From Theory to Practice: Developing a Taxonomy of Identity Leadership Behaviours for Group Therapists

ABSTRACT Group therapy is an effective treatment for a range of common mental health conditions. However, limited research has examined specific behaviours that therapists can engage in to help maximise and enhance the benefits of group therapy. We sought to address this by developing a taxonomy of therapist behaviours informed by identity leadership theory, a theoretical framework that has shown promise in helping to understand effective group facilitation strategies. We employed a qualitative approach, triangulating across 45 h of video recordings from group therapy sessions, six interviews with clients about their facilitators, and the expertise of the authorship team. Data were drawn from a clinical trial of the Groups 4 Health group therapy programme for people with social anxiety. The final taxonomy consisted of 11 behaviours aligned with identity leadership theory (e.g., collective language, self‐disclosure of relevant experiences, collaborative leadership with clients). Our taxonomy provides theoretically and empirically grounded identity leadership strategies for group therapy facilitation and a foundation for future research and training.