Psy/311 Week 1 Reflection

I chose the GriefShare support group because as nurses we will need to help our patients and their families with the grief process when a loved one passes away. On March 29, 2014, I met Claudette St. John, the group leader, at 6:45pm at Northwest Christian Church in Acworth, GA. Rick Baldwin also attended the meeting. The group meets from 7-8:30pm. Claudette shared that she has been doing grief support classes for the past 20 years and the past 3 years she has been doing GriefShare at Northwest Christian. She lost her teenage daughter in a car accident 20 years ago. She expressed that there really are not any rules, other than just respecting each individual. She tasks herself with keeping the meetings on track and has a democratic leadership style. GriefShare is a Christian based program consisting of 13 weekly session. Participants do not need to attend all 13 sessions, the sessions can also be done individually. A workbook is given to those that are participating in the program. GriefShare’s goal is to help those experiencing grief, work through the process and recognize the different aspects of grief that they may encounter.

As I observed the N.A. group, I compared Hepworth 's, Direct Social Work Practice, five stages of group development. The Preaffiliation stage involves observation and feeling out the environment of the group; members may be hesitant to speak or test out certain behaviors to see reactions from other members of the group or the facilitator (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, & Strom-Gottfried, 2017, 2013). Returning group members greeted each other with hugs, handshakes, pat on the back, while newcomers sat quietly observing others. The facilitator provided an introduction and instructions for participation. Each member was instructed to introduce the first name, state "I am an addict" and take turns reading from the

For my first PLE I will write a response to chapter four about sleep and activity during sleep. Sleep is a very important part of everyday life because without it our bodies would be deprived. Sleep is split into a few different categories, some being REM sleep or rapid eye movement. REM sleep is often called active sleep because it is associated with heightened body and brain activity during which dreams normally occur. Then there is NREM sleep or non rapid eye movement sleep. This is where the brain and the body go into a dormant sleep where there is hardly any brain activity This NREM sleep is broken down into four stages which i will explain later. The first 90 minutes of sleep are the most important because that is the point where you

I chose the group as an alternative to an addiction group that had a general idea similar to AA. When the group was canceled for the evening, I was offered to observe the 12Stone Care grief group as a second choice, held at the same time on November 16th. The 12Stone Care grief group provided valuable support to members and non-members of the church alike, and the sole requirement was to have lost a loved one. L.H., the widowed leader of the group, lost her husband to cancer ten years ago and started the semester-long grief group in 2013 in order to encourage others who are or have been in the grieving process (L.H., personal communication, November 16, 2015). Her goal in 12Stone Care is a “prayer is that [one] will find freedom from [their] struggles and healing in Christ” (12Stone Church,

Psychoeducational groups emphasize, “using education methods to acquire information and develop related meaning and skills.” (Brown, 1997, p.1) This grief support group works as a psychoeducational group, through focusing on education and knowledge for healing and growth. In this group, members value knowledge as it further brings growth through their grief journey. The facilitator educates the group with thirty-minute videos made by grief experts to support the members in learning proper coping skills and processing certain aspects of their grief. The group also characterizes a psychoeducational group through providing emotional support with discussion before and after each video. During this short discussion time the group worked together, to help apply the skills to their lives and process topics discusses in the video.

As I began the Group Process and Dynamics course, I was excited to become educated and experienced with group counseling. Group counseling is a topic I have enjoyed in the past and have continued to be fascinated by. I have learned the elements of a group process through observation and research. The group process consists of several elements that come together when the group begins and ends when the group is terminated. I have observed group norms, group cohesion, the generation of trust, the manifestation of resistance, the emergence of conflict and resolution, healing forces, the reactions of group members, and the various stages a group develops through (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2010). Throughout this course, I was able to derive a conceptualization of groups. From this course I will take with me the understanding of how effective group counseling can be for individuals. Groups have been known to be as effective as individual therapy and a great source of treatment. Group counseling is designed as a part of a treatment plan that helps individuals and guide them through change. Group counseling is a versatile practice, which can be used in several settings and with different populations (Corey et al., 2010). This course has given me the opportunity to reflect on my own personal leadership style, the challenges that may arise, and an action plan to continue my group leadership knowledge and skills.

I will be designing a twelve week support group for those who have lost someone to suicide. The purpose of support groups is “to help members cope with stressful life events and revitalize existing coping abilities (Toseland) but the purpose of this specific support group will be to give members involved a sense of normality and a feeling of belonging. Within such a tragedy it isn’t uncommon to let the grief transcend into a depression or isolation, but it’s proven that human relationships (i.e groups) can provide the needed support for individuals to work through their grief and heal. The issue addressed will be moving forward after the loss of a loved one.

This week, I learned about Carl Rodgers, Abraham Maslow, and Rollo, Ray Reese. Each of the theorist had a different perspective on what factors contributed to personality. This weeks, I was intrigued by phenomena of unconditional positive regards and how it effects a person. The purpose of this paper is to discuss self- actualizing ad whether the individual is likely to be arrogant. Additionally, I will be discussing religious aspect of May and an evolutional Psychologist.

In the past few years, community agencies have increasingly used groups since various groups have become a common feature of today's society. Some of the most common groups in today's society include groups for women, men, parent education, children, HIV/AIDS support, and those for reducing substance abuse. Due to the increased use of groups by communities, there are various approaches that have emerged including group counseling and group psychotherapy. Group counseling is a designed preventive and remedial approach to meet the needs of specific population in the society like women, men, the elderly, adolescents, and children. On the contrary, group psychotherapy is a re-education process of the present and past through conscious and unconscious awareness.

Grief groups will be led by two facilitators, at least one of which will be a trained therapist. All facilitators will undergo training at the center via a proprietary training program developed by the Executive Director. Facilitators will come from three sources:

The type of group approach I would propose for this population is a support group. Support groups are an important part of the approach used in helping the bereaved suffering from grief and loss. An important goal of the support group is to use mutual aid to help participants understand and accept themselves as they are (Raby,R 2010). . Mutual aid is sometimes used in a support group to help participants share resources for mutual benefit. Understanding and acceptance are the first steps towards self-help in a group.

For a long time the debate has waged on as to what is the best means for those grieving or the bereaved to cope with the pain and loss of their situation. Though most people opt for the medical approach where they consult a medical professional, there have been those who argue for another different approach that is the use of support groups. This is a term used to refer to counseling frameworks where the grieving are grouped into units composed of several participants from a minimum of four to twelve depending on the number of participants and issue or problem similarity. Support groups are a place where the bereaved can find a safe haven for them to not only express their emotions but also it creates a platform for them to further understand their symptoms of grief the various stages of the grief and mostly provides the opportunity to feel a connection to people who are in a similar position which aids them in coping better with the loss of their loved one (Hospice of the Comforter, 2016). Additionally, social groups have been sold as a sanctuary where the members can adapt to life after loss through both social and grief support and counsel. These groups in many of the cases do not charge the participants a fee or any money and the main premise of their formation is openness and confidentiality where one can express themselves freely. In recent years however, research and studies have increased investigating the effect and

This chapter reviewed many different aspects of group work such as different processes and skills required to run several different groups. The groups discussed were open-ended group, groups hosted in residential settings, single-session groups, and large activity groups.

The group I will use for this paper is a “Friends in Grief” support group I co-facilitated. This group met for five weeks with the members experiencing the similarity of the death of a loved one. The purpose of the group was a safe place where people can come to heal by mourning, supporting, encouraging, and expressing grief with others. This agency limits groups of this type to twelve members to ensure that each member is comfortable in the small chapel in which the group is held however, this group was composed of two men and six females. All group members were Caucasian and had lost a spouse of forty plus years. Every member of the group lived in an upscale fifty-five plus community and all had retired (or retired spouse) from a distinguished profession with pensions. Two of the female members had identifying disabilities. The youngest female was born with a neurological disorder and the other was hard of hearing. There was one female group member who was born and raised in Germany.

One interesting thing I do get to observe is another intern facilitating the Seeking Safety group in the Glassboro office. The group in Glassboro is not as diverse on a cultural or ethnic basis. However, the group’s diversity comes from different socio-economic levels, and the ages in that group vary from late teens to late 40’s. This group is also receptive of the intervention. There is those occasions when I have observed some eye rolls or I could sense some push back from the clients, but for the most part, they are engaged in the topic and participate in the group discussion. Facilitating and observing the two separate groups has allowed