Schedule and Group Descriptions
Program Schedule
Below is what a typical week at Magnolia Creek looks like. Please note that the schedule is subject to variation and change.
Magnolia Creek residents have 5-7 weekly individual sessions with their primary therapist, our Executive or Clinical Director, Medical Director, Charge Nurse, Dietitian or Psychiatrist. They spend close to 20 hours of group therapy each week, in addition to physical training, expressive arts, yoga and movement, spiritual counseling, and experiential activities.
Groups with a Psychological Focus
Processing Group
Processing group is a daily group led by our Clinical Director and/or Primary Therapists. Processing group provides a venue for residents to identify issues related to their eating disorder symptoms, to practice communications skills, to share assignments and projects, to discuss progress in recovery and to process relationship issues.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Group
CBT focuses on identifying the eating disorder voice as a cognitive distortion and developing methods of "talking back to the eating disorder". The group explores and corrects the relationship among thoughts, feelings and behaviors and provides education and practice for emotional regulation. The group also allows residents to learn behaviors to better prevent/cope with stress, negative thoughts, emotions and potential relapse.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Group
DBT focuses on developing new skills for coping with distress, learning new methods of regulating emotions, and fostering acceptance of self and others.
Body Integration Group
Residents learn how to become more comfortable in their own bodies and recognize and address distortions in their body image and awareness. They learn to separate their body from their identity while integrating body, spirit and mind.
Identity, Strengths and Values Group
Residents focus on their developing and strengthening their authentic selves, including their talents, abilities, and ideals.
Goals Planning Group
Residents reflect and assess goals from the previous week and propose new goals for the coming week, as they progress through the recovery process. The proposed goals are submitted to the multi-disciplinary treatment team, who review the individual plan to ensure that the goals are appropriate for the resident's current stage of recovery.
Gratitude Group
Residents foster gratitude through various techniques, including guided imagery, writing exercises, and experiential methods.
Assignments Group
This group provides residents a forum to present assignments for group feedback.
Women's Issues Group
Residents address topics specific to women in recovery. Topics include sexuality, empowerment, assertiveness, relationships, and motherhood.
Writing Group
Residents come together each week to establish a healthy coping skill of journaling.
Groups with a Medical and Nutritional Focus
Health and Wellness Group
Led by our nursing staff, this group educates residents about their bodies' needs and basic physiology, addressing both the impact of eating disorders on the body and ways to promote healing and wellness.
Nutrition Group
Led by our dietitian, this group educates residents about their nutritional needs, promoting healthy eating and exercise.
Cooking Class
Led by our chef, this group provides residents with hands-on experience in preparing meals.
Food and Feelings Group
Each day after dinner, residents are asked to reflect on how they are experiencing food in their lives at the moment and in the past. Residents receive assistance from staff counselors in regaining a comfort range with the sensation of fullness or hunger with the ultimate goal of returning to a more intuitive relationship with food.
Groups with a Spiritual Focus
Spirituality Group
Led by our Director of Spiritual Services, this group provides our residents with support in developing a personal spiritual foundation on which to build their recovery.
Mindfulness Relaxation Group
Residents learn ways of coping through mindfulness and relaxation training.
Ceremony and Celebration Group
Residents use elements of ritual and ceremony to strengthen and celebrate their commitment to recovery.
Groups with a Relational Focus
Grief, Attachment, and Loss Group
Residents process and work through past relationships, including relationship trauma and feelings of grief, abandonment and rejection.
Multi-Family Group
Led by our Family Coordinator, multi-family group is open to local and visiting families of our residents. This group explores family dynamics that may be impacted by eating disorders and provides a forum for both residents and their families to discuss the treatment process.
Community Group
Residents meet to discuss issues related to the Magnolia Creek community and plan their recreational outings. During this group, residents also plan for community service activities, which occur once a month. Residents are provided with funds for their outings so that they can learn to work together as a group and practice budgeting money.
Groups with an Experiential Focus
Experiential Group
Residents are encouraged explore healthy coping skills by creating symbols, building connections, and moving deeper into recovery through involvement in each activity. Experiential exercises produce metaphors for the resident to use in forming new thoughts, new coping skills, and a new way of life.
Empowerment Group
Using task mastery to promote momentum in the recovery process, this group focuses on developing a sense of purpose and commitment to recovery. Residents also learn strategies for facing frustration and coping with setbacks, which can be applied to the recovery process.
Expressive Arts Group
In this group, residents use art to provide a creative outlet for difficult emotions. Research has shown that art therapy provides an aspect of emotional healing that may not be attained by other therapeutic modalities.
Equine Therapy Group
In equine therapy, horses are used as a tool for emotional growth and learning. Residents learn about themselves by participating in activities with the horses, and the processing (or discussing) feelings, behaviors, and patterns.
Ropes Course/Adventure Therapy
Residents participate on an outdoor ropes course to face internal fears, challenge personal beliefs, and build teams and trust in and amongst themselves.
Groups with a Physical Focus
Yoga and Movement Group
Residents participate in gentle hatha yoga, which builds strength, flexibility, and balance in their bodies and their lives. The group also uses other forms of movement, such as dance, to allow for creative expression through the body and develop the mind-body connection.
Body Movement Group
This group uses simple organic movement as well as improvisational dance to gain understanding, begin building trust toward the body, and regain compassion and care for residents' external and internal selves.
Physical Training
Our physical trainer works with the residents to develop an exercise regimen suited to their bodies' needs and abilities. There is an emphasis on making exercise a healthy but balanced part of their overall lifestyle.