Announcement:
Readers of this blog who are in the bay area may be interested in a free group treatment study offered through UC Berkeley Psychology Department which is designed to build skills to promote a healthy, balanced emotional life and is open to people with a Bipolar 1 diagnosis:
We would like to let you know about a group treatment study offered by the Cal-Mania Program. LAUREL (Learning Affective Understanding for a Rich Emotional Life) is a 10-week group teaching skills for increasing daily experiences with positive emotions while maintaining wellness. This group will be most helpful for people who want to learn skills to experience everyday positives with skillfulness and an awareness that will promote a healthy balance to their emotional life. At this time, we are only able to offer this treatment study to people diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder.
The LAUREL group is designed to be a supplement to ongoing treatment. In other words, we are looking for people who are already working closely with a medical doctor or treatment team and are interested in also attending our group. We would be happy to talk with treatment providers to ensure that the LAUREL skills do not interfere with your ongoing services.
The group will start in late-April or early May and will meet for 10 weeks (day and time to be determined) in Tolman Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. There is no cost to participating in the group and we will reimburse you for travel expenses to and from Tolman Hall.
In addition to the group, there are four research sessions we will ask group members to complete. First, you will meet with the group therapists to learn more about the group and decide if it will be helpful given your personal goals. Then, you will complete a interview in the week before the group starts. After you’ve completed group, you will also complete two additional research interviews (you can choose whether to complete the post-group interviews in person or over the phone). You will be reimbursed $15/hr + travel for these research sessions.
If you are interested in learning more about the LAUREL group, please call or email the Emotion and Social Interaction Lab at 510-542-8241 email: Ucbgroupstudies@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time,
Sheri Johnson
Cal-Mania Program
For more information please see the attached file below: