Chapter 10-Teaching Group Counseling: A Constructivist Approach Flashcards
In his book, How People Change, Alex Whelis (1973) suggests that identity consists of:
- Integration of behavior and that we are more than just how we behave.
- What we learn affects how we think, how we feel, and what we feel capable of in the world
Robert Kegan (1982, 1998) might say that educators aim to promote students’ development
From interpersonal way of knowing (where rules are defined) to institutional way of knowing, in which students are able to step back from rules.
What are the objectives of the group counseling course?
- Provide knowledge and skills needed to lead, with supervision, a variety of counseling groups.
- Grounded in competencies specified by the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW; 2000).
In what types of groups will students gain knowledge and skills?
- Psychotherapy process group
- Psychoeducational group
- Task group.
What roles will students take on in the group counseling course?
- group members
- group leaders
- process observers
What will students experience in the group sessions?
- opening exercise
- the work of the group
- “processing” how the group went
- closing exercise
What courses are a benefit for students to have taken before the group counseling course?
- basic counseling skills course
2. Theories course
The structure of the course consists of four elements:
- Process groups
- Psychoeducational class groups
- Task groups
- Psychoeducational group project
How can a group counseling course avoid dual roles of the instructor?
- Have an instructor of record who grades, teachers content.
- Counselor instructor, who leads the process group, behaves as a counselor
Describe the process group for the group counseling class.
Students experience a counseling group firsthand, guided by a skilled group counselor.
No grade
Confidential
What are the initial parameters of the process group?
- Led by counselor instructor
- Discusses rules and roles and boundaries
- Trust building
- Students asked to choose something to work on
What are the next steps of how the group counseling class can run?
- Students each lead at least 1 group.
2. Role of process observers
What should the process observers note in the group session?
- emotional depth
- ways in which people interact
- whether something important is accomplished
whether important issues or processes or emotions are missed
How might the group leader open the group?
- “Feeling round”
2. Students encouraged away from ambiguous statements of feelings to more vulnerable
What can the group leader do after the opening exercise?
- Check in on unfinished business.
2. Ask if anyone wants time
How can the group leader urge group interaction?
- Model group leadership skills
- Have planned activities ready if no one wants to share
- Do experiential activity (guided relaxation)
What does the group leader do at the end of the group?
Have members process the group
Close group with 1 sentences feeling or unfinished business for next group
What are the roles of counselor instructors in the group class?
- Model helpful group leadership
- Explain what they are doing and why
- Link conceptual material from text to the experience
How might journaling be used in the group class?
Students focus on:
- how group dynamics evolved
- Their own experience
- How their experience relates group process and becoming group facilitator
- Experiences as group facilitators and/or process observers
What can counselor instructors glean from journal entries?
Material for:
- future processing sessions
- encouraging students
- clarifying any misconceptions
What strong supports might students need during the process group in the group class?
(a) very clear expectations of process group participants
(b) step-by-step instructions about how to write reflection papers or journal entries
(c) exemplars of reflection papers or journal entries, specific feedback
(d) modeling and explaining when students experience anxieties
(e) giving examples of structured activities for starting groups
(f) offering specific questions to guide processing
What are the tenets for instructing the psychoeducational part of the group class?
- Not lecture
2. One part: roles leader, process observer, and time to process the in-class group experience
How might the instructor run the first few weeks of the psychoeducational group class?
Discussion group where instructor models skill from text
What can the instructor do after the first few weeks of class?
- Ask for co-leaders.
2. Ensure that everyone has a chance to be a co-leader.
When modeling skills for group class, what does the instructor do?
- Opens the group
- Checks in with members about key questions on week’s
- Triggering question
- Models basic listening skills
What are 3 basic leadership skills?
- Creating a safe group
- facilitating interaction
- intervening to help maintain focus of conversation between participants
What are 3 other basic leadership skills?
- Being sensitive to culturally diverse needs
- Helping members set goals
- Appropriately responding to the stage of the group
What are ways the instructor can help maintain the focus of conversation between participants?
- Clarifying and summarizing participants’ statements
- Eliciting members’ participation in a supportive way
- Redirecting comments and observations
- Reinforcing desired behaviors
- Modeling appropriate risk taking
- Stimulating group affect
- Working with tension and conflict
How can the instructor urge group members to actively participate in making the group effective?
- Listening attentively and respectfully
- Attending to other class members nonverbally
- Expressing oneself clearly and concisely
- Giving appropriate feedback
- Being responsible for own feelings and observations using “I” statements
- Engaging in both support and challenge
5 topics of content for group class
- Definitions,
- Types of groups
- Group dynamics
- Effective group leadership
- Leadership skills
4 other topics of content for group class
- Screening potential members
- Beginning and organizing a group
- Assessment and evaluation
- Goal setting
4 final topics for group class
- Stages of groups
- Problem clients
- Termination issues
- Groups for specific populations
During class, while student leaders facilitate the group, the instructor can do a number of things:
- Sit beside leaders and whisper ideas
- Coach student leaders with very specific directions
- Take timeouts to process or model or instruct
- At times, takeover leadership to model particular skills
What information might the instructor provide in an exemplar of a reflection paper, with side comments?
Which parts of it qualify as:
- evaluation
- examples
- group process
- self-reflection
- application of textbook content
What are limits to the use of psychoeducational groups?
- Course content cannot be fully experienced, such as groups for children, teens, elderly
- Can feel a bit repetitive after 12 weeks
Describe task groups
- Students design a psychoeducational group they might conduct later
What are 2 purposes of the task group?
- To experience and learn about process of a task group
2. To learn about psychoeducational group
What is the process of operating as a task group?
- Select a leader and a process observer (rotate roles during semester)
- Group members pay attention to both content and process:
A. Develop the psychoeducational program
B. Respond to the process observer’s comments
What is an important role for the instructor while helping task groups?
- Initiate discussions about the task group process to determine what is going well and what is not
- Offer any assistance, instruction, or support needed
Describe 3 possible instructions for Psychoeducational Group Project.
- Review 2 commercially developed psychoeducational groups
- Choose specific topic for your group
- Describe theoretical orientation used for the group
Describe 3 more possible instructions for Psychoeducational Group Project.
- Content for each of the 10 weeks of the group
- Target audience
- Marketing the group
Describe 5final instructions for the the Pyschoeducational Group Project.
- parameters of the group (size, frequency, ages of participants)
- policy on attendance, contact outside of group
- forms given to the group to sign
- Expectations during stages of the group
- Potential problems
How can instructor assists members in conflict?
(1) make a clear statement of their position
(2) identify and express feelings clearly
3) identify values and beliefs that underlie feelings
(4) clearly express these to the other person
(5) state what they want from the other person
