GROUPS, CLUBS & WORKSHOPS
GROUP ACTIVITIES
Psychotherapy Group
We believe that an important way for participants to improve personal growth and achieve greater communication and life skills is through peer support. We facilitate this experience through a psychodynamic based process group where participants gain support and feedback from their peers and have their own experiences validated.
“InVivo” Socialization Group
Our “InVivo” Socialization Groups uses psycho-education, experiential as well as didactic approaches to assist in social skills growth and enhancement. The goal of the group is to teach young adults the necessary social skills to relate to others and build healthy, long lasting relationships. Some of these skills include verbal and non-verbal cues, initiating conversations, making and keeping friends, identifying and coping with social anxiety and dating, as well as provide them a safe space to practice these newfound skills. We also take participants out in the community for an opportunity to practice what they have learned in a “real world” setting.
Addiction Group
The addiction therapy department works with young adults who are struggling with issues of substance abuse, sex addiction, computer/electronic device usage, self- injury/harm, and eating disorder behavior. The work is individualized and tailored to each participant’s individual needs. In addition to these groups, we also offer one-to-one addictions counseling for those striving for recovery.
Food & Feelings Group
This group allows the clients to talk about their relationships not only to food but also to their bodies. It’s for those that have struggled with eating disorders in the past and are trying to come to terms with it in the present. It goes beyond just talking about food and our feelings about the food. It’s how we use this as a tool to deal with our feelings and how food symbolizes many things in our lives. Such as relationships, how we treat and care for ourselves and how we set boundaries. Areas covered also include body image and how this can be a struggle in recovery. The goal is to develop not only a healthy relationship with food but also our individual self.
Unplugged: Group for Excessive Computer Use
Unplugged is a weekly process group in which members of the groups discuss how they are able to create a healthier relationship to technology and their outside world. This group is co facilitated. Members of this group share the difficulty they have with learning how to build and maintain healthy relationships outside of gaming, pornography, online chat rooms and isolating. Allowing the participants to have the opportunity to express their fears and doubts about socializing without their computers helps to encourage them to take actions towards opening up their world.
Positive Psychology Group
Positive psychology focuses on actualizing human potential through the cultivation and enhancement of joy, flow, mindfulness and human strengths and virtues. The positive psychology group invites participants to reflect on, write about and discuss their strengths, sense of purpose and joyful experiences so as to promote and encourage true fulfillment.
DBT SERVICES
DBT Skills Group
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based treatment for those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Borderline traits and those struggling with emotional dysregulation. Our DBT Skills Groups teach the four modules of DBT (mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness). They are believed to be the foundation for acquiring the skills and ability to learn to tolerate distress and facilitate independent living skills.
DBT Skills Generalization Group
This group allows participants to take DBT skills they have learned and apply them to real life situations through sharing experiences and participating in role play exercises.
Mindfulness through the UCLA MARC Institute
The practice of mindfulness can come in all sorts of “shapes” yet the core of its purpose remains constant. Mindfulness is about letting our mind explore our thoughts, feelings and sensations, noticing what we observe calmly, without judgment. This process is applicable and helpful to everyone, but for the person dealing with constant emotional dysregulation, these techniques are invaluable tools for helping them modulate their intense feelings. Continued practice is a great help to those who experience frequent stress and have difficulty remaining calm.
“Improv” Group
The number one rule in Improvisation is to say “yes.” Through Improv (the act of reacting in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one’s immediate environment and inner feelings) we not only learn how to tell fun stories on the spot, but we also learn how to say yes to our creativity and self-expression. So often we stifle our authentic selves due to fear. But in Improv, there are no judgments and mistakes are viewed as gifts. In a playful way, Improv teaches us the skills that will help us live life with greater awareness and confidence.
Xigong Group
EXTRACURRICULAR DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES
Jam Sessions
Every week, participants have the opportunity to get in touch with their inner musician at a local music studio. An array of instruments is provided to help individuals explore all the different creative avenues the world of music has to offer.
Tennis Club
Whether you’re a beginner or more advanced in this sport, tennis club provides participants with great cardiovascular exercise and fun, all at the same time. Every other week, participants meet at Quimby Park ready to hit the court and have a ball!
Art Club
From knitting and painting to dream-catcher making, art club gives participants the opportunity to express themselves creatively and freely.
Hiking Club
Immersing oneself in nature is extremely beneficial for one’s body and mind. Every other week, participants discover various hiking trails throughout the Los Angeles area.
Film Club
Every other week, one participant in the group will volunteer to show a movie of their choice at an OPI apartment. Drinks and snacks are provided for everyone to enjoy while watching the film.
Writing Club
Writing club provides participants with the opportunity to explore their own creative writing abilities. A specific topic or prompt is given each week to help individuals express their thoughts on paper.
Cooking Class
Each week, one participant is given the opportunity to lead the class and cook from a recipe of their choice! This is a great way for participants to engage with one another and improve their culinary skills in the kitchen in the process.
Baking Club
Baking Club gives participants the chance to perfect their baking and culinary skills alike. A staff member, who used to be a former baker, facilitates and instructs this club. This gives participants the opportunity to get a hands-on experience in the kitchen from a pro! Participants will learn to bake many different treats from muffins, to cookies, to bread baguettes, and donuts.
Ping Pong Club
Participants get the chance to play Ping-Pong at a local table tennis club, Allen & Sons Table Tennis Club. All equipment is provided.
Book Club
Provides participants with the opportunity to indulge in reading novels and share their thoughts and opinions with other group members each week.
Yoga Workshop
The Yoga Workshop includes yoga, as well as therapeutic discussion, as an avenue towards wellness. The aim of the group is to achieve more tranquility amidst the demands of everyday life and to develop yoga as a tool to be accessed during these times of stress. The participants become aware, while doing yoga, of their body sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Also, they gain a knowledge base of specific postures and movements that can become their go-to coping skills whenever they feel the need to use them. During the more traditional therapeutic portion of the group, this new mindful awareness is processed and a discussion of participants’ experience with using this awareness in everyday life is developed. The goal for the participants is to better understand their current responses to stress or anxiety. From that, they develop a system of integrating yoga into their everyday defenses by becoming aware of thoughts, emotions, and body signals. By integrating yoga and the more traditional “talk” therapy, the participant walks away with the physical knowledge of yoga as a coping skill and the cognitive insight of how best to utilize it.
Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and meditative practices are encouraged to help participants find their inner self and work on their mindfulness skills. OPI has many resources to help individuals find a studio where they can feel comfortable and enjoy the experience of yoga.
Weekend Outings
Every weekend, our IOP program provides participants with the opportunity to explore the local community. This also gives participants the chance to improve their social skills and enhance their willingness to try new things. They have the opportunity to experience different restaurants as well as a variety of recreational activities such as comedy shows and amusement parks and more physical activities like miniature golf and bowling.
Action Workshop
We all long for a life that we love. But often we find it hard to take the action needed to find it. When we go after what we love in life, we put our focus on the end result and, in doing so, we often start to feel very overwhelmed at the possibility of actually being able to achieve what we desire. And you know what, we’re right. Because we can’t do results, we can only do action towards a result.
The Action Workshop focuses its attention on the small steps that we can do towards a desired result.
Participants pick a personal project goal and take steps towards achieving it. Each week they take action on their goal in this workshop, discovering that action creates more action. Group members support each other in the goal acquisition process by sharing their successes as well as obstacles and holding each other accountable for taking action.
LIFE COACHING ACTIVITIES
Life Skills Workshop
This is a 6-week workshop that focuses on the general skills necessary to live an independent life. Being independent does not mean living alone, it means understanding the people and resources available to us and using them to create a life for ourselves. We reframe what it means to be a productive member of society by explaining that the American society is a group of people working together to help each individual feel free to live their own life. The six workshops cover the areas of Budgeting, Resources, Time Management, Organization, Goal Planning and Nutrition.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
Student Success Seminar
You may be a recent high school graduate about to start your very first college courses, a new transfer student, an older student beginning or returning to school after many years, or a continuing student in college. Regardless of the courses you are enrolled in, you have something in common with every other student: You want to do your very best to achieve your academic goals with a feeling of personal pride and accomplishment. OPI’s Student Success Seminar is here to help! This 6-week workshop reviews and teaches necessary study skills such as effective note taking, organization, time management and much more. The workshop is aimed to equip students with the tools they will need for the duration of their education.
CAREER SERVICES
Career Workshop
We cover all aspects of career counseling from career exploration to career-related tool building, the job search process and job maintenance. We offer a 6-week career workshop series that reviews the purpose and process of career-related tools including resume, cover letters and mock interviewing to name a few. Individuals will also complete assessments through MyPlan.com and review the results with a counselor.