SW Practice: Groups Flashcards
Group Development Stages: Forming
Orientation, hesitant, participation, search for meaning and dependency.
Achieve Primary Tasks and Attend to Social Relationships.
Group Development Stages: Storming
Conflict, dominance, rebellion.
Shifts from preoccupation with acceptance approval, commitment to the group definition of accepting behavior, and the search for orientation, structure, and meaning to a preoccupation with dominance control, and power.
Group Development Stages: Norming
Development of Cohesiveness. Becomes a cohesive unit and closeness. Clients work on the real reason that they are in therapy.
Group Development Stages: Performing
The continuation of the norm that has been set.
Group Development Stages: Adjourning
The ending of the group sessions
Brief Groups
Efficient for loss and grief,
Time limited,
Though the range is wide the average is 12 sessions, no more than 20-25 visits.
The shortest group lifespan that can meet to accomplish a specific goal.
A time efficient group therapy group.
Burnout
Change job, get overwhelmed, give up, check out
Catharsis
Ventilating feelings.
Strong feeling usually leads to greater group cohesion.
Relieves tension and anxiety.
Think of confession with a priest.
Combined therapy
Same therapist treats client in both group and individual treatment
Concurrent therapy
situation where client is more than one therapy at one time; i.e. group and individual.
Confidentiality
Full is impossible, all statements must be respected. Have unless risk to individual group should have to improve trust.
Conjoint therapy
therapy where client has both group and individual therapy with different therapist.
Counter-transference
redirection of psychotherapist’s feelings toward a client - or, more generally, as a therapist’s emotional entanglement with a client. Projecting past experience prejudices on to members by therapist, it’s bad.
Ecological perspective
Identify strengths from clients, families, cultures, communities, and policies to understand behavior (ECOMAP)
Empty chair exercise
Client imagines target, in chair, talks to, then trades places and uses perceived perspective to answer back report.
Encounter Groups
Therapy group for normal aka process group used for small group research many different types.
Many different forms/titles.
Focus on here and now.
Interpersonal experiences outside societal norms, in order to work on problems.
Strive for some change, yet vague in what this change will be.
Experience growth, not therapy.
Ethical group practice
Follow apa guidelines. Just be ethical. It’s not that hard.
Evaluation
Assesses services provided.
Effective?
Efficient?
Could it have been done better?
Evidence-based practice
Combine well-researched interactions with clinical experience to guide divert.
Develop a clear question, “What are the most effective strategies to treat a 44-year old recently divorced male who has a bipolar disorder?”
Look at literature, make sure you are qualified, monitor evaluation carefully, share results with other coworkers.
Existential Struggles
This is when members learn the limit of what a group can provide.
Ultimately they must take responsibility for their own lives.
Emphasis on death, freedom, isolation, life purpose relating to struggles of existence = life vs death
Feminist intervention and therapy
Built off feminist therapy traditional roles and dysfunctional individual identity.
Principals of Feminist Therapy
- Opposed to inequalities between men and women
- Believe traditional sex roles are pathological, and therefore dysfunctional
- Women need individaul identity to be healthy
Using Feminist Roles in Groups
- Address learned roles like “helplessness”
2. Learn to identify covert processes like “coyness”
Group Development Stages in a Women’s Group
- Preaffiliation (standard)
- Establishing a Relational base
- Mutual and Interpersonal empathy
- Challenge and Change
- Termination (Standard)
Group Cohesion
Group analogue to relationship in individual therapy.
How close we’ll work together.
Important in group and individual therapy.
Need for any and all progress.
Group Size
3-4 = too small
5-10 = acceptable
7-8 = ideal (according to Yalom)
Here and Now
Group therapy framework focusing on events and feelings happening in the moment.
Use to accent and overcome issues.
Must be happening within the group at the time.
Helps the patients learn interpersonal skills such as: communicate more deeply, get closer to others, express positive feelings, to become more aware of personal mannerisms that push people away, to listen, to offer support, to reveal oneself, to form friendship.
Hidden agendas
Real reasons individuals are in group.
Sometimes will never divulge.
Impatient Groups
Therapy talking place within institutional setting.
Most likely mandatory group.
Insight
Inward viewing, of oneself.
Four levels:
- Objective perspective
- Complex interactional patterns of behavior
- motivational insight
- genetic insight
Also known as inference
Involuntary clients
Clients mandated to attend group.
Will have more resistance, hurt cohesion
Marathon Groups
Group that meets for a prolonged session, 24-48 hours with little or no breaks, sleeping and eating will in the same room.
Minorities
Marginalized groups.
Those divulsion from majority of group.
Essential for verging perspective
“Social Workers need to practice without discrimination and with respect, knowledge, and skills related to clients age, class, gender, marital status, national origin, race religion, sex.” - Culture Competency
4 ways of approaching minorities
- Unprejudiced nondiscriminatory - not racist
- Unprejudiced Discriminator - reluctant racist
- Prejudiced non discriminator - feels racist and acts nonracisit
- Prejudiced discriminator - feels racist and acts racist
Outpatient groups
therapy taking place from public area.
Clients go home after more likely voluntary clients
Preparatory group work
training/interviewing with potential clients to get good fit, and teach how to act within the group.
Process focus
Attention to development by the group.
When distracted only therapist is immune when settings back on track.
Psycho educational groups
Offered to mental health individual, help deal with problematic issues providing with information, structured enhance knowledge.
RAP framework for culturally competent practice
Recognize - don’t be color blind
Anticipate - an ounce of prevention
Problem Solve - bring your toolbox
Resistence
Going against change. Can be due to uncomfort, routine
Self-determination
Belief in self-required for change.
Make choices for own life.
Self-disclosure
required for group therapy to work, need to open to group but not too fast.
Refers to therapists’ intentional, verbal or nonverbal disclosure of personal information
Self-Help groups
heavy on institution of hope lack of professional leaders, instead, members with group experience. Think of 12 step program.
Social Microcosm
relationships and behaviors form inside the group.
The group gradually becomes a microcosm of the world the participant members live in.
The members will disclose their real world patterns over time given the opportunity to receive feedback and change these patterns.
Bring in all the behaviors from the outside world into the group to work on and alter.
Standards for culturally competent practice with diverse groups
NASW, ethics/values, self-awareness, cross cultural knowledge, service diligent, and empowerment and advocacy, diverse workforce, professional education, languages diversity, cross cultural leadership.
Strengths Perspective
Positive frameworks, focus in on what the client does have empowerment, look for strengths, magnify them to client.
Stress and signs of stress
stress makes living problems strive for homeostasis.
5 stage response to stress
- alarm
- resistance
- exhaustion
- experience of event
- self-talk
Support groups
groups to benefit members, get them through life struggles
T-groups
Experimental training group in human relations.
Discuss one’s own behavior study network, they are themselves within.
Termination and evaluation
at the end of group, go over progress and gains of group, check if needs were met, can be traumatic experience (ending), can be at any times by any/all plates.
Therapist Transparency
Therapist self-disclosure can be supporting/normalizing of client behavior. This is the therapist being open to the group.
One objection is the fear of escalation - the fear that once you, the therapist, reveal yourself, the group will only demand more.
There is considerable research that therapist self-disclosure encourages greater openness between group members.
Self disclosure resulted in an immediate increase in cohesiveness.
Therapists need to reveal the relevant material about themselves that helps group members realize that the therapist can understand and empathize with the client’s experiences.
There and then
Events of past when talked about, history of client.
Needs to be brought to here and now for therapeutic effect.
Time management
help people become more effective.
Transference
Attitudes toward the therapist that had been transferred from earlier attitudes toward important figures in the client’s life.
These feelings are new additions of old impulses. Attributing assumptions on behavior/personality of the therapist/members by members according to previous life experiences.
It is a normal part of group work.
Treatment group
Groups that focuses on correcting dysfunctional behavior of members, emotional behavior or interpersonal challenges.
Require a lot of preparation and homework, sometimes require specialized training.
Explores problems in depth.
If you point out an issue, make sure to compliment as well.
7 Stages of Treatment group
- Pre-Affiliation
- Power and control
- Intimacy
- Differentiation
- Separation/termination
- Avoid abrupt endings
- Give group members explicit time for session to end
Value of group therapy to clients
Discovering and assertions previously unknown or unacceptable parts of self was most valued
Psycho-dynamic Theory
The unconscious is the root of human behavior.
Unconscious wishes determine actions
Attachment Theory
Early bonding occurs between mom and infant and subsequently plays a critical role in child’s future capacity to provide and sustain opportunities for their own children to attach.
Happens within first few years of life.
Cognitive Theory
Thoughts largely shape moods and behaviors.
Thinking affects feelings.
Strengths Perspective
Uncover client assets, resources, goals, and dreams, also examines the potential of the environment to nurture and support the strengths of individuals. Focus on successes, resources, and goals.
Narrative Theory
Focus on empowerment, collaboration, and viewing problems in social context.
Also use client centered approach
Solution Focused Approach
Client is recognized as expert of their own life and able to determine best ways to affect change.
