Cohesive Therapy Group

At one point in a person life, they will participated in a group whether it is part of a specific committee, therapy, or social group. In recent years, there has been a rise in counseling within a group forum veering from the tradition individual counseling. Therapists, physiologist, and counselors believe that form of counseling is beneficial to both counselor and client. This allows the counselor to help several clients at once rather than one at a time decreasing their strenuous workload and demanding work hours. This form of counseling integrate individual that share similar issues, struggles, and experiences into one forum. This not only allows the clients to learn from the therapist but from their fellow group members. The group experience

I learned two significant things about group counseling in this course. The first thing that I learned is the importance of setting up a treatment plan. The intention is to follow the client from their entrance into the program until the client is discharged. In this process the clients’ problems are identified through various assessments and as each problem is addressed, it is checked off of the list. Once all of the problems are checked off of the list, the client is considered as having completed the plan. This plan is especially important because it evokes thoughtful conversation between the client and the counselor and is the best method to gain information from the client regarding the help they want to receive. The second most significant thing that I learned about group counseling is how to design a group from start to finish. From pre group design, planning the goals of the group and determining the members to setting up the environment and structuring the sessions, each step adds its own important components to designing group counseling.

The process of running a group therapy session is a unique time to tests a person’s skills abilities when it comes to facilitating that group. This paper will mainly look at ways when it comes to my learning's of this class that I took ways; I will also show examples and skills to run a good group therapy session. This whole paper is a reflection of the many things that I took was on being an active group counselor facilitator.

The first time I personally experienced attending a group therapy was part of my course. Through this experience i can say that group therapy can be very powerful in healing a person emotionally and since the members were from the same class, where we all have similar goals. Group therapy helped all of us to establish meaningful and intimate relationship and we also recognised commanality of members needs and problems and to develop a sense of bonding and we became very close and we could also be there for each other during emotionally trying times.It also helped me to increase self-growth, self acceptance and self –confidence among oneself and group members. Group therapy is a powerful venue for growth and change. It also helped me in expressing my emotions in a healthy way.

They must be able to acknowledge their clients’ perspective and not let their client’s experience affect their own. Therapists must acquire a level of honesty, trust and authenticity in their relationship with their clients and must treat their clients with worth and dignity. These core conditions should be expertise that a therapist should possess as it set up an atmosphere of change and growth for the client (Shebib, 2014).

In the current literature 90% of individuals who were involved in-group therapy had a significant increase in their mental wellbeing after one week of treatment (Emond, 2012). However, it is important to identify the effectiveness of each group therapy, since group therapy incorporates a range of different types of therapies, which are aimed for diverse goals and outcomes. Therefore, this essay will discuss and compare the history, effectiveness and underlying issues of psycho-educational and interpersonal group therapies. Furthermore, from the evidenced based literature, it was shown that interpersonal group therapy and psycho-educational group therapy have great outcomes in stabilizing the mental status of in-patient’s in the mental health setting.

Clients seek group therapy that is potentially a positive and supportive environment that is strong enough to withstand the challenges that may be thrown at a group or member of the group. The group is led by a leader that has the ability to listen to what is said, to support the progress of the group and to model the behaviors the group has set to achieve (Stevens & Smith, 2013).There are a variety of counseling skills necessary to effectively

Creating an effective therapy group requires a therapist/coordinator to consider ten key elements before creating a group and to consider how this group will evolve into become productive for both clients and therapist. Creating an effective group means considering what type of group this will be for example will it be a an addiction group (self-help) (Brook,, 2003). A support group for military veterans an educational group to learn new skills like parenting, a Psychoeducational group they deals with partners or relatives, a therapy group for behavior change or a tasks group to meet certain solutions (Brook,, 2003). The next part of creating a cohesive group is to decide the purpose of the group for example do you hope your group will learn

Class lecture and reading textbook help me to understand that the way I will open session and closing session will mater in group member’s participations. According to the text book and class lecture best open way of group will help members gain focus. In the past couple of weeks I participate and observed from outside group in class co-facilitation group therapy. From this experience, I observe the need for important tasks to ensure a great experience from everyone, how opening session is important to pursuit. For example, if I am served a delicious meal on unclean plate even though I am hungry and I badly want a food, unclean plates will cause me to lose my appetite. In this example, what influence me to refuse this delicious food are unclean

Track 1 residency really taught me so much about myself. We had so much time to ask questions about how to counsel people. We did some relaxing exercises, and we had the chance to learn about other people. I learned that it is important to be aware of how you are handling what you are experiencing in that very moment. This was a time to ask questions, and to learn how to ask people questions. In track 2, I hope to further enhance my skills what learning how to use the skills that I already have.

Upon taking this course I have learned that group therapy consist of psychotherapy treatment that allows individuals to come in contact with each other. As members approach one another they are strangers at this point. They begin to communicate with each other about their issues in an interpersonal setting. In group therapy, I have also learned and seen from experiences that some members would like to be the dominant one in the group who enjoys taking over the group sessions, be demeaning and manipulative towards others members and the therapist. The statement that was verbalized by the group member towards the other client transitioned to the storming stage. This stage consist of conflict, dominance and rebellion (Yalom 314). The member voiced his/her statement with anger towards the highly educated group member. As the group leader the intervention that I will implement to facilitate a corrective emotional experience will be as discussed in chapter 5, relates to culture building. Yalom states that an unwritten code of behavioral rules or norms should be implemented to remind the clients of the expectancy in the group (Yalom 120). Implementing or practicing the eleven factors for a conducive interpersonal session should include: instillation of hope, universality, altruism, development of socializing techniques and interpersonal learning just to name a few.

My internship site is a group mental health practice. There are more than 20 clinicians with various specialties at 2 office locations, providing services to community clients. Among the providers, there are psychologists, master’s level mental health counselors, and nurse practitioners. Psychologists and counselors see people for psychotherapy and nurse practitioners primary see people for mediation management. The majority of clients are insurance clients. There are a small number of private pay clients who are seen at this site. The clinicians at this site work with people of all ages and with a wide variety of concerns.

Looking for new and more effective ways to treat the issues of their clients, counselors and therapists may often begin to consider leading a group therapy session. Group therapy is a form of therapy in which a therapist either treats or provides psychoeducational skills to a small, carefully planned target group of individuals in an effort to ameliorate the issues and dysfunctions of each individual in that particular group of patients together (Scheidlinger, 2004). In this group, therapists often utilize some of the psychotherapy theories such as Gestalt, transactional analysis, psychotherapy or psychodrama which they often use to treat clients individually.

Group counseling not only allows for members to learn from their therapist, it also allows for them to learn from personal experiences of other members and to gain insights and ideas on the issues they are confronting. Group counseling also helps in improving social skills among the members as they are able to interact freely in and out of the group. This way members can be more confident and open to interactions during the sessions. Group therapy influences growth and change to those involved. Also, it increases their self-awareness and enables them to gain sustenance from each other. Group counseling is also favorable to the therapist as they are able to gain faster and more efficient results for their members by counseling them simultaneously rather than one at a time. Jacobs, Mason, Harvill and Schimmel (2012) describe group counseling

Client that would work well within these approaches will be cognitively able to communicate and relate to others. Those who are willing to acknowledge themselves and accept others would do well also. In addition, individuals who are willing to accept responsibility for their thoughts, actions and consequences would also be good candidates. The reason these types of persons would work well with this approach is the member has to be self-motivating and willing to encourage others in addition to able to follow the process cognitively, of the format of the group.