For our first group session, the focus was on personal growth. Prior to beginning our group sessions, the group leader, Dr. Wallace, emailed the class a brochure that was related to Personal Growth. After reviewing the brochure, I gained a better understanding on the purpose of our group session and the goals of the group session. The purpose is to all me as the participant to become more aware of my vision, current strengths, and areas for enhancement as well as identifying a path for moving forward. The goal are to identify my vision, address two personal goals related to my vision, and develop a plan of action with realistic and measurable steps that will help me meet my goals. After reviewing our group norms that were created on the first …show more content…
(Corey, Corey & Corey, 2014). This was our first group session and we were in the initial stage. According to Corey et al., during the initial stage, group members tend to present the dimensions of themselves, exploration and orientation are conducted, and a certain degree of anxiety is present (Corey et al., 2014). Usually in this stage, members may experience shyness. Even though some of us were newly acquainted, there weren’t a lot of shyness characteristics present. Our group leader was effective and allowed us to overcome that possible barrier. (Corey et al., 2014) Dr. Wallace began our session with an ice breaker activity. For the icebreaker, we were given a blank index card by Dr. Wallace and were asked to write our name in the center of the card. After writing we were asked to answer the following …show more content…
The Adlerian theory focuses on the individual’s goals toward success and dealing with tasks in life and the Existential theory focuses on the present and what one is becoming (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). Most of the group participants shared similar beliefs and gave appropriate responses to the group leader’s questions. Based on the group participants’ responses, the majority of the group enjoyed traveling, was family oriented, and set goals within five years to become success which is the goal of the Adlerian approach. The group participants shared personal aspects about themselves, gave positive feedback, and were respectful. Prior to the group sessions, I was a bit reluctant on how open I should be but that quickly change once I saw how positive everyone was towards one another. My role and my classmates’ roles in the group session were the group participants. As group participants, we were attentive and active listeners. Our group leader was Dr. Wallace and she was an effective group leader. Dr Wallace was an active listener, participated in the discussion, and showed a sincere interest in the conversation. She kept a calm tone, good eye contact, and had a good sense of humor which allowed us to become more relaxed and open to talk. The therapeutic factors that were present during the group session were universality and cohesiveness (The American Group
Looking for new and more effective ways to treat the issues of their clients, counselors and therapists may often begin to consider leading a group therapy session. Group therapy is a form of therapy in which a therapist either treats or provides psychoeducational skills to a small, carefully planned target group of individuals in an effort to ameliorate the issues and dysfunctions of each individual in that particular group of patients together (Scheidlinger, 2004). In this group, therapists often utilize some of the psychotherapy theories such as Gestalt, transactional analysis, psychotherapy or psychodrama which they often use to treat clients individually.
Both groups can be seen as open systems because they "do not always maintain a steady state but [they are] constantly developing and moving towards a steady state or hemostasis" (Posthuma, 2002, p. 18). Moreover, group development can be evaluated from three stages. While both groups go through these stages, self-help groups experience them in a different way when compared to therapeutic groups. The three stages of group development are the pre-commitment, commitment, and termination
One objective is to utilize the most powerful tool at psychotherapy’s disposal; the group experience. By one individual sharing their experience within the group, the other members are able to identify their similar experiences and work toward their own growth. Group therapy also increases self-awareness of clients in order for them to think introspectively in order to make a change in behaviors, increases social comfort, allowing exploration of new behaviors, provide and obtain support, develop communication skills, and promote interactions with others using truth and
The primary roles that were incorporated into group were defined by the leaders of group. Those leaders included the social workers and group psychologists, as well as students when appropriate. The leaders focused on task and maintenance roles, such as; coordinator, elaborator, evaluator, information seeker, initiator/contributor, opinion giver, procedural technician, encourager, gatekeeper, harmonizer, and standard setter. The individual roles was primarily the dominator. Due to the dominator portion of group, it changed the atmosphere and will be discussed later.
Especially, when it comes to physical and emotional responsibility. In our sessions, I felt as though the group leaders provided an enormous sense of emotional support. I felt as though the environment was stable and conducive to learning. The setting at first was somewhat tense, but this was acceptable considering that many of us were unfamiliar with the group therapy process. I myself had never undergone a group therapy session, whatsoever. I did, however, appreciate the fact that the environment was quite fair and impartial. The leaders were very nonjudgmental and affirmative in their responses when it came to each and every person’s comments and feedback. Everyone was engaged and actively participated. The group was not hostile and everyone participated in the conversations as well as the exercises chosen. I also felt as though everyone was emotionally tied in. Meaning that if someone was dealing with a personal issue or their emotions were all over the place then the group was susceptible to that individuals needs. For example, we experienced group member who had experienced the loss of a friend. Immediately, each group member became involved and concerned. We were immediately concerned with whether or not she was taking time to grieve or if she was simply doing enough to take time out for herself. In all, the environment over the course of each therapy session displayed a great sense of empathy, concern and support. Another session, in particular, that truly stands out to me in terms of support was when we were asked to share our life experiences and dreams. I can recall stating that I was going to school in order to finally do something for myself. I had completed my bachelor’s degree at the age of 40 and had plans to continue education until I complete my PhD. What was so different was the fact that they understood. They understood, I was trying
Gilovich, T., & Gilovich, T. (2013). Chapter 12/ Groups. In Social psychology. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Jones, A. (1998). 104 Activities that build: Self-esteem, teamwork, communication, anger management, self-discovery & coping skills. Richland, WA: Rec Room Publishing
...rs to deal with any problems that arise from the group. It is important for them to be alert to the risks of the group. To reduce any unnecessary risks, I will understand each member’s limits, respect their requests, be invitational and not dictatorial, describe their behavior and not be judgmental, and avoid harsh verbal confrontations. These risks will also be discussed during the initial session of the group. I will counteract psychological risks by using various techniques such as blocking, caring confrontation, questioning, and assessing. I have taken precautionary measures as well by contacting my mentors and consultants and alerting them about the risks of the group I am running. If there is an ethical or legal concern, it will be documented and taken to a clinical supervisor. In addition, I have liability protection and malpractice insurance in place.
Earley, Dave & Rod Dempsey, The Pocket Guide To Leading A Small Group: 52 ways to
After completing the group task of preparing a presentation on, transferring individual facilitation skills into a group work setting I will critically reflect upon my own participation. I will evaluate my self-awareness while working in the group, as well as those around me. The way that I personally dealt with any issues that arose within the group and how that affected the group dynamics. I will also briefly discuss the roles in which each member of the group took and how role allocation affected, the group dynamics and the working relationships. Finally I will evaluate my work having discussed it with my fellow group members.
..., has also allowed me to gain some insight into what it takes to be a leader within each of the four major group types. Research into these area’s has also provided me with a sense of assurance, that I didn’t have before, in that it has assured me that the techniques I am learning in my counseling program are designed to mold me into the group leader that I wish to be.
There are many different techniques and approaches to group counseling. The approach that I found to be the most interesting is the existential approach. “The existential perspective holds that we define ourselves by our choices” (Corey & Corey, 2014, p.114). This approach can be successful in therapy because it allows one to oversee one’s future. In this paper, I’m going to generally discuss the existential approach to therapy and where it can be used.
Individual counseling, the client is working on personal issues without having to share with others, but only with the counselor that is there to reinforce patterns of behavior, or to help make any other personal adjustments. They are the focus of the session, without having to share the spot light with others. Many people are not comfortable talking in a group, especially issues that are hurting and need personal attention. Although not much differences have been shown to differentiate the effects of group counseling to individual counseling, a study done by Kalavainen et al., using a population of obese children showed that group therapy did benefit to help and support the child’s weight. “There were many therapeutic factors like group support, group learning and group optimism, which were linked with working in the groups and which most probably influenced the participants in the group program” (Kalavainen, Korppi, & Nuutinen (2007). Group support can be of advantage in many issues that people are trying to work out in
Throughout the readings and discussions, the characteristics of the initial stage of groups were explored. Please list five of these characteristics and explain how you would manage these situations. (20 points)
In reflection on my learning experience in the group class, I have gained clarity on what sorts of competencies of facilitating group therapy, as well as in what areas social workers and students tend to feel most strong in my practice. Regarding my specific gains in competencies, I feel that I learned the most and was most likely to gain specific group facilitating competencies at the weekly class. Learning in group class is taught me the tools to use to work with groups therapy, communities and also with individuals through the process of changes. In this past three months I think a lot of opportunities have been created to shadowing with (beside and behind) and being a part of group members to learn. In addition, this class has taught me about the skills and how effectively help