Advice for neurotypical therapist

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Besides the obvious, What are you specifically looking for in an adult social skills group? Please teach me how one would be effective in helping you, and what lessons are the most interesting and needed that would motivate you to show up for the course and return regularly?
Also, if a separate support group was offered in your area what common topics would you anticipate that would be brought up by others? Thanks in advanced for your help. I want to do a really good job and am preparing for leading a support group and a social skills educational group in the future.

actually DO stuff. How boring is sitting in a room with other weird looking people that don't REALLY want to be there, and trying to talk just for the sake of talking? DUH. Archery would be cool and sword fighting. and do very weird things like maybe people could get up and just repeat one word until they feel comfortable making noise out their mouth while other people are looking at and listening to them. For example, I don't want to hear other people's sob stories...really, anything about their lives unless its an extremely clever idea for how they solved a problem like what to do when you run out of toothpaste. But I also don't want to hear about a bunch of stuff unrelated to life that I don't care about, like when everyone but me is obsessed about a video game I've never played, so I i'm left out and leave and want to go die, but not, I'd rather just ridicule them behind their backs and become an evil genius with a legion of monsters, each needing only a certain chemical or vitamin or hormone out of human blood to live on, which means I release them into the world to suck people's blood of only those contents so that that one person might just start feeling really gassy in their life all the time and don't know why, but its all because of this monster that gave them a vitamin deficiency.
That's good stuff. That's what I want to hear. And then we all go get sonic milk shakes and shoot the s**t while trying to hit some light post with rocks.

Ah therapy! What memories. I absolutely hated family therapy, and individual therapy, and I know I would absolutely hate any kind of group therapy, too. I will end this post here before I can go into a full rant and start saying offensive things about therapy and therapists.

Make the meetings fun. One poster suggested different outings. This would be a great opportunity to use and practice the skills that you teach in many different environments.

Stay focused on the purpose. I went to group therapy for a brief time and hated it. All the sad stories and complaining depressed me. It made learning impossible. In a skills group, it is counterproductive, because the participants seem to ignore the advice given by the therapist. They would rather complain, because it is easy. (You probably all ready knew that, but I thought it was worth mentioning.)

I am not sure if this is considered "the obvious" -> Create scenarios: a date, funeral, dinner, talking to authorities, etc...

Use age appropriate documentation. Most social skill literature is for young children. It is not very appealing (at least to me).

What therapy are you trained in? CBT, experiential, psychoanalysis or else?

I've been trained in a local experiential therapy school (based upon Gestalt and rogersian therapy) and I've recently had an experience with running a support group (not with people on the spectrum though) for my master's thesis. I will give you some ideas based upon my first support group experience and my experience as a non-neurotypical client in therapy.

First, you need to actually listen to what your clients really need. It's hard for us to tell, because every client is different and every group has a different dynamic. Just stay tuned to your clients' needs.

They might need a more down-to-earth approach or they might go for art-therapy. The only way to find out is to approach them. Of course, your approach to running a support group will greatly be influenced by your theoretical training, hence my initial question.

If you are trained to do art-therapy, dance therapy or other experiential techniques (such as the human sculpture), be aware of the fact that your clients might have sensory issues that will make this experience an uncomfortable one. I suffered a lot through therapy school when I had to perform human sculpture exercises, because I hate this kind of physical contact. Check first how comfortable your clients are with the exercises you propose to them.

A very important thing is to treat them with the utmost respect. Think more about the fact that both you and them are human beings, don't think so much about the fact that you're NT and they're Aspies, as you need to establish the therapeutic relationship and alliance.

Keep an open mind and make it known that you respect their views and their experiences, so they can trust you. Given that you're NT, they obviously know more about being Aspie than you do, so learn from them in order to better assist them. Carl Rogers always said that clients should be conveyed a sense that they are experts in what concerns their own experience - that is empowering to them and allows for a more egalitarian relationship.

Try not to look startled by whatever they tell you. I mentioned the fact that I am synaesthete to my NT therapist and she looked puzzled; because she didn't know about it and had no interest in asking me more about it, she missed the point of the whole session and I didn't get anything out of it. The fact I had synaesthesia was very important, because it turned a fight I got into into an unbearable sensorial experience.

Be keen on learning more about ASDs, to offer your clients better support.

Be there for them, listen to them and you will know what they need most from you. Be a facilitator of their growth, not an expert trying to impose his view on others. Help them grow and develop as persons - it's the most wonderful feeling in the world.

If you always start by making contact with your clients, assessing their needs, their strengths and their issues and build up your therapeutic approach from there, you can never go wrong. Some therapy schools impose on their trainees a body of concepts relating to what a healthy psychological functioning should be like or a general view of the human personality. In my experience, it's best to leave that aside and focus on the real, actual experience of the persons in front of you.

_________________
Probably 75% Aspie, 25% NT... and 100% ADHD

Aspie-quiz results:
Aspie score: 138 of 200 / NT score: 78 of 200 => Very likely an Aspie.

Don't ask stupid questions. How are you feeling today? Good. Mom get's pissed off that I won't expand on that...

If you are going to sit in a small room talking, then have a detailed plan of what the structure of the group conversation will be like. Will there be questions? If so, when? What will they be? Is it optional to answer? Will there be a topic of the day? Will there be cookies? Well, you get the point. A detailed written schedule all can read.

IF you go for the group conversation thing that is.

Def have focused therapy. I went to one were everyone sat around and no one really talked. What a waste of time.

Facilitate discussion, have practical skills experience.

If it's a group to work on social skills, PRACTICE SOCIAL SKILLS IN THE GROUP!

What springs to my mind is "Therarapist" not therapist.
Furthermore, what are they "pist" about?

Apologies in advance.

The Rapist Therapist ok Theraphy is fake a psychologist had come to our office for training us in counselling skills
he taught us the mirroring technique its usually used in counselling its technique used to agree with the client
calm him down and being on their side
its so much fake and unreal.
moreover there comes a point when you no longer feel like agreeing with them but for the sake of proper practice
keep nodding yes with the client

So I deposited myself in the Crisis Center in Emergency, desperate for relief from severe depression that had been devastating me for weeks (I've been on Celexa for years, and it seems to have lost its effectiveness. I guess most people would call on their family doctor, but I'm Canadian and we have this"wonderful" Health Care System. It takes a long wait to replace a retired Doctor- and did I mention you still need a supplemental insurance plan for non-covered items such as anti-depressants, Dental, and much more I'm sure to find out as I age. These plans are similar in cost to what we paid for total coverage before the grande Design was inficted on us. So, good luck with your Health Care System, my US friends.

After eight hours of being shuffled around I got an appointment for the next day and one, count 'em - 1 sleeping pill. I was emphatic that I wanted a reassesment of my medication only and not the phyciatrist ambush that ensued. To make a long story a little shorter, two hours of questions later they stated boldly I did not have Autism, but definitely depression. There were no Autistic flavored questions involved and no testing; but they are sure! Just thought I'd share...