Since 2008, Engage Group has been helping men and women with many different mental health problems to better understand and cope with anxiety. This tends to have positive flow-on effects into other areas of mental health and quality of life.
News Flash! Youthline will offer two Engage Group programmes in 2014 and it is free to take part.
2014 Engage Group Dates: To Be Confirmed.
Contact Youthline and add your name to the waiting list today.
An evaluation of Engage Group shows that most participants experience:
- Improved overall anxiety severity
- Reduced anxiety intensity
- Less distress
- Improved confidence in ability to cope
- Improved sleep
- Greater enjoyment from daily activities
- Increased socialisation
- Reductions in the severity of other diagnoses
Engage Group is a 10-week programme of education and support. Sessions run once a week for two hours. Participants learn information and practice a range of proven techniques as they work their way towards their own goals in a supportive environment, with people who understand anxiety from the inside.
You will experience yourself facing and managing anxiety every week. Your Engage Group facilitators are specially trained to help make it easier to be there and usually it only takes a little while at the start of each session for the anxiety to fade. It is normal to feel anxious about attending a group and this is a good thing because it will give you easy access to lots of responses you can work with.
Engage is an education and support programme, not a treatment. However, evaluation has shown that the majority of people who take part find that their anxiety severity drops during the programme. So far, all of the participants have reported finding the programme useful. Even if the severity of their symptoms for some reason remains unchanged, people find they have a better sense of their own capacity to cope with and survive life.
Information Pack
Info Pack updated 1 March 2013.
Facilitators
Engage Group is delivered by licensed facilitators who have personal experience of anxiety problems and professional experience in counselling, psychotherapy or group work. Licensed facilitators are trained by Engage Resources Ltd in the safe and effective delivery of the Engage Group programme, receive regular supervision and take part in a refresher training every two years. Click here to find out more about the licensed Engage Group facilitators.
Enrolment
Engage Group is FREE to individuals in the public who want to improve the way anxiety affects their lives.
Contact Youthline to enrol yourself on the waiting list for the next programme by calling (09) 361 4168 or emailing Services@youthline.co.nz.
You will complete a short enrolment questionnaire over the phone and if Engage Group is right for you, an appointment will be made for your intake interview.
Updated Eligibility Criteria for Engage Group Participation
Engage Group might be right for you if:
- You are 18 years old or over
- Anxiety is disrupting your ability to live well
- You have no recent history of being abusive towards others
- You have no recent history of self-harm or suicide attempts
- You will be able to attend group sessions drug & alcohol free
- You are not currently residing in an acute psychiatric unit
- You are not currently experiencing acute symptoms of another mental disorder (Your general distress levels are rated 8/10 or lower).
- You can read and write in English
- You are able to complete the enrolment process yourself
- You have read the information sheet
If you do not meet any of these criteria or you are unsure, please contact us anyway. If Engage is not right for you right now, we may be able to support you in another way, help you find other supports or find a way to work around the barrier with you.
