Group Reflection Paper

What would you do if one of you team members isn’t finished with something and you don’t get a team point?

Thursday 21st of April, my clinical group met at Memorial Hospital for our Mental Health clinical. The Pavilion program follows a schedule which I find to be very important for the people here as it helps them get back into a routine. I’d like to talk about the recreation group which was one of the many groups we attended during our short visit.

What occupation did your group session address? What was the goal for group session? The occupation addressed was meal prep/setup and leisure participation. The goal was to utilize their long term memory and motivate them to recall positive, emotional memories.

Tell us about the most successful group project you have ever been a part of

The values that I had discovered on my own during my life experience had made me become the person that I am now. In my childhood I can’t mention much because I really don’t remember but I can describe the values that I have gain during my own life experience. Now that I have my family I do apply this values for example education being very important, honesty and truthful, religion/spiritualty as common beliefs with God. Having consideration on treating others well and good communication with the family that I think is a one important family values. During this Mutual Group Aid first wanted to listen to the girls issue on how the topics relate their own life of viewing things. When the girls started engaging more in the topic I realize that

That is very interesting information regarding AMA’s stance on prior authorizations. My health plan recently implemented that a prior authorization is required, we were one of last health plans to put this in place. Yes, one reason is to reduce over utilization of services, it is also performed for the safety of our members (the patient), and also to help reduce the risk of the member or patient being stuck with a large bill due to the fact that the service may be investigative or not medically necessary. I am sure this process is burdensome to physician’s office and I am sure they have had to work out a new process to reduce any bottlenecks and ineffeciencies. I found reading the AMA prior authorization toolkit interesting, they

Toseland and Rivas (2012) describes group work as a goal directed process, where planned and orderly worker activities are carried out in the context of professional practice with people. These authors also describe a dual focus of group work, both on the individual tasks and on the group tasks. In my experience, group work is collaborating with others to create something meaningful. It is necessary in group work, in my opinion, to utilize your strengths in a purposeful way to best complete the task at hand. Thus far in our group work project, it has been invaluable to witness these processes unfold first hand; it has also been just as easy to see the confusion and difficulties that accompany such endeavours both on an individual level and on a group level.

Our group consisted of five members. The first step was to meet the group and get to know each other. However, for this meeting, two members including me didn’t show up. This made it harder for me to share my ideas and I ended up working more individually than as a group. After the first meeting, two of the hardest working members of the group strike an idea for a service to launch in the UK,something which would benefit us health wise and financially. We then came up with questions and started answering them and thus brainstormed a plan.They then split the work into six sub-topics. This made the researching task very easy, as we were five and each one of us chose a sub-topic that we wanted to do and the sixth sub topic was split between two members. There were no arguments over the selection of the sub-topics, and that was a positive sign about the group for us. The group was always in touch with each other through a WhatsApp group and emails, which is very important for group work. “Communication-the human connection- is key to career and personal success” (Paul J Meyer). The work was more individual based now, I chose Business Strategy and was willing to do half of Operational Strategy as it was the sub topic that required the most work so we decided to split it into two. During this time, is where I felt we were not functioning well because no one volunteered nor was interested to help me with the operational strategy. However, we all finished our sub topics and submitted it to one of the members who then created the powerpoint and sent it to all of us. There were no arguments until we were supposed to meet after a class to practice our presentation as a group and to make final changes. Only two of the members attended, unfortunately I did not go to this one as well and one of the members was really unsatisfied and unhappy with our commitment towards the presentation. After talking to the member, making sure she is satisfied and to be more committed towards the task, We then decided as a group to meet

During the last group session, the group discussed the topic of the upcoming termination of the group therapy dynamic. There were two insights that were experienced and maybe a couple more during this last meeting. The first insight was when the group members were asked how they are feeling that the end of the sessions is on the horizon. The immediate reaction for myself was that I felt good and bad. The good was that this meant that the semester was coming to and end and my body and mind needs a much-deserved break. The workload was not the issue; however, this semester has been a trying one personally with family concerns being added. Furthermore, learning how to lead a group and the experience of being led in a group has benefited my learning tremendously. In that now I understand further wanting it means to be on the other side of counseling. Earlier in the program the experienced gain by being put in the chair has made a similar impact on being put in the group dynamic has added that fragile and scared feeling that is not maximized by the counselor and the client encounter. The group practice is a completely different animal in that not only does the person have to trust the group leader they have to learn to trust the group. The negative part about leaving the group sessions behind is that I really learned about my fellow students and have been entrusted with personal issues that not too many other people in their lives might be informed on.

My group consisted of four people. They were Allie Holley, Triana Stephens, Renee Philips, and myself. Overall, I would say that we all worked very well together. There were some bumps in the road, but I think we completed the task well.

Retrospectively, group communication was held on two occasions at Glyndwr University. Other than our usual meetings on campus all team members communicated via Facebook messenger and email. My previous work history has included working in managerial positions, coaching, mentoring, and formal advocacy. Consequently, advising and guiding others is an area of expertise which greatly interests me and one which I hope to build and expand upon in the future. However, the storming stage made me question my previous held misconceptions regarding this phrase. Due to my experience I expected there to be conflict regarding the integrity and character of others, mainly with a focus on team members seeking to shirk responsibility, or an altercation due

It's universally known that group assignments can be a headache to deal with. Working in a group can be very complicated whether they are at school or at work. However, group assignments do not have to be difficult. There are many ways one can make this situation more desirable. Through test and trials, many people have learned ways to deal with groups in ways that can lead to new and exciting relationships with your group members. The point of group work is to help you as an individual understand that in life you never go in alone. There will always be someone besides you whether you like them or not you should be able to work together to reach your goal. I was paired with a group for one of my courses and I learned through our interactions how to deal with my group and found that it becomes easier with these simple steps.

Another experience I really would like to discuss is how to act and react to diversity in the workplace. I was so impressed by some points Miya Ju shared upon her study and working experience in New Zealand, the guest speaker invited by Professor Orgad. One is always taking initiatives and another is being open-minded. In the workplace, doing so will help you stand out from your co-workers, make your organization more successful in the market. Moreover, it will help you build self-confidence and spot more opportunities and potential improvements. For instance, in my group, I take initiative several times even though sometimes I encourage other members to do so but not always succeed. Like in the Lego play exercise, after several minutes’ discussion when we got the assigned toy bricks, others were confused and expressed no idea, so I took the initiative to structure and present the story about an alumnus graduated from the University of Waikato. I demonstrated my concept to other group members and encouraged them to cooperate in subgroups to build up all bricks as what the story demanded. Ultimately, Professor Orgad commented our group story was interesting and creative. For me, the important issue was we all contributed to the group, for the reason that we have same goals to fulfil every task and achieve good results. Moreover, every time I take initiative is not only for my group but also for myself progress as a team player and even as a team leader. Therefore, in future,

The group member I identified most with was Andrew in the first program. I identified with Andrew because he stated he felt like an outsider at times. He felt that it was easier to talk with men than women. However, in my case, I feel as though it is easier to talk with women than men in a group. Overall, I feel hesitant to share because most of my group participation has been with practically strangers. Like the video, I believe it is difficult to talk out loud about personal issues. Talking out loud about issues that may cause anxiety has been a problem for me personally for many years. However, after dialoguing with others within groups, I tend to become more comfortable talking and opening up. In the first program, as the group members began to talk in the first segment, there was a difference in the ability to relate to each other. I believe the dyads influenced open up and talking out loud. “Working in pairs facilitates member interaction because talking to one person seems less threatening than addressing the entire group” (p. 18). At the beginning of the sessions the group leaders asked each member to look around the room to gain a feel of the group members. The purpose of assessing the tone of the room will create an awareness of everyone in the room. Also, everyone introduced themselves by saying their names.

This speech was something that I had never done before. I had given group presentations in the past but never anything as long or as formal as this. Overall I was pleased with the way our presentation went and I am glad I was able to get experience in doing activities like this one.