Leah_Kiser_u7a1_EffectiveGroups

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1 Unit 7: Foundations of Effective Group Work Leah Kiser School of Counseling and Human Services, Capella University COUN5241: Group Counseling & Psychotherapy Dr. D. Lenares-Solomon February 28, 2021

2 Unit 7: Foundations of Effective Group Work Group counseling is a great treatment choice for individuals who struggle with numerous intrapersonal and interpersonal concerns. Specific group counseling types have different focuses and goals in helping people invoke change through a sense of community that shows individuals that they are not alone in their problems (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2018). The overall goal of group counseling is to increase knowledge of self and others for individuals, help members of the group clarify changes they want to make in their life, provide tools to make change, and support those changes within the group. There are multiple types of groups used in counseling: task groups, psychoeducational groups, counseling groups, psychotherapy groups, and brief groups. However, the most common groups used in the educational setting by school counselors are task, psychoeducational, or counseling groups (Corey, et al., 2018). In this case, the school counselor has been tasked with creating a psychoeducational group to help improve academic outcomes of struggling eighth grade students. Psychoeducational groups involve members that are well- functioning but need assistance in a specific deficit that they have – in this case, academic knowledge and skills (Corey, et al., 2018). Therefore, the purpose of this group is to improve the student’s grades in their four core classes, language arts, science, social studies, and math, by developing effective academic skills, maintaining or improving student attendance, and improve academic self-efficacy disrupting dysfunctional thinking about academic success. Theoretical Orientation for Group Work Two theoretical orientations that are helpful for group work, especially with adolescents, are solution-focused counseling and reality therapy. When counseling children or adolescents, it is important for school counselors to have an idea of different theoretical orientations for counseling, even if they primarily operate from one orientation, so they are able to adjust their

3 counseling strategy based on the needs of the student or students (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). First, solution focused therapy is a therapeutic strategy that draws the student’s attention away from the problem and focuses on developing a solution. The questioning is key in solution focused therapy and is the primary means of this therapeutic strategy. The key to questioning in solution focused therapy is to have the student imagine life beyond the problem, describe what that life looks like, and have the client develop paths or ways to achieve that ideal life thus he/she is focused on creating solutions (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). On the other hand, the use of reality therapy helps the student recognize that their problems come from unsatisfying relationships and situations. With proper use of reality therapy, students begin to address their thinking around problematic relationships and situations and learn to adjust their behaviors and reactions to get the results they want for their life. The major focus of reality is problem-solving in the present, and not looking back or living in the past (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). Considering the goals of this group, both reality therapy and solution-focused counseling can help adjust dysfunctional thinking surrounding academic performance and academics self- efficacy of failing students. One of the core techniques of a reality therapy-based approach is the WDEP system of thinking. In this system, students are asked to address their wants and desires, which could look like better grades or wanting to graduate eighth grade, and then think about the actions they are already doing to achieve that goal and evaluate what actions are working and which actions tend to be getting in the way of achieving that goal. From this evaluation, person lead change occurs, and students are able to adjust behaviors and thoughts to achieve their wants and desires and lead a happier life (Wubbolding, Casstevens, & Fulkerson, 2017). While reality- based approaches are able to address total behavior that is able to direct and indirectly affect the success of individuals in the group, it can often be difficult for young adolescent to grasp or

4 understand and requires a highly experienced and well-practiced counselor to navigate it successfully with this age group (Henderson & Thompson, 2016; Wubbolding, Casstevens, & Fulkerson, 2017). Therefore, as a new counselor working with this group of students for the first time on their academic struggles, a solution-focused approach may be best for the success of the group. In working with adolescents, solution focused counseling goals and strategies align well with the developmental stages of this age group. Solution focused counseling is all about building collaborative relationships, developing practical goals for problem solving, defining and developing solutions rather than focus on the problem, and increase the use of solution-focused behaviors in the child or adolescent (Murphy, 2014). This is ideal for group settings where students are expected to work through their problems together and challenge each other to recognize the expectations to their academic struggles. Also, solution focused counseling aligns well with general goals of group counseling like developing effective conversational and problem-solving skills that can used throughout the lifespan (Henderson & Thompson, 2017; Murphy, 2014). Stages of Group Counseling The formation stage of a group is vital for the progress of the rest of the group because it lays the foundations of group members getting to know each other, the purpose of the group, and why they are involved in the group (Corey, et al., 2018). In this stage, members of the group are introduced to each other and begin the initial stages of counseling. Members may begin to feel each other out and figure out their own place in the group; increasing their own self-awareness in the group. It is important for the counselor to note that in the initial stage it is natural for members to be self-conscious or feel uncomfortable and to give group members time to adjust to

5 the new setting and get their bearings. Specifically, in working with adolescences, some members may struggle to feel connected to the group and may need more time to adjust to being part of the group than other members (Corey, et al., 2018). In this moment, the counselor may consider drawing attention to the feeling of discomfort and use it as a moment for other members to connect based on those natural feelings of getting comfortable in this group setting. Although it may seem counterproductive, it may be really helpful in building connections, understanding, and trust to break groups into smaller groups and discuss a focus question related to the objective of the group. This will allow members to get to know members more intimately and build stronger connections for later in the transition stage when members will be pushed a bit more emotionally by the group or the group leaders. The transition stage is essentially the stage in which the training wheels come off and the true purpose of the counseling group is explored on a deeper level (Corey, et al., 2018). Group leaders and members may begin to challenge each other as they are pushed to reveal more intense emotions, thoughts, and beliefs on specific topics or events affecting their life. This may look like group members being supportively questioned by the group leaders about their goals reacted to group counseling and the commitment of members to effectively addressing the issues related to the purpose of the group (Corey, et al., 2018). School counselors in this stage may begin to appropriately nudge and probe members into exploring their issues more deeply while still allowing members to set boundaries and limits to their level of sharing with the group. Group members begin to develop their goals and reflect on what they want to achieve in being a member of this counseling group ( Delucia-Waack, 2000). Also, group members start to build meaningful connections with other group members, which is also a focus of the transition stage. Overall, in this stage the members of the group are beginning to become less dependent on the

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