What is the Low Mood group? 
The clinician who assessed your young person thought they might benefit from attending a low mood group. We offer this treatment to children and young people who experience low mood and/or depression. This group is based upon cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The aim of the group is to:

  • Explain what low mood and/or depression is and understand its impact on thoughts, feelings and behaviours 
  • Have a safe space to talk about difficulties
  • Learn coping strategies known to help manage low mood

What does the group involve? 
Your young person will be part of a group with other young people with two to three facilitators. The programme consists of six sessions for young people and one session for parents. The group facilitators will also work with parent/s or carer/s during their sessions. 

  • Your young person will be encouraged to participate as much as they can in the group.
  • We won’t ask your young person to share anything that they’re not comfortable sharing.  We know it can be hard but think of the group as a safe environment to challenge themselves. 
  • Whilst taking part in the group, it is expected that they will still feel some low mood, it will not completely disappear after one or two sessions and is perfectly normal. We need participants to be able to explore their low mood so they can learn how to manage it.
  • We encourage participants to keep to their routine as much as possible; for them to continue to do things they enjoy and don’t let attending the group be used as an excuse to avoid things. 
  • Your young person will only be in the group for up to two hours a week, but they will need to practice the techniques and the strategies as much as they can; practice makes perfect.

What can be expected after attending the group? 
Once the group has been completed, they will have a review with one of the group facilitators to discuss how they found the group and what they learnt. Following the review, a decision about the next steps of your young person’s care plan will be made.

Where will the group be held?
The group will be held face to face and virtually in some circumstances.

Group Attendance: 
We would expect your child/young person to be able to attend all of the group sessions, however we appreciate people can be unwell and have circumstances that make it difficult to attend.