Theory of Group Counseling Paper
Alex Dossett
CHRD 766; Group Counseling
South Dakota State University
Describe how your experience of the leading, participating in, or observing groups have informed or influenced you regarding your own group leadership skills, leadership style, and perception about groups;
Describe your perspectives about the functions of a therapeutic group in assisting client changes;
Discuss the elements or factors contributing to the development of the group, and changes and growth of the clients;
Describe your role as a group leader and therapist in the group
Personal Reflection
Through textbooks, articles, lectures, and experiential activities, I have recently had the opportunity to learn, first-hand,
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I was questioning my abilities as a group leader, and even more so, as a counselor.
Through our first session, I learned that leading a group takes preparation, practice, and confidence. The group process takes time and trust is not immediate. While you may want cohesion amongst members, some members will be hesitant and cautious. But instead of trying to fill the awkward silence, allow the space for processing and reflection. While I was disclosing trying to create universality among members and myself, there is a line that I have become more aware of. As a co-facilitator, I learned about the importance of trust. Without a relationship and understanding, there is an imbalance between co-facilitators. If the co-leader relationship doesn’t model trust and egalitarian principles, then this could stall the momentum of the group. As the first session progressed, I was pleased with how participants were interacting with us, as we had tried to create a casual, open environment.
As initial rapport continued to develop, our group moved towards the transition stage. It was here group members’ true personalities began to emerge, while they were still testing the waters. At least some degree of anxiety and fear still surfaced within the group. Coming off our first session together, I did not necessarily feel as though I was radiating confidence, but I decided to “fake it until I make it”. This allowed me to take the
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.
After completing the group task of preparing a presentation on, transferring individual facilitation skills into a group work setting I will critically reflect upon my own participation. I will evaluate my self-awareness while working in the group, as well as those around me. The way that I personally dealt with any issues that arose within the group and how that affected the group dynamics. I will also briefly discuss the roles in which each member of the group took and how role allocation affected, the group dynamics and the working relationships. Finally I will evaluate my work having discussed it with my fellow group members.
Type of Group: This proposal is aimed to conduct a short- term, “personal-growth type group”.
The Effects of Psychoeducational Group Therapy on Symptoms of PTSD, Anxiety and Depression Among Incarcerated Women
The theoretical framework was somewhat dictatorship on today; I learned that the tone that the facilitator sets for the majority of the session is how the session runs. This is actually how I figured the sessions would be run, but to be aware that always expect the unexpected at any time. You must also be ready to adjust to whatever it is happening at that particular moment. This particular session appears to be more somber with quite a bit of silence and skepticism. Why this climate I asked myself? I really don’t know. I would suggest to the facilitator to have some kind of activity that she uses as an icebreaker. This would help get the communication going between the members. A specific skill that I have that would hinder me as an effective group leader is my ability to shut down once I got ticked off. This skill is useful in other settings to cool down situations.
Group therapy for me was a very new concept. My understanding towards group therapy was that every one share their concern issues and goup members discuss about that issue and get different perspectives about how to deal with that issue by building cohession and trust among the members. According to zander (1968) a group is a collection of individuals who have relation to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree. , Group therapy is a type of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time.Generally, the counselling group has a speific focus, which may be educational, vocational, social or
“When groups are planned so that each member's strengths have authentic importance to the ultimate success of the group's activity, this creates a situation where individual learning styles, skills, and talents are valued, and students shine in their fortes and learn from each other in the areas where they are not as expert.”(Willis)
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.
Group member cohesiveness was absent from the group meeting for several reasons, but the primary reasons were due to the fact that the group members did not have a common description of value or structure to the discussion. Each member viewed their own area of involvement within the organization as being more valuable than any other area, and it was this exclusion of other valuable traits that lead the group to begin to clash in such a
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.
Depression in late life is very common, particularly in older adults who are moving in to a different phase of their lives. They may experience a loss of a job, death of a spouse, empty nest, or a move that has taken them away from their social network. Geriatric depression is expensive for everyone involved, from the seniors who suffer not only mentally but physically from its effects to the increased use of health services such as emergency room visits. Suicide is also a consequence of depression in seniors. Sometimes depression is not diagnosed properly because its physical symptoms can mimic other illnesses. Many women, ages 55 and up, experience feelings of loneliness, isolation and do not know what to do now that they are in this new stage in their life; not working etc. Is the women’s group effective in helping members overcome feelings of depression and isolation?
The focus you placed on the potential of shared experiences amongst group members, and the therapeutic benefits that can have were an important point to make. However, what really makes this realistic is that you did not place all of the emphasis on catharsis within the group. Yalom and Leszcz (2005) noted that while catharsis was a necessary part of the group counseling process, that alone is not sufficient for growth. A good learning opportunity for not on the individual having the experience, but also the group unit, how that intense experience fosters change (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). This is the real chance for the counselor, through the use of properly timed techniques and intervention strategies, to utilize the moment to expand group cohesiveness
This article closely examines different ethical, legal, and treatment issues that arise in school group counseling. The author starts by looking at some of the psychological issues that effect school aged children. He also suggest some appropriate topics to offer group counseling on such as a divorce group, a drug and alcohol abuse group, or a physical abuse group. The article goes on to explain several different types of group intervention such as educational guidance groups, counseling groups, and therapy groups. Five different stages of groups; forming stage, storming stage, norming