Courtney Baker, the Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut’s Coordinator of Intensive In-Home Therapy and Group Therapy Services, is among the presenters at this year’s 28th Annual International Symposium on Social Work with Groups, Inc., taking place in San Diego in mid-October.

Baker, a licensed clinical social worker, will co-present a workshop entitled, “Creating Harmony in the Co-Facilitation Relationship.” The workshop is designed to help social workers explore the benefits and challenges of co-leading a group, the goal of which is to develop and implement a best practice model to guide group workers in improving communication about facilitating style, group experience and expectations. Baker will be joined by Ariel Botta, LICSW, who is the Group Therapy Team Coordinator at Children’s Hospital Boston in the outpatient Department of Psychiatry.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “Orchestrating the Power of Groups: Overture, Movements and Finale” and presentation topics will focus on group therapy in underserved populations such as community mental health clinics. Hosted by the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (AASWG), the conference will be attended by social workers from all over the world who utilize group therapy in their work.

Prior to joining CGC in 2003, Baker served as a social work intern at Boston’s Children’s Hospital in the Department of Psychiatry/Child and Family Programs. Prior to that, she worked as a social work intern at the Compass Therapeutic Day School/Emergency Program in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts. Baker earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Ithaca College and a master of social work from the Boston University School of Social Work. Furthermore, she is certified in Multi-Dimensional Family Therapy (MDFT).