Professionals who help individuals address harmful behaviors—including sexual offending, domestic violence, substance abuse, and other addictive behaviors—commonly use group therapy in their work. This approach offers many benefits: group members learn from others with similar experiences, gain understanding from peers who can relate to their challenges, and develop accountability for their actions and lives. When the focus of group therapy centers on the group itself, rather than a facilitator who teaches lessons and imparts information, members are better able to find their own motivation for meaningful change.

Over the course of 40 years, Steven Sawyer has advanced group therapy practices for people who have engaged in harmful behaviors, and is best known for his work in the prevention of sexual offending. His career has included international training and consultation, as well as authoring and co-authoring three of the field’s principal books on group therapy. This long and influential career ultimately culminated in his latest work, Mastering the Art of Group Therapy: A Guide for Facilitators.

In this webinar, moderator David Prescott leads a conversation with Sawyer that connects the evolution of Sawyer’s career to the insights presented in Mastering the Art of Group Therapy.

Group therapy plays a central role in the treatment of justice-involved clients and related programs. Similarly, Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a treatment of choice for numerous conditions and is widely used in forensic settings. However, relatively little has been written about the most effective ways to integrate MI into group therapy.

Building on their training on this topic, Ali Hall and Kristin Dempsey return for a conversational session introducing their work in this area. In this webinar, they explore how MI principles can enhance group therapy practice.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) has become a widely used, collaborative approach in criminal justice and related settings, helping clients safely explore their own motivations and build healthier, more self-directed lives. In this webinar, Dr. Stinson and Mr. Clark draw on their newly released second edition of Motivational Interviewing in Criminal Justice to highlight what practitioners need to know to apply MI effectively with mandated clients in traditional justice settings, child welfare, and both inpatient and outpatient programs. They will cover core elements of MI practice, ethical considerations in criminal justice treatment, effective ways to learn and master MI skills, and current research on MI outcomes, offering concrete strategies for engaging even the most resistant clients and providing a clear roadmap for initiating productive change conversations in nearly any setting.