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Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society

The Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society (MAGPS) is a regional affiliate of the American Group Psychotherapy Association that serves group therapists in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

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Summer 2026 Short Course, "PULL UP A CHAIR: Starting a Group and Making it Go"

  • 13 Jun 2026
  • 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Park Place, 10th Floor Lounge, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Arlington VA 22209

Registration

(depends on selected options)

Base fee:
  • This ticket type is reserved for current members of MAGPS.

    (Price does not include CE certificate.)

    For information about joining MAGPS, please visit: www.magps.org/registration
  • This ticket type is for new professionals (<3 years since graduation). Price does not include CE certificate.
  • This ticket type is is for non-MAGPS members.

    (Price does not include CE certificate.)

    NOTE: If you are interested in becoming a member and paying the discounted member rate, please visit: www.magps.org/registration
  • This ticket type is for attendees who have been granted a conference scholarship. You will enter the code you received on the following page.

    (Price does not include CE certificate.)

    For more information on applying for a conference scholarship, please visit: www.magps.org/scholarships
  • This ticket type is for conference presenters and Small Group Leaders (SGLs).

    (Note: This price does not include CEs.)
  • This ticket type is reserved for students and retirees.
Register


PULL UP A CHAIR: 
Starting a Group and Making It Go

Presented by
Sonia Kahn, PsyD, CGP & Michael Magenheimer, PsyD, CGP

Visit our conference website for MORE details, including the schedule, presenter bios, and recommended readings.

Group therapy is incredibly powerful. You've read the theory and seen the research; you believe in the healing potential of the interpersonal process and have probably even experienced it yourself. You want to run groups, and there's a group (or several) you've been meaning to start. But something keeps getting in the way.

Pull Up a Chair: Starting a Group and Making It Go is a day-long workshop for therapists who are ready to move from simply reading about group therapy to actually starting and leading their own process groups. This intensive walks through the full arc of getting a group off the ground.

Attendees will learn to identify the specific mechanisms that promote healing and growth in group therapy and how to talk about them with prospective members; consider methods of group composition that promote cohesion and longevity; and navigate the ethical concerns that may arise when making group referrals to ongoing patients. Attendees will also have the opportunity to explore their own resistances and countertransferences to group therapy in the here-and-now, identifying internalized (and often unconscious) conflicts that may be keeping them from pulling up the chair(s).

This is a practical, clinically grounded seminar designed for the realities of private practice. Come ready to work.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  1. Identify the therapeutic mechanisms that make an interpersonal process group uniquely effective, including group composition factors.
  2. Evaluate a patient's appropriateness for a group therapy referral through an assessment of their ego strength, current readiness, and resistances.
  3. Make appropriate group therapy referrals that consider the importance of timing, contextualizing group within a patient's existing treatment plan, and working effectively with common forms of resistance.
  4. Identify how their own countertransference(s) may impact a group's launch and strategies for effectively managing these reactions.
  5. Employ here-and-now facilitation techniques that set a frame and foundation for process-oriented work from the first session.

6.5 CE/CME (pending approval) available for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and physicians. †The content for this activity has been submitted for continuing education credits. For questions, email cce@ubhc.rutgers.edu.

REGISTRATION RATES AND INFORMATION

Park Place – 10th Floor Lounge 
1655 N. Fort Myer Drive
Arlington, VA 22209

Saturday, June 13, 2026
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Conference Fees:
MAGPS Member: $200
Non-Member: $250
New Professional: $180
Student/Retiree: $140
Scholarship Recipients: Free
CE/CME Processing Fee: $50

**Note: For attendees interested in obtaining continuing education credit, an additional CE/CME Processing Fee will be applied. Payment can be processed at time of registration.

Scholarships: Available — apply by May 30, 2026. Learn more here.

Registration Deadline: Saturday, June 6, 2026

Cancellation Policy: Full refund less $25 if cancellation made by Sunday, June 7; no refunds after that date.

Getting There: Park Place is located approximately 1.5 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro Station. Ample street and garage parking is also available nearby.

For registration assistance, or to register by phone, contact our conference registrar at registration@magps.org.

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