their natural parents, or, had a parent who was neglectful or abusive.

With boundless energy and relentless determination some can overcome those obstacles on their own. Experience teaches us, however, that the burden is lessened with help from others along the way, from a second family...A GROUP.

The hovering attention, genuine feedback and unconditional acceptance form a bond of trust and intimacy. Together the members embrace the cycles of hope and despair. The group is an oasis, a place to go when all seems lost.

It is here in the safest of all places that new attachments can replace the malignant influences of the past. In time, the opportunity for change begins to appear.

___Published in New Jersey Psychologist, Fall 2001