No Time Like Now: Starting Your Group

This experiential training equips clinicians—especially those early in their careers or unsure where to begin—with the practical and conceptual foundations to form and lead interpersonal/psychodynamic psychotherapy groups. Starting a group can feel daunting; this workshop offers a clear path from idea to implementation.

Participants will explore the full arc of group development, from conceptualizing purpose, population, and frame to establishing agreements that support development and cohesion. Through didactic teaching and a live demonstration group, the training emphasizes the early phase of group life, highlighting the therapist’s role in fostering connection, managing anxiety, and facilitating engagement. A structured debrief deepens understanding of real-time clinical decision-making.

Practical components include marketing, pre-group interviews, and thoughtful group composition, with attention to how these shape group culture. The workshop concludes with reflection on developing as a group therapist, leaving participants with concrete tools and greater confidence to bring a group into being.

3.75 CE credits for attendance.

Objectives:

1. Participants will conceptualize and articulate the type of group they wish to develop.
2. Participants will be able to articulate the importance of the group agreement
3. Participants will learn several ways to facilitate the first meeting of a psychotherapy group and develop a working knowledge of the tasks of the first phase of a group’s development.
4. Participants will learn three essential strategies to promote their groups.

Scholarships are available. To apply, please click .

Presenter:

Dr. Calkins is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Group Psychotherapist. He earned his B.A. in Literature from Occidental College and later received his Psy.D. from Alliant International University–Los Angeles. Prior to his clinical training, he taught English in a special education school serving children and adolescents in the foster care system. He completed his postgraduate training at the Saturday Center for Psychotherapy and has worked across community mental health, college counseling, and private practice settings. From 2008–2019, he served as Director of Counseling at Occidental College. He is currently in full-time private practice in Pasadena, where he works with adults and teens in both individual and group psychotherapy, and he facilitates three process groups.

Dr. Calkins’ approach is culturally responsive, non-pathologizing, and grounded in humility. His work emphasizes attachment, trauma, and the development of the self in relationship, drawing from psychoanalytic, systems, and multicultural traditions. He has served on the board of GPALA since 2018 as Outreach and Curriculum Co-Chair, and is currently Co-President. In his spare time he tends to his cats, goes on walks, reads books, plays guitar and writes music.

Target Audience: Licensed Psychologists, MFT/LCSW, Other Non-Mental Health Professionals

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles (GPALA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.Group Psychotherapy of Los Angeles maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

CE courses that are provided by APA-approved CE Sponsors are recognized and accepted for CE credit for MFTs and LCSWs in California.. Full attendance is required to receive credit.

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