NAMI Family Support Group

1. NAMI Family Support Group Facilitator TrainingGroup Dynamics

2. Why Do We Need A Model? • to help navigate around the predictable negative group dynamics which can torpedo a successful group process • a support group can operate much like a personality with a will of its own, and that collective group willfulness can pull even the most experienced facilitator off course

3. Group Dynamics What is a group? Two or more people interacting with each other 2= Dyad 3= Trio 10-15 = Work Group 20-500 = Audience 200-1000 = Crowd

4. Group Dynamics • NAMI Family Support Groups are peer working groups of 10-15 people • Support groups should be maintained at this size

5. What are Group Dynamics? • Groups act and react as individuals do • Groups have many of the same dynamic (interactive) problems as individuals • If you understand how individuals react in certain circumstances, you can explain problems that arise in groups.

6. Dynamic issues that concern groups • Leadership • Boundaries • Rules • Goals • Subject Matter

7. Problems caused by negative group dynamics in support groups

8. Problems in group dynamics • Related to leadership • Related to group boundaries • Related to observing group rules • Related to group goals • Related to our specific group subject – mental illness

9. Problems related toLeadership

10. Problems related to Group Boundaries

11. Problems related to Observing Group Rules

12. Problems related to Group Goals

13. Problems related to theGroup Subject – Mental Illness

14. What is the remedy for these problems? • A Capable Leader • Clear Boundaries • Stating and Enforcing Rules of Relationship • Clarifying Goals and Purposes • Identifying the “Common Cause” in a Positive and Optimistic Manner

15. Problem Dynamics • Challenges to leadership • Negative group dynamics start to rule

16. Why do people go to a Support Group? • To leave feeling better than when they came • To feel that they contributed as well as they were supported • To feel in a very real way that they have something in common with others.

17. What do they want at a Support Group? • A safe place • To not be judged • Boundaries that are enforced • Capable Facilitators

18. Encouraging a group to do its own work

19. You are present to help the group meet its needs, not to have the group help you meet yours

20. A well-functioning Support Group • Has a skilled Facilitator • Does its own work • Involves as many group members as possible • Encourages self-enforced observation of behavior guidelines

21. A well-functioning support group • Allows group members to feel they have contributed • Provides strategies • Connects participants to resources and services • Makes members feel they have benefited from attending

22. NAMI Family Support GroupStrategies, Structures and Group Processes The model that ensures an effective support group meeting

23. What Facilitators need to know • To recognize problems in group dynamics – there are cues that the Facilitator needs to transition the group • Know what structure or group process to use to remedy the problem • Have the skills to shift the group from where they are to where they need to go

24. Cues and Remedies • Each Structure and Group Process exists to remedy a particular set of negative dynamics that commonly occur in support groups. • Strategies help to shift the group smoothly and naturally

25. Identifying negative dynamics (cues) and possible remedies (structure or process)

26. Dynamics and Remedies When you hear this Cue: • Someone taking too long during Opening Stories Move to this Structure: Agenda • 1-2 minute time limit for Opening Stories

27. When you hear this Cue: • A “downer” meeting needs to be closed on a positive note Move to this Structure: Agenda • Closing

28. When you hear this Cue: • People can’t stay in the present Move to this Structure: Group Guidelines • Keep it in the here and now

29. When you hear this Cue: • Someone or the group is negative or hopeless Move to this Structure: Principles of Support • A principle can represent something we can all strive for

30. When you hear this Cue: • Someone expresses intense feelings (emotional stage reactions of feeling overwhelmed, anger, grief) Move to this Structure: Emotional Stages Chart • Acknowledge that strong emotions fall within the predictable stagesof emotional response

31. When you hear this Cue: • Someone relates a traumatic event (violence, involuntary commitment, arrest, disappearance, suicide, or traumatic loss) Move to this Process:Hot Potatoes • A step by step way to address traumatic events and close the discussion of the trauma on a positive note

32. When you hear this Cue: • A basic issue or question can be clarified by the group Move to this Process: Group Wisdom • Provide basic information or helpful and constructive ideas to a group member, share coping suggestions

33. When you hear this Cue: • A discouraged person needs new options to solve a long-standing problem which they keep bringing back to the group and nothing suggested seems to work Move to this Process: Problem Solving • Moves person away from what doesn’t work by offering new/different options to approach their problem

34. NAMI Family Support Group Facilitators • “Take charge” when shifting the group and then step back to let the group do its own work • Shouldn’t sound or act like therapists • Provide a safe, nurturing place

35. What is the PRIMARY DANGER for facilitators of a structured support group model?

36. Not using the model Structures and Processes

37. Remember, as a capable Facilitator: You are present to help the group meet its needs, not have the group help you meet yours.