Group Therapy... any one?

So, I was surprised when I got a letter in the mail today saying that my insurance approved my psych eval and 7 group therapy sessions as an in-network covered service.  YAY ... BTW

I had no idea they were submitting this for prior authorization as I have not even had my initial consult yet. (FRIDAY!!!)

Have any of you done Group Therapy?

Duke has a 1 year pre-and post op group therapy program. 

It is my plan to go for it, I want all the resources possible.

Oh, I've done plenty of group therapy.  Not related to WLS, but for other things.  For the most part, I found it helpful although how helpful depends on the group's counselor and how the group is run and all that stuff.  I think it is important to make use of all the resources available to you, because this can be a rough journey.

Like Kelly, I have done group therapy, but not in relation to weight loss or WLS.  It can be very helpful or can be a complete waste of time depending on the composition of the group and (even moreso) the skill of the therapist running the group.

Lora

 The psych at my surgeon's office offers regular "classes" to post-ops. Essentially it's group therapy. The first class is called "Finishing School" and the second is called "Graduate School" - I've taken both.  It's a class that is 12 weeks long and has about 8 to 10 people in it. We dig deep into the emotional side of life and how it relates to our WLS. You can read a little bit about it on my blog: 
http://pamtremble.blogspot.com/2008/01/comprehensive-holisti c-wellness-plan.html 

It was definitely one of the best things I ever did for myself after surgery. I learned a lot about myself and it helped to shape my entire journey. My first session was just a few months post-op and gave me the chance to set some solid life goals and help me determine the direction I wanted to take with various parts of my health -- not just physical health, but emotional, intellectual, vocational, financial, spriritual, etc.