Presentations & Feedback

A lot of your written work doesn't stay on the page — you present it out loud in a group, and your peers respond. This covers how presenting works, what's expected of you both when you give feedback and when you receive it, and which group each assignment goes to. Tips and highlights only — your binder and treatment team are the authority.

What presenting looks like

A group starts and the therapist asks who's ready. The catch nobody spells out on day one: you have to speak up to get presented.

• Claim your slot. Say you're ready — and if the assignment's been ready a while, say so specifically. The vocal peers present more; the passive ones fall behind.
• The clock: 7.5 minutes to present, 7.5 for peer feedback. It goes fast.
• Read it or speak from it depends on the assignment. Some are read as written; some you talk through.

First-timer mistakes worth skipping:

• Losing the clock — running over and never reaching what mattered.
• Too much detail — burying the gist your peers needed.
• Responding to feedback — the second half isn't yours to talk in (see below).

Giving feedback: “when you said this, I felt…”

Most of the time you're not presenting — you're one of the peers giving feedback. Your job in that second 7.5 minutes is to tell the presenter how what they shared landed on you.

• Do not ask a question. Take the information that was given and tell us what you felt. Questions come from treatment team, not us. If there was a major gap in the presentation that left you confused then say so but not in the form of question. That takes away from the presenter's chance to hear feedback from others.This especially comes up during long-intros and timelines. Resist the urge to try and fill in all the gaps.
• The core move: “When you said this, I felt…” — happy, sad, glad, mad. Your genuine reaction, not a critique, not advice, not a fix.Most of us are only familiar with sad and mad by the time we get here. Use this Emotions Wheel for help.
• Different from treatment-planning feedback. Short version: treatment-planning feedback is about what you saw them do during the week (tied to a plan criterion); presentation feedback is about what you heard them say in the room.
• The two do touch. A behavior or trait that shows up during a group can still feed treatment planning later.
• The 7.5/7.5 split is the only way group therapy becomes useful for everyone. If you aren't presenting, and you don't listen, and don't give feedback (emotions not questions) — then you've wasted an hour of your treatment.

Receiving feedback: this is where you learn

When feedback turns to you, the job flips: you listen. That's it.

• You said what you said. No more information is required — you don't need to explain, defend, or correct anyone's read.
• This is where you learn how your thoughts and actions land on others — the thing you can't see from the inside, and the whole point of the exercise.
• No note-taking during a presentation or feedback, yours or anyone's. Be present instead.
• A brief “thank you” at the end is fine. No speech needed.
• Struggling to just listen? There's a book — Thanks for the Feedback — you may be assigned to read. Not a punishment; a real tool for the exact reflex you'll be fighting.

The groups, and what shows up in each

Most assignments are pointed at one of these groups. A handful are fairly standard (named below); plenty of others get assigned for your specific situation, so this isn't the full list. Where it says varies, that means I'm not naming a standard one — check your binder.

• SpiritualitySpiritual River
• VocationalVocational Timeline; Boundary Violations Index; work and future-employment journals
• Family SystemsGenogram; journals about family of origin and growing up
• Valuesvaries — check your binder
• PersonalityPersonality Trait Schemas (from your binder)
• Addictions and Compulsions (AC)Chemical Timelines; Step Work (Steps 1, 2, 3); Addictive Cycle; journals
• Sexual Issues (SI)varies — check your binder
• Professional Sexual Misconduct (PSM)varies — check your binder
• Clergyvaries — check your binder
• Group Psychotherapy (“Group Psych”)Catch-all for assignments not tied to another group
• Men's / Women'sAssignments specific to gender roles
• Relapse PreventionRelapse Prevention Plan; Addiction/Relapse Cycle

Unsure where an assignment goes? Ask — don't guess.