Certain dilemmas in our lives bring grief, anger, fear, and uncertainty. Distress about them might indicate a need to talk with a professional consultant in addition to friends, family, and colleagues. However, such distress does not always indicate the need for the “medically necessary” treatment of the effects of a mental disorder. Though there are some gray areas to this distinction, Group by Design has acknowledged the validity of an elective form of therapy which is not driven by the medical model for more than two decades. What we once called elective “psychotherapy” has evolved to what we now view as Pesonal and Professional Consultation. Here personal enrichment and growth is the primary focus rather than the amelioration of a mental disorder.
Freed from the constraints of the medical model, we are free to enter a role that is more consultant than therapist, more collaborative than corrective. While we are informed by our years of experience as therapists when providing Personal and Professional Consultation we are freer to improvise and innovate interactively with clients who seek a self managed approach to their growth and awareness.
The Personal and Professional Development Group is representative of this approach. In this format, professionals come together to challenge and support each other in their quest for achievement and affiliation. They do so as peers in the presence of the Group Consultant, more jazz ensemble than patient group, more crew members than case load.