Group Counseling

Question 1

What is a task group?

Answer 1

Designed to help organizations run better; foster development of internal climate of organization

Question 2

What is a psycho-educational group?

Answer 2

Preventative in nature; relatively healthy, not a lot of mental issues, but may be at risk of developing issues (anti-bullying, chemical abuse…)
o Least sophisticated, but cannot be naïve when conducting them because you can sensitize people to the issue (making it more likely to occur)
o Skill-build and use role-playing with kids to help them develop the skills they need

Question 3

What is a counseling group?

Answer 3

Remedial in nature; small issues (issues of daily living - anxious features, interpersonal issues…)
o Problem-solving strategies; shorter group length
o Predominately in educational settings (public schools and colleges)

Question 4

What is a psychotherapy group?

Answer 4

Generally long-term groups for people with severe personality disorders, serious addictions
• Intense and complex issues
• Competent group leaders should manage these groups

Question 5

What is a brief group?

Answer 5

A very few number of sessions, time-limited (such as group sessions after receiving DUI)

Question 6

What are some multicultural issues in group counseling?

Answer 6

Any type of diversity (age, race, gender, ethnicity, religious background, sexual identity)
o Counselors need to be aware of where they are regarding their own background, identity, attitudes, biases…
o Issues with dealing with diverse clients
• Racism
• Gender issues
• Age
• Family background
• Cultural background
• Religious background
o Become intimately aware of the populations you will be working with (all of the issues above)

Question 7

What are personal characteristics of therapists that can contribute to our ability to work with a group?

Answer 7

o Willingness to model what you want to see in group members
o Presence – Comes from humanistic counseling theory, and implies that the therapist is impacted by what people have to say (not distracted and emotionally present)
o Caring about the clients (you can’t care about them all, but at least try to in order to work with them ethically or refer them out if you can’t)
o Openness – does not imply dumping your personal problems on your client, but using stories to make a point or to be helpful (for benefit of client)
o Non-defensiveness in coping with criticism
o Personal power - does not imply the counselor accrue power, but helping the clients become empowered (should be one of your goals with each client)
o A commitment to self-care – Make a commitment to emotionally, physically, and relationally take care of yourself to avoid burnout
o Self-awareness – Aware of own issues, values, thin spots in learning

Question 8

What are the group leadership skills?

Answer 8

Some professionals say technical competence and empathy are most important
o	Attending and listening skills
o	Reflecting
o	Clarifying
o	Summarizing
o	Facilitating
o	Empathizing
o	Interpreting
o	Questioning – Be careful about turning a session into an interrogation
o	Linking
o	Confronting
o	Supporting
o	Blocking – Put a stop to certain behaviors (such as a group member showing hostility to another group member, development of cliques, passive-aggressive behavior)
o	Assessing – Evaluating each person in the group on how they’re relating to other members, how the member is progressing/regressing, the effectiveness of interventions 
o	Modeling
o	Suggesting
o	Initiating
o	Evaluating
o	Terminating

Question 9

What are advantages of having a co-leader in group counseling?

Answer 9

• Reduction of burnout
• Bouncing ideas off each other
• Someone can fill in
• One can deal with an unruly/emotional member while the other deals with group
• Can step in when transference or counter-transference occurs
• Multicultural concerns

Question 10

What are disadvantages of having a co-leader in group counseling?

Answer 10

• Lack of synchronization with goals
• Competition and rivalry
• No trust or respect for each other’s competence
• Siding against the other leader
• If the co-leaders are romantically involved, they may attempt to deal with their own relationship issues during sessions

Question 11

What is the difference between ethical and legal issues?

Answer 11

o Ethical issues: Standards that govern the conduct of professional members. Usually higher than legal standards; come from our profession (ACA).
o Legal issues: Minimum standards society will tolerate, which are enforced by the rule of law.

Question 12

What are some important aspects of informed consent when leading a group?

Answer 12

Inform people about what you need to inform them of (written is best) prior to services being provided, and the client has the right to say no
o Who you are (background, qualifications, experiences)
o What kind of group/service you’re providing
o Rights/responsibilities the client has

Question 13

What are some important aspects of involuntary membership in a group?

Answer 13

o Involuntary clients have the same rights to informed consent as voluntary clients
o Just add what happens if they don’t come or cause disruption
o Confidentiality still applies; however, the therapist may have a reporting requirement and needs inform the client of these responsibilities

Question 14

What are some psychological risks for group members?

Answer 14

o Inappropriate confrontation (teach people how to disagree)

o Violations of confidentiality

Question 15

What are the risks of confidentiality in group sessions?

Answer 15

o No privileged communications for group sessions
o Exceptions to Privileged Communication:
• Threat to themselves or others
 Lethality, specificity, and how well planned
• Abuse or neglect of children
 Your duty is not to investigate, your duty is to report
• Ordered by court
• Supervisees in supervisory relationship
• Clients give written permission
o Confidentiality of Minors in Groups
• Written permission from parents to be in group
• Tell parents that we will tell them generally how child is doing, but not specifics

Question 16

Define social justice.

Answer 16

Empower people
• Hard to instill a sense of empowerment in people who have never felt empowered in their own lives due to oppression, abuse, ect

Question 17

What are some ethical concerns in using group techniques?

Answer 17

o Do not use techniques to enhance your power, to stir up people emotionally, pressure people, or techniques you are not familiar with
o If you’re using techniques that require physical contact, know what you’re doing and why; be careful about people touching other people

Question 18

Where do you go to get further training as a group leader?

Answer 18

o Join a group as a member
o Find a mentor who has led groups and is experienced in the field
o Know your limitations, who you’re comfortable and who you’re uncomfortable talking with

Question 19

Define Standard of Care.

Answer 19

What people with your credentials do in the course of the day within the geographical region you live in
o This is a legal & professional term
o You want to practice within the acceptable standard of care for your credentials

Question 20

What is Person-Centered (Rogerian) therapy?

Answer 20

Put people in the right circumstances and conditions and people over time will be able to make the right choices and they will have the ability to understand what their issues and needs are in order to move forward.
• Right conditions – A very accepting, supportive, non-judgmental context (a counselor that listens, summarizes, clarifies, supports, and accepts the individual)
• Not advice, but very respectful and gave people the opportunity

Question 21

What is CBT?

Answer 21

Approaches where the therapist is very actively involved, almost with a teaching approach. Suggests that behavior can be learned and unlearned.
• If you change the way you think about issues, you can change the way you feel

Question 22

What is Solution-Focused Therapy good for?

Answer 22

Mminor issues without any significant depth

Question 23

What are the number of issues you could run into when developing a proposal for a group?

Answer 23

• Rationale: What is the need for the group?
• Objectives: Are you able to clearly state the goals for the group? Are they SMART goals?
• Practical Considerations: What type of membership? What is the location, time, frequency?
• Procedures: What are the procedures to complete your goals? Are they appropriate and realistic?
• Evaluation: How are you going to evaluate how well your goals were met?

Question 24

Who do you screen in and who do you screen out of a group?

Answer 24

• Fit topic of group, agree to be there, want to talk about themselves and the topics presented
• You don’t want people who don’t have the issue, don’t want to be there, who will not be willing to talk about themselves, very angry people, actively psychotic, malignantly suicidal/homicidal, really narcissistic, be overly controlling
• Suspicious (paranoid) people do not do well in groups, and should be screened very well for some groupsof the group

Question 25

How would you screen people (what techniques)?

Answer 25

Goal is to prevent potential harm to clients

 - Diversity – not too much but not too little
 - Preliminary screening sessions: A private session between the candidate and the leader
      - Encourage candidate to ask a lot of questions about the group
      - The leader would ask a lot of questions to determine readiness for a group
 - If no preliminary sessions, try to meet with each member individually to discuss and prepare them for group processes and rules (also do this as part of initial session)

Question 26

How is screening a two-way process?

Answer 26

The therapist and client both screen each other, so the therapist needs to be transparent

Question 27

How does a group leader establish trust?

Answer 27

o Be genuine, some what transparent
o Modeling
• Good communication/listening skills
o Manage conflict well
o Create a safe space – no harm or judgment
o Have empathy – understand how they are feeling

Question 28

What are the two skills needed to be a successful counselor?

Answer 28

Technical competence and empathy

Question 29

Discuss self-disclosure from the therapist.

Answer 29

Know when it’s appropriate and useful for treatment of patients. Generally, limit disclosure and know when to hold back

Question 30

Discuss goals in a group setting.

Answer 30

o Personal goals: Will vary for each person
o Group goals: Development of trust, including self-awareness, member-to-member feedback
o Therapist helps set goals

Question 31

What can members do to get the most from their group experience?

Answer 31

o Be an active participant, not an observer
o Express persistently felt thoughts, not fleeting thoughts/feelings
o The member ultimately decides how much to disclose to other members – no coercion, invite members to disclose
o Expect some disruption of your life
• Things discussed in group may lead some to make major life changes (change jobs, marriage, divorce…)
o Pay attention to consistent feedback

Question 32

Discuss homework in group settings.

Answer 32

Going out and making cognitive and behavioral changes between therapy sessions
o Talk to people about changes that they have to put into effect
o Change is their responsibility

Question 33

For a group to work, it’s a balance of responsibility between _____ and _____.

Answer 33

Group members and the group leader