The Group List 950 Licensed Mental Health Professionals Offering 1,900 Therapy Groups and Support Groups Throughout Los Angeles County December 2018 Issue 15th Anniversary James J. De Santis, Ph.D., C.G.P., Editor 138 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 300, Glendale, California 91203-4618 112 West Bennett Avenue, Suite 4, Glendora, California 91741-2568 (818) 551-1714 [email protected] TheGroupList.org Copyright © 2018, James J. De Santis, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents Section Page Introduction . Front Subject Index.. 1 Geographic Index . 39 Therapist Index .. 93 Informational Links . 112 Submission Form. Back Introduction What is The Group List? The Group List is a concise list of therapy groups in Los Angeles county, edited by a licensed psychologist & certified group psychotherapist. Listed groups are conducted in an outpatient setting, are under the direction of a licensed mental health professional, may be supportive, therapeutic, process, educational, or consultative, are either currently running or in wait-list formation, and may or may not be open to referrals at this time. For easy reference, the list is cross-indexed by group topic, city, and facilitator name. 950 licensed psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists offering over 1,900 total groups within Los Angeles county are included, making it the largest aggregation of groups in Los Angeles. Permission to Copy Permission is granted to the reader to copy and distribute this list as long as the list editor's contact information is not removed. This list is available via mail or via download from the internet. The directory has been viewed over 41,000 times at TheGroupList.org since first posted on the internet in 2003. We have received feedback from facilitators that The Group List generates qualified referrals to their practices. As a courtesy when contacting facilitators, please let them know where you learned about their groups. Submissions A free, community service, licensed mental health professionals may list their groups in The Group List whether currently running or in wait-list formation. Submit a brief description or title of each group (up to 40 characters and spaces), your name, degrees, license type & number, e-mail address, office address, and office phone. Only one line per therapy group is allowed in the directory. Each group must be listed under the name, degree, and license number of an independently licensed mental health professional. Groups by pre-licensed facilitators are welcome and must be listed under their licensed supervisor's name, degree, and license number. Groups cannot be listed under an organizational name only. Direct any submissions, inquiries, or corrections to and request updates of this list from the list editor. There is no cost to listees or prospective group participants for The Group List. The directory is updated every few months. Approximately annually we confirm with all facilitators the accuracy of their listings. Advertising Premium advertising is now available to mental health professionals through The Group List. Promote your professional services, therapy groups, workshops, upcoming events, office space available, conferences, or publications. Your flier or display ad can be inserted into all five of our online directories which are available as free downloads: The Group List, The Assessment List, The Psychiatrist List, The Child Psychiatrist List, and the new East San Gabriel Valley List. These directories have been accessed by hundreds of clinicians and potential clients through the websites JJDeSantis.com and TheGroupList.org. E-mail your flier or display ad to [email protected] and make your payment via paypal at either JJDeSantis.com or TheGroupList.org, or mail your check payable to James De Santis, Ph.D., 138 N. Brand Blvd., Ste. 300, Glendale, CA 91203. Each flier or display ad can be up to size 8.5x11 inches, one-sided. Submit in .bmp, .pdf, or .jpg format. Six months of service per flier or display ad is $35. An additional fee will be requested for paste-up services if advertising is submitted as plain, unformatted text or if advertising is changed or revised by the customer during the service period. Alternatively, we can produce single-use self-adhesive mailing labels or a multi-use CD for you to customize your own professional mailings. Details are posted at JJDeSantis.com. Call for exact pricing. Understanding and Acceptance While the editor makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of information presented in this list, the user is cautioned that this list could include typographical errors and/or technical inaccuracies. Listings are subject to change without notification. This list is provided with the understanding that the editor is not engaged in rendering a professional service in the form of a recommendation or an endorsement. Groups have not been reviewed or evaluated. The editor does not represent or warrant that any specific group is appropriate for any specific individual or specific purpose. Groups are presumed to be either facilitated by or supervised by independently licensed mental health professionals; however, credentials have not been verified. Links contained in our internet directory are provided for the convenience of the user; no approval or endorsement is implied, and links are opened at the user’s risk. Use of this directory constitutes an understanding and acceptance of these conditions. The Group List is not affiliated with any other professional organization or association. History Group therapy is one of several psychological treatment modalities available. Some clinicians consider group therapy the treatment of choice for a number of psychosocial problems, yet most clinicians do not offer group therapy as a treatment modality in their practice. The process of making a referral to a group is often a time-consuming and difficult task. Locating an appropriate group can be quite difficult. The Group List began out of this need to connect prospective group therapy participants to appropriate therapy groups. Typically for a clinician to find a group, they must place several phone calls or send several e-mails out to colleagues in the community, wait and collect the replies–most of which are suggestions for whom to call next. I had collected notes on about 50 therapy groups in my local area by means of this process. Colleagues started to request copies of my informal list. It seemed like if the list were of value to some, then others might want it as well. A directory of therapy groups is necessary because one cannot usually find therapy groups in the yellow pages, through local professional associations, or even through the internet. Available websites are limited and hard to use when looking for therapy groups. The response has been almost uniformly positive. So in 2003, we began to more formally publish a directory of licensed mental health professionals who actively facilitate outpatient groups or are attempting to start a group (via a waiting list) anywhere in Los Angeles county. We contacted over 1,000 therapists with professional interest in group work. Our intent is to circulate The Group List to the community as widely as possible for purposes of effective cross-referral. The list is mailed out periodically to the professional mental health community. The directory has drawn the attention of search engines Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Circulation To promote the work of group therapists in Los Angeles county, we distribute the directory in several ways. Firstly, we distribute the directory by e-mail to approximately 7,000 mental health professionals. Secondly, the directory is distributed in print in small batches of about 50 at a time to mental health professionals and to other professionals, such as physicians, schools, and others who are likely to use the resource to make referrals. Over the years, hundreds of copies of the directory have been distributed in print. We provide the directory at periodic networking events that we sponsor for listees, where typically 20-40 clinicians attend, introduce themselves to each other, and describe their groups. We provide paper copies of the directory at professional educational conferences, as well. Additionally, because of our visibility in the community we receive frequent inquiries from prospective group therapy clients and will refer them either to the website or directly to therapists listed in the directory who facilitate groups that may be appropriate. We also monitor professional e-mail discussion groups and respond to postings requesting information about therapy groups. Lastly, the website we have created specifically for the directory allows both professionals and prospective clients to find and download the directory through search engines including Google, Yahoo, and Bing, among others. Depending on the keywords used, TheGroupList.org ranks well in organic searches for therapy groups. What is a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP)? Beyond their degree and license, some facilitators in this directory have an additional, national certification of their specialization in group therapy, which will be indicated by "C.G.P." after their name. "A Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) is a clinical mental health professional who meets nationally accepted criteria of education, training, and experience in group psychotherapy. A CGP is an expert in group psychotherapy and an ethical practitioner who is committed to group psychotherapy as an autonomous treatment modality." (American Group Psychotherapy Association) The Editor James J. De Santis, Ph.D., C.G.P., earned his bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Southern California, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and his masters and doctoral degrees in psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. Dr. De Santis has been licensed as a psychologist for thirty years. He is a life issues consultant in full-time private practice in Glendale and Glendora and works with adults, youth, and couples offering assessment and treatment services. He is a Certified Group Psychotherapist.