Group CLS 6805.01 Dr. Rushing

1. Group CLS 6805.01 Dr. Rushing Week One

2. Increasing use of Groups • In the U.S. and abroad • Used for therapeutic and/or educational purposes • Used in a variety of settings • Often more effective than the individual approach • May need training beyond graduate school

3. Types of Groups • Group Counseling • Group Psychotherapy • Psychoeducational Groups • Task Facilitation Groups

4. Counseling Groups • Preventive and Remedial aims: • Focus may be educational, personal, social, vocational • Members largely determine content & aims • Involves interpersonal process stressing conscious thoughts, feelings, & behaviors • Members don’t require extensive personality reconstruction; tends to be growth orientation • Group leaders facilitate interaction among members; assist members to establish personal goals

5. Advantages of Counseling Groups • Members may achieve personal goals • Provides a natural laboratory in a safe environment • Benefits for specific populations • Groups for children • Groups for adolescents • Groups for college students • Groups for older people

6. Psychotherapy Groups • Focus on remediation, treatment, and personality reconstruction • Awareness in both past and present • Designed to correct emotional and behavioral problems • Techniques include inducing regression to earlier experiences • Tend to be long-term • Clinical or counseling psychologists, licensed mental health counselors

7. Psychoeducational Groups • Contain content themes that provide structure for sessions • Aim to help members develop specific skills and gain information; short term. • Examples: social skills training; assertiveness training; stress management; cognitive therapy • Divorce & anger management in schools • HIV/AIDS support group • Domestic violence group

8. Task/Work Groups • Center around decision-making and problem-solving • Assist task forces, committees • Leaders focus on principles of group process to foster reaching work goals • If interpersonal issues within the group are ignored, cooperation and collaboration will not develop • guiding principles of warm-up, action, & closure

9. What are key characteristics for an effective group leader??

10. Key Characteristics • Key personal characteristics of the effective group leader • Presence • Personal power • Courage • Willingness to challenge oneself • Authenticity • Sense of identity • Inventiveness and creativity `

11. Issues For Beginning Group Leaders • Anxiety • Self awareness • Self-disclosure • Too little • Too much • Challenges of working in a system • Institutional demands and policies • Cost • Inadequate training

12. Group Leadership Skills • Active listening, restating, and clarifying • Summarizing • Questioning • Interpreting • Confronting • Reflecting feelings • Empathizing and supporting • Facilitating • Linking • Initiating • Setting goals • Evaluating • Giving feedback • Suggesting • Protecting • Disclosing • Modeling • Linking • Blocking • Terminating

13. Skills for Opening & Closing Groups • Procedures for opening a group session • Have members briefly check in • Link sessions • Be attentive to unresolved issues from prior sessions • Create an agenda • Procedures for closing a group session • Encourage members to identify what they learned, how they perceived the session, summarize the group process & progress toward their goals • Members may want to identify topics for next session • Group leaders may express their own reactions to session

14. Diversity Competence • Entails appreciating and understanding diversity in culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class, religion, sexual identity, age, & physical characteristics or limitations and conceptualizing theories and techniques in a multicultural context • Three areas involved in diversity competence: • Beliefs and attitudes of the group leader • Knowledge to become an effective leader • Skills and intervention strategies

15. Multicultural Counseling • Become aware of your biases and values • Attempt to understand the world from the member’s vantage point • Gain knowledge about the dynamics of oppression, racism, discrimination, and stereotyping • Study the traditions and values of the members of your group • Learn general knowledge, but avoid stereotyping • Be open to learning from your members • Recognize that diversity can enhance the group process

16. Ethical Issues in Group Work • Rights of group participants • Psychological risks in groups • Socializing among group members • Ethics of group leader’s actions • Impact of leader’s values on the group • Issues in multicultural group counseling • Uses and misuses of group techniques • Group leader competence • Liability and malpractice

17. Rights of Group Members • Informed consent • Pregroup disclosures – appropriateness, information, purpose, ground rules, psychological risks, rights and responsibilities • Rights during group – expectations, assistance, reasonable safeguards to minimize risks, confidentiality, dignity, respect • Involuntary groups • Informed consent • Enlist cooperation • Freedom to leave a group • Freedom from coercion • Right to confidentiality • Exceptions – harm to self or others, issue in a court action • With minors – in schools

18. Psychological Risks in Groups • Types of risks • Life changes that cause disruptions • Hostile and destructive confrontations • Scapegoating • Harmful socializing among members • Ways of reducing risks • Know members’ limits • Respect their requests • Invitational style vs. dictatorial style • Describe behavior rather than judging

19. Other Ethical Issues • Group leader’s actions • Awareness of and conformity to ethical standards • Group leader’s values • Imposing vs. exposing values • Socializing among group members • Positive or negative • Multicultural ethics • Awareness of cultural values and how they can influence group processes and dynamics • Transcend cultural encapsulation • Avoid imposing worldview on members

20. Using Group Techniques • Principles for using group techniques effectively • Have a rationale for technique • Avoid misusing techniques to influence members in a direction • Techniques are best used to highlight material members bring up • Techniques are for helping members acquire self-understanding • Modify certain techniques based on cultural background of a member • Techniques are invitational—they can be a collaborative effort between leader and member

21. Group Leader Competence • Determine level of competence • Training in use of technique • Theoretical and therapeutic rationale • Experience technique as member of group • Continuing education • Professional training standards • Core knowledge & skill competencies • Specialized training • Adjuncts to training of group counselors • Participation in personal counseling • Participation in group • Participation in experiential training workshops

22. Liability and Malpractice • Be aware of local, state laws & institutional policies • Screen & prepare group members • Develop written informed consent procedures – confidentiality, etc. • Have adequate training • Consult with colleagues when warranted • P. 68 for other guidelines • Become familiar with the Professional Standards for Training of Group Workers (Association for Specialists in Group Work) (ASGW, 2000) http://www.asgw.org/training_standards.htm