REFLECTIVE PARENT GROUP

Detailed professional description

The reflective parent and adolescent groups are not personal-development groups. They are not intended for exploring individual personal difficulties or current life events; however, experiences arising in the group can usefully be discussed in individual, group or family therapy.

As human beings we are embedded in relationships, and the quality of these relationships has a major influence on mental health. Improving our capacity to mentalise therefore supports healthier relationship functioning and can also improve emotional regulation.

During the reflective group sessions, concepts are illustrated through practical examples. Participants' own experiences can support understanding, and homework is also given. These tasks are generally practice-based rather than written assignments.

Active participation is expected because the group works with participants' own examples. Although the group is not contracted to process personal difficulties in depth, members inevitably share some insight into their own challenges and discoveries. Confidentiality therefore applies not only to the therapists but to all participants.

The aim of the Reflective Parent Group is to support parents and adolescents in developing mentalisation: the capacity to understand their own and other people's mental states, emotions and intentions. Improved mentalisation is central to healthier relationships and better emotional regulation, both of which are important for maintaining mental health.

The group follows the approach of the Anna Freud Centre's Lighthouse programme. It is not a traditional personal-development group, but a supportive space in which participants learn about mentalisation through practical, problem-focused themes.

Participation: attendance at all eight sessions is required. After the first session, parents receive educational material and have six weeks to work through it.

Programme themes: the group works through approximately 10–13 experiential situations to help parents understand mentalisation and relationship patterns. Core themes include:

• Sensations and emotions: learning to recognise and distinguish bodily sensations and emotions.
• Attachment: understanding the role of attachment patterns in family dynamics.
• Mentalisation and breakdowns in mentalising: how we interpret our own and other people's intentions, and what happens when this capacity is impaired.
• Attention: developing attentive, active listening as a foundation for effective communication.
• Window of tolerance and trigger points: recognising emotional limits and the 'red buttons' that can push us out of balance.
• Emotion regulation: practical methods for managing emotions.
• Parenting map and internal family patterns: understanding the parental role through one's own family patterns.
• Emotional thermometer and validation: tools for recognising and accepting an adolescent's emotional state.
• Coping cards and the parental safety net: practical exercises for managing stress and difficult situations.

On request, the group can place additional focus on parents of adolescents who self-harm, helping them understand what may be happening for the young person and how to offer support during difficult periods.

Group leader: Erika Pap – clinical psychologist, symbol therapist and MBT-A therapist.