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All right we're ready for a brand new section and that is groups now the various modes of counseling including the eclectic and integrative approaches can also be used in a group counseling setting. Let's start out with the basics, what is a group? Well basically a group has a definable membership, there is unity in the members interact with a shared sense of purpose. Before the 1960s and 1970s most help was given in a dyadic relationship. Dyad means to the counselor and the client. Some historical considerations; Jane Addams one of the founders of modern social work who was inducted into the Hall of Fame of great Americans is credited with holding moralistic group discussions focused on hygiene and nutrition. Some experts feel Adams' work was a precursor to the modern Group movement. Next there's dr. Henry Pratt often cited as another Pioneer in this area somewhere around 1900 Pratt began running groups for TB patients on a weekly basis. The groups which began with the lecture provided encouragement and allowed
members to share personal Stories. The actual term group therapy was coined in 1931 by Jacob marino. Marino you may recall was a father of psychodrama. In 1941 Marino created the American Society for group Psychotherapy and psychodrama. one year later Samuel R. Slavson founded the American group Psychotherapy Association. practitioners of individual psychology were quick to point out that Alfred Adler's group guidance in the 1920s and 30s for families also helped to spark the group movement. groups are sometimes classified as primary, secondary or tertiary in nature. These are also terms that you'll see in Community Mental Health and community psychology and Psychiatry primary groups are preventive. that's easy enough to remember because both begin with a p. Thus the primary group attempts to prevent or ward off a problem. Some experts claim that nearly all guidance and psycho-educational groups would fall into this category. In many cases the group would be trying to prevent drug addiction or a medical problem
groups help improve socialization in clients, while they help counselors with a large caseload see a lot of clients. Okay let's take a moment just to list the pros and cons of group work. first the advantages; groups allow counselors to see more clients in the same amount of time. number two groups generally cost less and are more cost-effective for agencies, hospitals and practices. third Advantage the group gives a sense of belonging, support and is a microcosm of society. 4th Advantage; groups provide vicarious learning. the client imitates appropriate behavior demonstrated by the leader or perhaps other group members. This is sometimes known as spectator therapy. now let's talk about the disadvantages. one; less time is focused on the client then in an individual session.Two; the client has less intensity with the leader versus what he or she would have in an individual counseling session with a helper. Three; groups can be intimidating and stifle client disclosure. Four; group sessions are often longer than individual
sessions in that they take more the client's time. A recent study showed that the average group is about one and a half hours long. Five; lack of assurance of confidentiality is a major issue. Six; Misapplication that is to say a group is used for a given problem when another intervention such as individual counseling our marriage and family work would be more appropriate. Seven; organizing the group is difficult and groups are complex to run. Most groups are characterized by what is known in social psychology as the risky shift phenomenon. The risky shift phenomenon postulates that group decisions are generally riskier than decisions that would be made by individual members. A related phenomenon is known as group polarization. Hear the individual members exaggerate their initial position on a topic so that the group as a whole will have a more extreme position. For example if you were to put a group of therapists together who favored non-directive therapy, you would discover that by the end of the group they would be more extreme in their non-directive position. For exam
created field Theory and formed MTL or National Training labs to study group dynamics in 1947. group leaders often speak of structured groups, these are groups with a central theme like anger control or shyness or assertiveness training or stress management. Theme groups are becoming very popular and they are often conducted as self-help groups or support groups. self help or support groups include meetings like AA, Alanon or Weight Watchers and they are composed of people with a common interest. Self help groups and support groups; although they may use professional Consultants are not led by professional helpers. As an example consider all of your 12-step groups exam hint one noteworthy trend is that 20 years or so ago counselors rarely referred clients to support groups. today the practice is extremely common. group specialists often speak of T groups that TNT groups merely stands for training the T group are sensitivity group stresses skills that are desirable in a business or organizational setting. The thrust is on
the group process and not on personal growth. hence the T group deals with issues of leadership and decision-making and how employees can really conduct themselves in the more productive fashion. Another type of group is the personal growth group whose purpose is to aid healthy normal individuals and allow them to deal a little bit better with normal life transitions. As for the size of an effective group well in adults some books list five to eight members while others pump up the numbers with a recommendation of 5 to 12 members. I've seen the number eight listed as the ideal size and a number of sources in children you might want to go as low as three or four kids to a group. As for the length of the sessions, well it varies, but most experts would agree that 2 hours is plenty even for some really heavy-duty group work. If you're seeing adolescents or children you may want to shorten the length to save 30 or 40 minutes and meet more frequently if necessary. as of this date 1 and 1/2 hours seems to be the average for most adult
the client can tell you what he or she wants from the group and you can tell them what is going to provide. ideally you should use a group screening and an individual screening session; because the group screening is also going to show you how the client will react in a group setting. keep in mind an individual that is appropriate for one type of group might not be appropriate for another. group specialist Irvin yalom feels that cohesiveness is the primary factor to keep in mind when you are selecting participants in terms of the person the ability to trust is generally considered the most important trait for the group member. the format of the group may be opened or closed and quite frankly there are advantages and disadvantages to both. in an open group you can replace members when a member leaves. new members are admitted throughout the life of the group or most of the life of the group; this keeps the number of clients attending the open group stable and thus that's a positive factor. on the negative side of the coin the new member is unaware of what
happened before he/she joined. Moreover, the change in members can be detrimental to group cohesiveness. In a closed group no new members are added once the group gets underway and begins this is great for the cohesiveness that Yalom talked about but what if everybody quits and moves out of town. Yikes you have nobody left in your group. Two principles of caution when forming any group; remember that a client's previous experience in groups is one of the least important factors. That's right, one of the least important factors. Another caution is that leaders may be prone to pick members who they believe are high in conformity. Although this practice may have its benefits; research demonstrates the conformists are likely to be authoritarians and thus this would really bring up its own dilemmas and pose it’s own problems. Now I want to talk to you about group leadership styles. Remember how I told you to lean forward slightly when you're doing individual counseling. Try to face the client squarely well quite frankly this is very hard to do in
process leaders or product leaders. the word product in this case means outcome or behavioral goal. most product counselors are at least somewhat slanted toward behavioral approaches. a statement made by a leader like “bill will know he has accomplished his goal when his anxiety is low enough to drive over the bridge” is a product statement. the emphasis is on the product or the outcome. The process leader on the other hand is concerned with interactions between members. A statement by a process leader might be something like “ Bill always responds out of his critical parent when Ian speaks to him out of her natural child.” One of the really neat things about groups is that statements by the leader as well as other group members promote the notion of universality. Now this is one you are bound to see on most exams universality means that as human beings we are not the only person in the world with a given problem or difficulty. This is evident when you hear a group member say that he or she feels better just knowing that other members in the group have
similar difficulties. Some Exams May refer to universality as mutuality. There are three very basic styles of leadership: authoritarian, Democratic and laissez-faire and laissez-faire .In the authoritarian style the leader determines the policies and gives orders to the rest of the group. members often resent this style. In the Laissez Faire style the leader adopts a hands-off policy and participates very little. for the most part the group runs itself. In the Democratic style the policy is set by the group aided by the leader who urges group interaction. It is very democratic. a well-known study suggested that the Democratic Leadership style is the most desirable in most cases but definitely not every case for example if you had to make a decision very rapidly in a crisis the authoritarian mode might be the best unless the group was composed of world-renowned experts and then the Laissez Faire style might be the leadership modality of choice. some of the literature does go beyond these three basic types for example some leaders are classified as
good leaders regardless of style demonstrate empathy and caring. Some groups rely on more than one group leader this is known as co-leadership or co-facilitation. Now I like to give you the good news and the bad news on co-leadership. The good news is that with co- leadership you don't need eyes in the back of your head to see everything that is transpiring in the group because you got another pair of eyes there. Your co-leader can be focusing on several group members' reactions while you're working with someone else. Co-leadership is also beneficial when a leader must miss a group session due to illness or other reasons. With a co-leader The Show Goes On. Another important factor is that shared leadership reduces pernicious burn out especially when you were working with a really acutely Disturbed population. Co-leadership also helps leaders process their own feelings you can get together with your co-leader between sessions or after sessions and finally if one co-leader is plagued with countertransference issues the other
leader can intervene and deal with the client that is evoking the countertransference issues in the counselor. Co-leaders often sit across from each other rather than next to each other in order to minimize the so-called us-against-them image. okay now for the bad news co-leaders may view the setting in such a manner that they are competing with each other rivalry; and this may cause co-leadership conflict. Furthermore, if co-leaders do not meet between sessions they may actually be working at cross-purposes against each other. Hence one co-leader may be urging a client to become more assertive while the other wants her to take a passive role. And needless to say; if the leaders don't trust and respect each other and they don't believe that the other leader is competent the group will not run smoothly. another risk pertains to co-leaders who are intimate with each other. intimate co-leaders may inappropriately use the time to work on their own issues too much or will be gazing into each other's eyes and will be ignoring the needs of the group.
always provide new clients with informed consent information in other words the clients have the information necessary to consent to the group process. information such as where the group will meet, when it will meet the leaders credentials the methods used, the cost if any, meeting times and the fact that there are limitations to confidentiality. In regard to the issue of confidentiality you should discuss the fact that you cannot hear me correctly cannot guarantee confidentiality in a group since members May breach it and this is beyond your control as a leader. group leaders must keep in mind the group participants have rights; one right that patients, clients or participants have is knowing what psychological risks will be evident by attending the group. an ethical leader discusses these risks during the initial session and often Works throughout the group to reduce the risks and Safeguard against damages. and according to ASGW ethical guidelines if things get too bad a client May withdraw from a group; yes even if the group is closed and time-limited.
ASGW feels group participation is voluntary and nature and thus you should never force a member to stay in a group. Two major risks for clients engaged in group work are scapegoating which means that a bunch of members gang up on a certain group member; and again breach of confidentiality. it has been said that every group has Norms; Norms are defined as parameters of acceptable behavior and Norms may be written or Unwritten. it's really easier to experience norms and feel them at times then to consciously Define them. The specific guidelines that the leaders set up at the beginning of the group such as no cursing no smoking these are known as ground rules when the ground rules become the norm or standard of behavior then they are logically referred to as group Norms. Please remember the concepts like leadership style and Norms technically fall under the heading of group dynamics. The term group dynamics refers to the study or body of knowledge pertaining to how groups operate. group dynamics postulate that a
