BELFAST — A professional development program, “The Power of Group Work,” will be offered June 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center, in Belfast.

The program benefits professionals interested in maximizing group work skills, including educators, healthcare workers, clergy, social workers and mental health professionals.

“Group work is alive and well,” said program presenter Wendy Satin Rapaport, in a news release, “and so is your sense of humor — a serious coping mechanism and facilitating skill in creating group cohesiveness.”

The program will focus on gaining insight into therapeutic or curative factors that make groups work; appreciating the power of group work; predicting, normalizing and handling any challenges in running groups; and experiencing the effectiveness of groups as a group leader, group member and group observer.

The value of humor in group work also will be a focus.

Rapaport is a licensed clinical psychologist on the faculty at the University of Miami School of Medicine Diabetes Research Institute and the UMaine School of Social Work. She also is in private practice in Boca Raton, Florida, and has specialized in individual, marital, family and group therapy for 40 years.

A professional writer, Rapaport has published more than 65 articles and lectures around the country. She was awarded the National Health Information Award for her book When Diabetes Hits Home: The Whole Family’s Guide to Emotional Health. Additional books authored by Rapaport include Approaches to Behavior: Changing the Dynamic Between Patients and Professionals in Care and Education, On the Couch with the ‘Good Enough’ Poet and “Friendship Matters: memoir, life lessons, laughter.

A fee of $95 per person; $50 for UMaine students, is required at the time of registration for the program. Need-based scholarships are available.

For more information, to register or to request a scholarship application or a reasonable accommodation, visit hutchinsoncenter.umaine.edu or contact Michelle Patten, 338-8002; michelle.patten@maine.edu

The Hutchinson Center, an outreach center of the University of Maine, is committed to offering high-quality professional development programs to the greater Midcoast Maine community.