Summary: Coping With High Risk Situations

The members in the group were very inviting and open with their mission. The programs presentation was very interesting and helpful to each person in attendant. Although the meeting lasted one hour and thirty minutes it seems to help each individual deal with their addiction at little better. The leader of the meeting was Kathy; the meeting had about 15 attendants. The members where very active in following the guidelines and standards of the meeting, these guidelines and standards help the members accept their addictions and the process of healing. The 12 steps to recovery and sobriety include honesty, faith, surrender, soul searching, integrity, acceptance, humility, willingness, forgiveness, maintenance, making contact and service. These steps are a part of the healing and recovery process with any addiction behavior. Honesty, integrity and faith are three of the most important factor in the 12 step program. When a person has an addiction it requires them to truly assess where they are with the addition and to seek a higher power for strength (Medical News Today,

Attended all treatment group as scheduled and actively participated in the group discussion and provided supportive feedback to others group members. Client is in compliance with treatment and all his legal mandates, and appears to be in the action stage of change. Overall, client is making steady progress in treatment.

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.

At the beginning of my training, I was hesitant to work with people struggling with addiction. However, at this point, I am excited to begin working with this population. The raw honesty presented in the group setting along with the anger at the possibility of losing a safe place created a dynamic I wanted to further explore. Research supports that individuals attending group therapy in a 12 step program format succeed if they have the proper support and motivation (Cite). The group dynamic demonstrated that recovery takes time and self-discovery, similar to other situations dealt with in therapy. Subsequently, by using my sense of self and humor with clients struggling with addiction, I can help them in their journey. Furthermore, the client needs to identify accountability at their own pace in the process and not when others dictate. This knowledge and the personalization of addiction will aid me in the future support of my

Psychoeducational groups relating to additions or substance abuse are designed to assist participants in their stages of change, learn about recovery, provide information to families to understand behaviors, and to assist participants with resources and skills (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, n.d). Psychoeducational groups will support participants and encourage them to take responsibility for their actions. These groups will utilize different methods to replace addictive behavior and practice mindfulness to work on any cognitive impairment that their addiction has produced (U.S Department of Health and Human Service, n.d). In addition, substance abuse or addiction psychoeducational groups provide participants support and peer confrontation. Other members are able to support the group by offering education about what has worked well for them, or what has not work well. The group processes also provides emotional support for members to assist in personal recovery.

The program is conducted around shared experiences, strength and hope, through individuals who are recovering from their addictions.

The experience is humbling, and I appreciate community groups that provide this type of support for members with substance use issues, as I see this as strength-based. I felt a strong sense of bonding and great empathy towards one another. A Counter transference existed when the facilitators emotional and relapse experiences influenced an assertive reaction to strongly encourage NA attendance on members that decide to quit. The facilitator reported that quitting NA group, because he "felt better," led him to relapse, therefore, he wants to prevent others from making the same mistake.

PO was on time and moderately participated in the group activities. PO demonstrated an understanding of the topic by sharing some of his personal maladaptive thinking with peers, such as “Putting people down, blaming other people, and unconcerned about how other people are affected.” PO was engaged well in the group process today. PO had a positive response to treatment.

For example a member of the group mention how the group meeting helps her to be open and honest about a day by day struggle with temptation and addiction because the group members can relate to her bawl while she has to be silent about her emotions with her coworkers because of the stigma and the lack of understanding on the disease as well as the taboo of talking about it. Another example that aid me to understand the role of the group meeting is the fact that each member identified himself or herself as an addict by the time they mention their name which from my point of view relate to the fact of acceptance instead of denial about who they are, that even when years passed from the last time they used they are aware that they are still vulnerable to the drugs and that the support the group therapy provide is essential to stay clean as a member also mentioned that he was born an addict and stay an addict for many years but incompletely denial of it because he thought he could stop using drugs whenever he wanted to but failed each time until he finally join the group and follow the discipline and stipulations of the group

PO had no service plan open in this dimension due to participating only one week in treatment. PO reported that he is living with his fiancé and her children at this time. PO reported he is not working due to working increased a level of stress and anxiety into his daily life. PO reported attending AA meeting and communicating with his sponsor regularly. PO will benefit from building and utilizing positive

PO was on time and moderately participated in the group activities. PO stated “I am in action stage of change because I am actively dealing with my problems. I go to meeting 2-3 times per week, focus on treatment and work. I am also working on rebuilding trust and healthy relationships with my kids and other family members”. It appears that PO is making a steady change while in recovery as evidenced by staying clean and sober, and attending treatment and going to self-help meetings on a regular basis to maintain his sobriety. PO had a positive response to treatment.

Mr. Charles’ ability to maintain sobriety and learn a healthy lifestyle of recovery, taking into account that his drug dependence will only continue and possibly increase if untreated. Mr. Charles would benefit from an outpatient treatment program in order to become educated regarding the dangers of substance use/abuse. Mr. Charles will also be able to process his patterns of drug use and learn to recognize triggers that lead to his substance abuse. Mr. Charles will also be able to learn the effects and consequences of substance abuse and how to remain abstinent from drugs. While in group therapy, Mr. Charles will learn appropriate techniques to resist peer pressure to drug use as well as assist him in developing a supportive network to encourage him to maintain abstinence. The intervention would assist to minimize the possibility of Mr. Charles’ drug use from progressing into the late stages of chemical dependency.

The activity attended in the semester was a visit to mental health support. The name of the group of interest was Opioid recovery. The group comprises of individuals who are undergoing Opioid recovery under close monitoring by the social service providers. They are monitored for progress, behavior modification and other aspects of personality development (Ahn et al., 2014). This is done through assessment at different stages of development. The visits were done every Wednesday at 6.00. The group is composed of people recovering from opioid addiction, and many are on methadone medication.

DATA: Today’s group has been facilitated by Kirsten again, and includes relapse, what it is, and how each client can prevent it. Being that relapse is a process, it is an ongoing situation that can be interrupted, rather than a static event that is over and cannot be changed. It involves the individual reverting to old attitudes, beliefs, values, and risk behaviors. These are part of a progressive pattern, and will worsen until the process is interrupted or changed. Relapse is not a sign of failure, and, at times, may be part of the recovery process. There are times when individuals are more vulnerable to relapse, specifically, when they are too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired (HALT), and need to be aware of this vulnerability, and take

This particular group also incorporated different practise frameworks, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and narrative therapy to help group members successfully understand their goals and the resources needed to attain those goals. Based on the literature, CBT is a goal-directed and semi-structured therapy that seeks to change negative thinking patterns and reduce maladaptive behaviours to promote socio-emotional well-being (CUCARO, 2017). This framework is evident within the facilitated role-play activities (i.e. 05:25-06:50) that encouraged members to walk through a scenario and identify their thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses. This CBT activity gave group members the opportunity to critically analyze their own coping strategies (successful or otherwise) as well as receive feedback from other members around what worked well and what alternatives could be implemented in a safe setting. This psycho-educational group also utilized a narrative therapy model, “in which people are encouraged to recount their stories as related to the circumstances at hand…” (Roberts & Yeager, 2006; White, 1989). During the check-in of the 6th session, each group member was encouraged to share their narrative of how the prior week had gone and whether they were successful in completing