We are very excited to offer group therapy (for patients age 17 and older) at Free Range Psychiatry! We hope to be able to offer a more affordable (and very effective!) therapy option to all of our patients.

We will be starting our first group on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on Saturday, December 1st at 2:00 PM. The group will be ongoing, but it will last approximately 12 weeks and will meet every Saturday at 2:00 PM via video. The fee for each session is $20.

The group will be based on a workbook approach to MBCT. The recommended workbook is available here on Amazon for about $15.  It’s called “The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress” by Teasdale, Williams, Segal.

“Imagine an 8-week program that can help you overcome depression, anxiety, and stress–by simply learning new ways to respond to your own thoughts and feelings. That program is mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and it has been tested and proven effective in clinical trials throughout the world. Now you can get the benefits of MBCT any time, any place, by working through this carefully constructed book. The expert authors introduce specific mindfulness practices to try each week, plus reflection questions, tools for keeping track of progress, and helpful comments from others going through the program. Like a trusted map, this book guides you step by step along the path of change.”

Some of our current patients may already be familiar with MBCT, and may have even already started the workbook, which is fine! While we will be attempting to have sessions covering specific steps in the workbook, it will also be a very organic process and will involve meeting each group member wherever they are. Hence, it’s okay if you have already started, or if you ever fall behind! Accepting where you are and loving yourself is an important part of the therapeutic process!

If you are interested in joining the group, please either email us or let Dr. Campbell know at your next session! Keep in mind that in order for group therapy to be effective, it does require that all group members make a commitment to attend every session. We completely understand that you may have schedule conflicts or emergencies arise, but the more sessions you can attend, the more beneficial the group will be to you, and all group members.

Once you let us know that you want to join this group, we will email you an outline of the schedule for the 12 weeks, a “Group Therapy Consent Form” to sign, and information on how to access the group. We will be using a platform called Zoom for the group, and you can join from any computer that has a camera and microphone, or even from your smart phone! (Available to all patients in Virginia, New York or North Carolina.)

In the future, we hope to have other groups available on other days/times, however this is our first attempt at offering group therapy to all of our patients. If this one is successful, we hope to offer many other groups in the future!