Planning, Transition, Working Flashcards
Developing a Proposal for a Group - 5 components
- Rationale. Do you have a clear and convincing rationale for your group, and can you present data to support your rationale? Are you able to answer questions that might be raised about the need for this group?
- Objectives. Can you clearly state what you most want to attain and how you will go about doing so? Are your objectives specific, measurable, and attainable within the specified time?
- Practical considerations. Is the membership defined? Are meeting times, frequency of meetings, and duration of the group reasonable? Is the physical location of the group easily accessible to all members?
- Procedures. Have you selected specfic procedures to meet the stated objectives? Are these procedures appropriate and realistic for the given population?
- Evaluation. Does your proposal contain strategies for evaluating how well the stated objectives were met? Are your evaluation methods objective, practical, and relevant?
Concerns
Your proposal needs to predict the concerns that might come up within the agency and address them.
Practical Considerations
Who will participate?
How long will the group be?
Where will the participants come from?
Where will the group meet?
What format will the group take?
Who will lead the group?
What supports do you need?
How many participants will you need or allow?
How much will the process cost in time and money?
Pre – Group Meeting
- Time for setting expectations, establishing group rules and procedures, role preparation, skill building
- An ideal time to focus on the clients’ perceptions, expectations, and concerns
- Positively associated with group cohesion and members’ satisfaction; preparing members for a group experience is a key aspect of informed consent
- A standard practice for members of short-term therapy groups
- Demystifying the therapeutic process is central in preparing members for a group
- Describe how group work helps members enhance interpersonal relationships
- Encourage members to raise questions about the purpose and goals of the group
- Anticipate frustrations and disappointments participants are likely to encounter
- Establish some procedures that will facilitate group process
- Instill faith in group work
- Discuss ground rules about confidentiality, and subgrouping
Characteristics at the Initial Stage
A time for exploration and orientation
Group members are unsure of how they are expected to behave.
Group members will move to offering suggestions.
Hidden Agendas
An issue that is not openly acknowledged and discussed.
“The elephant in the room”.
To uncover requires patience, willingness to constantly check with participants that they are saying what they need.
What participants are not saying is critical as well.
Here and now focus
It’s okay to talk about the anxieties but what are we going to do right now to help it?
Be in the moment
Ask members to make connections between personal problems they are facing in their world and their experience in the group.
Group members have a natural tendency to avoid the here and now in order to protect themselves.
Focus on Self vs Focus on Others
May be a way to avoid speaking about or working on their own feelings.
Help individual examine their own reactions to others.
Primary task – get group members to focus on themselves.
Trust necessary in order to be open.
Creating Trust
Empathy
Genuineness
Self-Disclosure
Respect
Caring Confrontation
Maintaining Trust
Group Norms
Shared beliefs about expected behaviors aimed at making groups function effectively.
Implicit vs. Explicit norms
Implicit norms – develop because of preconceived ideas about what takes place in a group. Ie – assumptions.
May be a result of modeling by the leader.
(for example, that a group is a
place where everything must be said, with no regard for privacy)
Explicit norms – standards of behaviour.
- Attend regularly and be on time
- Be personal and share meaningful aspects of yourself.
- Give feedback to one another.
Characteristics of Transition Stage
Anxiety
Testing and Building Trust
Defensiveness and Resistance
Struggle for Control
Conflict
Confrontation
Challenges to the Leader
Cory says the basic purpose of a therapeutic (counseling) group is to …
provide people with opportunities to see themselves in a new light and get a more accurate picture of how others perceive them
List Problem Behav of Grp Members
Silence and Lack of Participation
Monopolistic Behaviour
Storytelling
Questioning
Giving Advice
Dependency
Offering Pseudosupport
Members Becoming Assistant Leaders
Hostile Behaviour
Acting Superior
Socializing
Intellectualizing
How to Draw Out Quiet Members
Directly
Delicately
Use of Dyads
Use of Rounds
Use of Written Exercises
Use of Eyes
Use of Movement Exercises
Transference
feelings clients project onto the leader
