Group Work

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Content for this section was developed by

Robert K. ConynePh.D., NCC

Robert K. Conyne, Ph.D., NCC, is a Professor and Program Chairperson in the Division of Human Services at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Group work is a broad professional practice that refers to the giving of help or the accomplishment of tasks in a group setting.

Definition of Group Work

Group dynamics refers to the scientific study of groups and those events that occur within group sessions. It is an area of study within social psychology.

Group work is interdisciplinary, drawn from many fields (e.g., counseling, psy-chology, social work, sociology, educa-tion, and/or psychiatry).

Group work involves the application of group theory and process by a capable professional practitioner to assist an interdependent collection of people to reach their mutual goals, which may be personal, interpersonal, or task-related in nature .

The main purpose of group work is to provide help and support.

A second purpose of group work is to help members and the group to accomp-lish tasks and goals.

Group work occurs intentionally in a variety of work, educational, mental health, and community settings.

Group work leaders must be able to apply group theory and process ef-fectively to specific situations.

Group work leaders must be well trained in application of group theory, of group work competencies, of professional judgment, and they must be personally and interpersonally competent.

Several different (group) leadership styles have been identified:

In the Authoritarian leadership style, the group leader makes all policy decisions for the group and generally directs how the group functions.

In the Democratic leadership style, the group leader helps the group members to make policy decisions and generally helps the group function in a democratic manner.

Leadership Styles

In the Laissez Faire leadership style, the group leader is minimally involved in group matters and generally allows the group to determine and follow its own “natural” course.

In the Speculative leadership style, the group leader maintains a heavy empha-sis on “here-and-now” discussion, par-ticularly in regard to leader or member in-group behaviors.

In the Confrontive leadership style, the group leader also focuses on the “here-and-now,” but attention is directed to the impact of each member’s in-group verbalizations and behaviors.

In the Charismatic leadership style, the group leader capitalizes on personal power and attractiveness to direct the group toward its goals and purposes.

A group is a social ecological system containing individual, interpersonal, and total group elements in which in-terpersonal connections are important.

The leader needs to recognize and de-velop interpersonal interdependence, i.e., the interpersonal connections be-tween and among members.

For the most effective leadership styles, group work leaders work collaboratively with group members to establish their goals.

Goals include combinations of intra-personal, interpersonal, and task com-ponents, as well as aspects of both con-tent and process.

All professional counselors should possess basic, fundamental know-ledge and skills in group work.

Advanced group work competencies build on the core set.

Core Competencies

Following are the core knowledge com-petency areas for effective group work

continued

Definition of group work (presented previously)Purposes for group work typesDefinition of four group work specializationsSimilarities and differences of typesBasic principles of group dynamicsTherapeutic factorsImportant personal characteristicsEthical issues unique to group work

Core knowledge competency areas continued

Group developmentGroup member rolesAdvantages and disadvantages of group workResearch applied to area of focusRecruiting and screening membersGroup and member evaluation

Therapeutic Factors

Therapeutic factors are those aspects of group life that are widely believed to ac-count for help-giving and personal change.

The following list of therapeutic factors is based on the work of Yalom (1995):

Instillation of hopeUniversalityImparting informationAltruism continued

Corrective recapitulation of primary family groupImitative BehaviorInterpersonal learningGroup cohesivenessCatharsisExistential factors

Yalom’s Therapeutic Factors continued

Instillation of hope

An assumption, belief, or act of faith that the group will be of therapeutic value. This position is fundamentally important for aiding growth, change, and goal accomplishment.

Universality

The awareness that one is not alone, not the only person in the world to be experiencing these adverse or difficult circumstances or feelings. Universality is the “common de-nominator” of group involvement.

Universality is more achievable through group participation other forms of help-giving due to its interdependency.

Imparting Information

Provision of didactic information to mem-bers by the leader or by other members as a means for promoting learning about one-self and others.

Altruism

The intrinsic act of giving to be helpful without intending to benefit in any tangible way.

In a group, members can receive through such giving, thereby gaining increased self-awareness, knowledge, and skills.

Corrective Recapitulation of the Primary Family Group

Creating a positive environment within the group such that members who were partici-pants in a negative family environment can correct faulty ways and learn new ways of functioning.

Development of Socializing Techniques

Social learning, or the creation of basic or new social skills.

Group interaction, with its interpersonal orientation and/or skill based orientation, can be a powerful milieu for social skill development.

Imitative Behavior

Members can learn by observing the leader or other members who model effective and appropriate behavior.

“Vicarious” or “spectator” therapy is an important source of learning in groups.

Interpersonal Learning

Interpersonal learning is a mediator of change in groups that is built on the group serving as a social microcosm in which corrective emotional experiences can occur.

It includes an “interpersonal sequence”: Members display behavior Receive feedback and self-observe Appreciate own behavior Appreciate impact on others

Group cohesiveness

It is the analogue of “relationship” in indi-vidual therapy and provides a sense of “we-ness.”

It reflects the attractiveness of the group for its members and is a necessary precondition for effective group therapy.

Existential Factors

Development of meaning from experience, involving such areas as the importance of assuming personal responsibility, and recognizing that life can be unfair and unjust.

Personal Characteristics

Group work leaders must be aware of self and be able to use self as instrument of positive change.

Knowledge of self includes awareness of one’s own:

Personal strengthsPersonal weaknessesBiasesValuesStimulus value (effects on others)

Ethical Issues

Knowledge of professional ethics is critically important (e.g., ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice).

Knowledge of ethics particular to group work practice is essential.

Ethical concerns particularly important in group work include:

Confidentiality implicationsVoluntary participationImposition of leader valuesCoercion and pressureEquitable treatment of membersLeaving a groupDual relationships techniquesGoal developmentTermination and follow-up

Group Development

Group development refers to the progressive evolution of a group generally expected as being normative.

Over 100 models of group development exist and most are sequential or cyclical in nature.

Models help to predict, plan, and guide, but any particular group may not conform closely to any one model.

A “generic” model of group development includes at least the following stages:

Group FormationControlWorkTermination

The Group Formation stage involves working on the group’s

purposes and goals,security,trust,inclusion,dependency, andorientation.

The Group Formation stage is sometimes known to as the Orientation Stage.

The Orientation Stage includes determi-nation and conveyance of the nature and structure of the particular group and members getting acquainted with one another, exploring each other’s expec-tations, and generally becoming involved in the group.

The Control Stage involves working on the group’s

regulation,conflict,power, andorganization.

The Control Stage is sometimes known as the Transition Stage.

The Transition Stage often involves group members “testing” each other and the group leader, with associated conflict, resistance, confrontation, and attempts to dominate among group members.

The Work Stage involves working on the group’s

open communication,cohesion,interdependence,problem solving,productivity, anddata flow.

The Work Stage is sometimes known as the Action Stage.

The Action Stage is characterized by developing cohesiveness and (psycholog-ical) intimacy among group members and by productivity and movement toward the group’s goals and purposes.

The Termination stage involves working on the group’s

integration,application,evaluation and summing-up,unfinished business,disengagement,saying good-bye, andclosing.

The Termination Stage is sometimes known as the Completion Stage.

The Completion Stage involves term-ination of the group’s work, including attending to a wide variety of group member emotions that may be asso-ciated with ending the group.

The most valuable resource for a group is its members. Understanding them and utilizing their experience and contribu-tions is essential.

Positive group member roles include those as client, helper, model, and/or reality checker.

Members in counseling, psychotherapy, and psychoeducation groups are seeking help and assistance through group parti-cipation. They profess a desire to change or to develop.

Members can help each other by giving feedback, sharing experiences, and model-ing effective interactions. Doing so can also help them gain self-understanding and pro-mote growth and change.

Members can demonstrate through their atti-tude and behavior effective ways to perceive, think, and act, thereby assisting other members to grow and change.

Members can serve to provide each other with guidance about feasibility and appropriateness of goals and actions through providing feed-back, raising issues of implementation, and serving as a “sounding board.”

Negative group member roles include those as

monopolizer,resister,silent one,withdrawer,intellectualizer,joker,manipulator, and/orattacker.

The advantages of group work include

Economy of ApproachInterpersonal PowerEffectiveness

The Economy of Approach advantage is that

group work is cost effective be-cause several people can be worked with simultaneously by one or two leaders as opposed to working with each one separately.

The Interpersonal Power advantage is that

the group structure is set up naturally to harness the interactions of each other and associated interpersonal power. Interper-sonal power is attuned to many problems and needs where viewpoints and involve-ment of others is important, such as im-proving team functioning or helping mem-bers with a significant personal problem.

The Effectiveness advantage is that

group work has been shown to be an effective and efficacious approach to providing help.

Researchers have demonstrated that group therapy, for example, is at least as effective an approach as individual therapy and, in some cases, more helpful.

The disadvantages of group work include

Organizing the GroupMisapplication of Group Work TypesComplexityAcceptance

The Organizing the Group disadvantage is that

establishing groups and a group pro-gram poses many challenges, such as finding needed resources, designing the group, insufficient skill training of staff, assigning members to groups, and scheduling.

The Misapplication of Group Work Types disadvantage is that

sometimes the group method is not ap-propriate at all, but other methods (e.g., individual) are, while at other times, the wrong group work methodology might be applied (e.g., using group counseling in a work setting to attempt to produce im-proved productivity).

The Complexity of Performing Group Work disadvantage is that

group work is a challenging task that requires group work training, supervised experience, and effective and appropriate application of knowledge and skills to the presenting situation. The complexity increases in proportion to group size and difficulty of issues being addressed.

The Acceptance of Group Work disadvantage is that

group work tends to lag in terms of acceptance by colleagues and the public. It is too often still perceived as a “second class” intervention that is far too diffi-cult to implement.

Recruiting and Screening strategies are very important for counseling, psycho-therapy and psychoeducation groups.

Prospective members may be obtained through recruitment and marketing methods. BUT, the group must be explained accurately and attractively in them.

Recruiting can occur through dissemination of fliers, postings, announcements in media, direct personal appeal, referral from case loads, and other ways--if done ethically.

The goal of screening is to appropriately match the group with prospective mem-bers.

Screening is the process through which the group leader determines before the group is started who is suitable to par-ticipate in the group.

Informed consent for participation in a group is always necessary.

Presenting Informed Consent informa-tion about the group should include description of

Goals and methodsLeader qualificationsTime commitmentsMeeting locationExpectationsFees (if any)Confidentiality

Member goals, past experience with groups and counseling, assessment of functioning, expectations for group, interest in participating, contrain-dicated factors (e.g., actively psychotic, homicidal or suicidal, or no social interest), and fit with time demands of group are all important considerations to be discussed in the Informed Con-sent process.

Group leaders and members should understand the importance of evaluat-ing group performance and member progress, methods for evaluation ac-complishment, and how to use data to improve group and group leader performance.

Group process and outcome evaluation are concerned with how the group is functioning (process) and with its ef-fectiveness in promoting group and member goals (outcome).

Member evaluation should be focused on how members are involved (process) and on mem-bers’ goal accomplishment (outcomes).

Examples of process evaluation include as-sessment of members’ levels of participation or satisfaction with group.

Examples of outcome evaluation include as-sessment of perceptions of group effective-ness and behavior change.

The core competency skills for group work are to:

Encourage member participationObserve and identify group processesAttend to and acknowledge member behaviorClarify and summarize member statementsOpen and close sessionsImpart information in the groupModel effective group leader behaviorEngage in appropriate self-disclosureGive and receive feedback

continued

Ask open-ended questionsEmpathize with group membersConfront members’ behaviorHelp members attribute meaning to their experienceHelp members integrate and apply learningDemonstrate ethical and professional standardsKeep group on task for accomplishing goals

Core skill competencies continued

In group work, the group leader can encourage member participation and involvement by

Maintaining eye contactAsking open-ended questionsUsing encouraging responsesModeling effective in-group behaviorsExtending sensitive invitations to talk

Group process involves the events that occur within group sessions or meetings, with a focus on how participants inter-act with one another and/or the group work leader.

Group process complements group content, the latter focusing on what participants discuss in the group.

Group process skills include the group leader attending to

ParticipationInfluenceDecision makingTask functionsMaintenance functionsGroup AtmosphereMembershipFeelingsNorms

continued

Quantity of verbal involvementWho talks to whomHigh participatorsLow participatorsShifts in participation

Group process skills continued

Influence is concerned with the effects of participation. It is evaluated by the group leader addressing questions such as:

Who in the group seems influential?Who in the group seems low in influence?How do other members respond to high and low influence group members?Are there shifts in influence during the group process?Are conflicts present?

The group leader must also attend to how decisions are made in the group, including processes such as

Majority voteConsensus building“Railroading” by one member or by a small subgroup of members“Ignoring” some group members’ inputMaintaining focus or wandering across topics

The task functions in a group are focused on goal accomplishment, staying focused, and getting the job done.

The task functions are accomplished by attending to questions such as:

How are suggestions made? By whom?Are summaries provided? By whom?Who keeps the group on target?Who asks for necessary information?Who provides necessary information?

The maintenance functions are intended to promote cohesion and harmony in the group by attending to human relations and working relationships.

The maintenance functions are accomplished by attending to questions such as:

What is quality of listening? Who does and who doesn’t listen?How is support provided? By whom?Who helps others get into discussions?Is help provided to members?

Group atmosphere refers to the general “personality” of the group, i.e., its climate.

Evaluating the group atmosphere involves ad-dressing questions such as:

How do members describe the group or refer to its characteristics?Does the group seem supportive? Hostile? Warm? Cold? Productive? Inef- ficient? Active? Passive? Strong? Weak?

Membership is concerned with member inclusion and exclusion in the group and with patterns of interaction.

“Level” of membership in the group is eval-uated by addressing questions such as:

Is there sub-grouping? Who is involved?Is anyone “outside” the group? How are they treated?Are there “in” members? What is the effects of this situation?

Feelings are an important part of all group life. They reflect the “emotional climate” of the group.

The feelings in the group are evaluated by addressing questions such as:

What level of attention to feelings is justified? What signs of affect are present (e.g., anger, frustration, or excitement)?Is expression of feelings encouraged or blocked?How appropriately are feelings being dealt with?

Norms are expectations, ground rules, and standards that emerge through inter-action in the group and may promote or hinder the group and be either under-stood by group members or outside of their awareness.

Group norms are evaluated by addressing questions such as:

Are certain issues avoided?Are members overly polite?Do members talk about norms?

Attending to and acknowledging mem-ber behavior can serve as a potent en-courager and reinforcer of desirable group members’ behaviors.

Clarifying and summarizing state-ments can help members to organize information and make it more under-standable, thus alleviating the impact of members’ statements that are confusing and lead to “overload.”

Opening and closing sessions effectively is important for getting work started and for concluding it (or for linking it to the future).

Imparting information is an important skill and represents a therapeutic factor through which members can learn from information provided, especially in psychoeducation groups.

Leaders can assist member growth and change by demonstrating and modeling appropriate and effective behaviors, such as self-disclosure, asking open-ended questions, and feedback.

Self-disclosure is generally understood as a critically important type of information sharing in personal change groups; lead-ers should model effective and appropri-ate self-disclosure to members.

Open-ended questions (often beginning with What or How…?) are preferred in group work because they invite fuller responses.

Closed-ended questions invite brief replies and do not encourage self-disclosure or feedback.

Feedback also is generally accepted as a fundamental part of personal change group work.

Leaders can help members learn the value of feedback by demonstrating how to give and invite feedback from others.

Note that cultural sensitivity needs to ac-company expectations about self-disclosure because it is not valued in some cultures.

The following are guidelines for giving feedback to group members:

Be descriptive not judgmental.Be specific not general.Be immediate, not historical.Give positive feedback first.Be tentative, not conclusive.

Being empathic with group members forges a connection, showing them that the leader genuinely understands and cares for them.

Demonstration of empathy by leaders is especially important in the personal change groups of psychoeducation, counseling, and psychotherapy.

Confronting, i.e., addressing discrep-ancies in a member’s behavior, assists in helping members to better understand themselves and to grow and change.

Confronting does not mean attacking, being hostile, or aggressive. Rather, it is a constructive intervention that leaders can learn and apply with positive results in group work.

Attribution of meaning involves helping members to connect an emotional exper-ience with cognitive understanding, some-times called, “making sense of experi-ence.”

Caring involves communicating to group members that the leader has empathy for them individually and collectively.

Group Leader Functions

Emotional stimulation is a leader function that occurs when the leader catalyzes the groups’ “energy” to help move the group forward towards its goals.

The group leader’s executive function involves management and timing. It enables the group leader to help the group to maintain its focus and to continue to make progress towards its goals.

Group members need to integrate and apply their learning in groups.

Integration involves connecting aware-ness, concepts, and skills gotten from the group to the respective members’ pre-existing repertoires.

Applying learning means transferring what was learned from the group situa-tion to the “outside” world.

All groups have goals and the leader should use executive functioning to help group keep focused on its goals, i.e., to re-main “on task.”

Keeping the group in the “here-and-now” is important leader function in the attempt to stay on task; that is, to not allow the group to wander to past or external con-siderations.

Types of Groups

Task groups: to improve or resolve production and performance related to work.

Psychoeducation groups: to impart infor-mation and skills.

Counseling groups: to help members cope and adapt to problems of living.

Psychotherapy groups: to reduce emo-tional or psychological dysfunction in members.

Similarities of Types

Leadership is based on same set of core group work competencies.

All seek to provide help and reach goals.

All involve member interaction and leader guidance.

All utilize basic group processes.

Differences of Types

Task groups focus on work performance.

Psychoeducation groups are educational and usually very structured.

Counseling groups are developmentally-oriented and seek to improve coping with “normal” adjustment issues.

Psychotherapy groups are remediation-oriented and seek to reduce psycho-pathology.

Task groups are conducted to enhance or resolve performance and production goals in work groups.

The task group leader functions as a facilitator, using group collaborative problem solving, team building, program development consultation, and/or system change strategies.

Group leaders need to understand organ-izational dynamics (i.e., how organizations function) because task groups often occur within organizations, such as business set-tings, schools, religious institutions, and as-sociations.

Understanding community dynamics also is important for group leaders because task groups often occur within commun-ities and neighborhoods.

Political dynamics, such as power and influence in organizations and com-munities, are important for task group leaders to understand because task groups usually are part of a larger political system.

Task group leaders frequently use stand-ard group discussion methods to guide interaction, methods that often follow a general problem-solving approach.

All ethical principles associated with group work are relevant to task groups.

Specific considerations are concerned with maintaining a task/work focus rather than a personal focus and with keeping a connection between the work of the task group and the larger organ-ization of which it is a part.

Program development and evaluation know-ledge is critically important for task group leaders.

Define the problemSet the objectiveChoose among alternate strategiesPrepare for implementationDesign the evaluationUse evaluative information.

Steps in a typical program evaluation plan apply in this context also:

Knowledge of consultation principles and approaches is necessary for task group leaders because:

Consulting often occurs in order to develop task groups within an or- ganization or communityTask groups are frequently part of an on-going organizational consultation project.Task groups and process consultation are highly synchronous.

The consultation knowledge and skills areas with which task group leaders should be familiar include those associ-ated with

Human interaction processesCommunication processesFunctional roles of group membersGroup norms Leadership and authorityIntergroup processes

continued

CollaborationEstablishing contact and defining the relationshipSelecting a setting and method of workData gatheringIntervention (including agenda-setting, observation, feedback, coaching structural suggestions, evaluation of results, and disengagement).

Consultation knowledge and skills continued

The focus on task and work is a distinguishing feature of task groups.

Leaders collaborate with members to set goals and agenda and to develop on-going moni-toring procedures to keep the group on task.

Human relations are critical supports in task groups, but are not the predominant focus.

Clear goals are essential to task groups and the goals should be specific, attain-able, performance-based, measurable, and observable.

Leaders help members to define goals that are production and performance-based, rather than related directly to personal change.

Task group leaders need to mobilize mem-ber energy and resources to accomplish previously established goals.

Involving members in goal creation and planning for goal accomplishment is an important motivational approach.

Attending to human relations dimensions also provides a critical source for mem-ber energy mobilization.

Task group leaders need to provide decision-making options clearly and to to define their relative advantages and disadvantages:

Task group leaders need to help members understand that group life naturally involves conflict, to teach members how conflict fits developmentally into group functioning, and to help members recognize when conflict is obvious and/or when it is present but not obvious.

Effective leaders help members to under-stand how positive human relations are essential to task group success.

Leaders must continually attend to hu-man processes and human relations be-cause group members will tend to avoid them in favor of the task or avoiding the task.

Process observation and feedback are crucial leader skills in task groups.Process observation should focus on level of participation, influence, feelings, decision-making, task maintenance, group climate, membership, and norms.

Feedback needs to be specific, immedi-ate, descriptive, behavioral, and pre-sented first, with a focus on positive elements and always in a tentative, non-authoritarian manner.

Task groups usually are not independent entities, but are part of a larger organ-izational system.

Therefore, leaders must be sensitive to the larger organizational and political system.

Task group activities must be kept in balance with the larger system.

Psychoeducation groups feature trans-mission, discussion, and integration of factual information and skill building through the use of semi-structured exercises and group process.

Psychoeducation groups often are fo-cused on prevention, which means stop-ping from happening or reducing the likelihood that something bad will happen.

Primary prevention is a “before-the-fact” intervention intended to reduce incidence or occurrence of new problems.

Being “at risk” is an important prevention concept that means a person is likely to have something bad happen to him or her.

Being “at risk” exists on a continuum ranging from low risk potential to high risk potential.

The lower risk levels are associated most closely with primary prevention. However, psychoeducation groups can be conducted with people anywhere along the continuum.

Psychoeducation groups typically involve instructing or delivering information to members and developing skills.

Sessions are designed systematically to disseminate information clearly and in an organized manner, and to build skills.

Links among goals, methods, strategies, activities, delivery, and evaluation are vital for effective psychoeducation groups.

The psychoeducation group leader needs to be particularly knowledgeable of the content for the group.

Research and concepts in the applicable area (e.g., substance abuse or social problem solving) need to be mastered and then that mastery drawn upon appropri-ately within the group.

Psychoeducation group leaders need good skills to obtain (i.e., select and recruit) members, particularly when potential group members are “at risk.”

Knowledge of epidemiological tech-niques, social indicators, demographic profiles, life transitions, human and system development, and social mark-eting can all be helpful.

Knowledge of human development over the life span, augmented by knowledge of human diversity, contributes strongly to effective psychoeducation group leader-ship.

Human development must be understood ecologically, including knowledge of im-portant contexts such as environment.

Effective application of principles of struc-ture are fundamental to psychoeducation groups.

Leaders need to know how to design a (at least semi-) structured group experience from beginning to ending session.

Leaders also need to know how to struc-ture each session (e.g., goals-methods-roles) as well as how to use structured exercises within sessions.

When psychoeducation groups are used for prevention, the concept of empower-ment is especially important.

Empowerment refers to group mem-bers’ self-perception that they are cap-able and in control, that their life con-dition is not whimsical, and that they are powerful shapers of their own destinies.

Special ethical considerations revolve around privacy issues in psychoeduc-ation groups.

When prospective members currently unaffected by a disorder (i.e., who are “healthy” or at low risk) are recruited, care must be given to not be invasive of their privacy.

Another ethical concern revolves around attending to unique needs of members.

Psychoeducation groups can easily become over-structured and unbalanced, resulting in excessive information delivery.

Except when intended and understood by all, unique member needs can be-come ignored through “information overload.”

Effective leaders know the advantages (e.g., that they are focused, informative, skill-development-based, efficient, and have preventive potential) and disad-vantages (e.g., that they can minimize group process human relations or mem-ber participation) of psychoeducation groups.

Leaders develop ideas for a psychoedu-cation group from literature reviews and local (needs) assessments.

Topics appropriate for a psychoeduca-tion group (e.g., transition from middle to high school) should match the local needs, resources, and situation.

Psychoeducation group leaders plan their groups best by including input and/or involvement of “target” population members.

Sometimes representative members of the “target” population are included in planning the group.

Counseling groups are conducted by group counselors to improve coping with problems of living by focusing on interpersonal problem solving, inter-active feedback, and support methods within a here-and-now framework.

Group counselors need to understand the ma-jor personality and counseling theoretical ap-proaches for group counseling, such as Psycho-dynamic, Behavioral, Transpersonal, Cognitive-Behavioral, and Humanistic.

Advantages of group counseling include its interpersonal orientation, generation of therapeutic conditions, support, problem-solving, cost-savings, and de-velopment of interpersonal learning.

Disadvantages of group counseling in-clude difficulties in organizing groups and obtaining individual assistance, and threats to confidentiality.

Knowledge of interpersonal dynamics is essential for group counselors.

The most important interpersonal dynamics in this regard include:

Group processes (e.g., participation levels and task and maintenance behaviors ).Therapeutic factors (e.g., instillation of hope and altrusim).Feedback and self-disclosure behaviors.

Because counseling groups are most often used to resolve interpersonal problems, knowledge of problem-solving steps is important:

Identify the problemSet goalsConsider and choose a strategyImplement the strategyEvaluate the success the strategy

Because group counseling is an inter-personal activity, effective assessment of interpersonal phenomena is important.

Capacity to engage with others as well as interpersonal needs for inclusion, control, and openness are examples of important interpersonal dimensions to assess.

Group counselors also need to under-stand when and how to make referrals and have a referral resource list from which to draw.

Referral may be necessary during selec-tion or during the course of the group, such as when the group topic is not relevant to a potential member’s needs or when the level of functioning needed is beyond skill of group counselor.

When forming a counseling group, the counselor must seek to create a match between the group and prospective mem-bers.

The group’s goals and expectations and individual group members’ level of func-tioning, availability, and motivation should be considered in this matching process.

Prospective members of counseling groups may be obtained through referral from case loads or through recruitment and marketing.

Counselors should explore goals, level of functioning, expectations, motivation, and obtain informed consent during the group formation process.

Group counselors should be able to rec-ognize self-defeating behaviors of clients during their participation in the group, and note relationships between professed goals and actual behaviors.

Group counselors also should become adept at observing agreements and dis-crepancies between verbal and nonverb-al behavior.

Group counselors should be able to de-velop reasonable hypotheses about the meaning(s) of nonverbal behavior.

They also should be able to work with nonverbal behavior and to be sensitive to individual and cultural differences.

Group counselors should be able to con-duct interventions that are consistent and appropriate with a group’s stage of de-velopment and with member’s develop-mental progress.

For example, certain leader interven-tions appropriate at the Forming stage of a group might not be appropriate at the Working stage.

Counseling groups often experience con-flict and other incidents that might be-come significant impediments to the pro-gress of the group.

Counseling groups also may some-times have members who behave ex-cessively or inappropriately.

continued

For example, they may be demanding or under the influence of a substance or they may monopolize, withdraw, fight, flirt, walk out, or threaten.

These “critical incidents” should be anticipated and responded to by leaders with sensitivity and skill, capturing the moment to allow the group to maintain itself and to move ahead.

Group counselors should learn how to use major strategies, techniques, and procedures that are consistent with their (personal) conceptual framework and with the group situation.

Such activities might include use of self-disclosure, feedback, confrontation, modeling, or skills training.

Group counselors should know how to help members transfer their learning from the group to their lives outside the group.

Relating group events and experiences to the “real world” is very important, in-cluding helping members to integrate and apply learning and to try out small changes first.

Group counselors also can help mem-bers generalize group learning.

Useful techniques in this regard include making use of assigned homework, viewing videotapes in the group, role playing, or keeping journals.

Co-leadership in a counseling group is a desirable, and often preferred, model because it provides another role model for members, a support resource for each leader, a “built-in” capacity for leader processing, and safety.

Functional co-leadership requires a good initial match of leaders and main-tenance of an open and sharing working relationship between them.

Counseling groups, like other groups, need to be assessed and evaluated for their on-going and overall effectiveness.

Leaders can collect relevant data during sessions, at the end of sessions, or using a pre-and post-test design.

The data should be used to help the group to progress and to determine its value to each member.

Psychotherapy groups are conducted by therapists to reduce psychological and/or emotional dysfunction through explora-tion of the antecedents to current be-havior by using intrapersonal and inter-personal assessment, diagnosis, and inter-pretation and connecting historical mater-ial with the present.

Clients with diagnosed or diagnosable dysfunctions are very suitable for group psychotherapy.

Therefore, for psychotherapy group leaders, knowledge of abnormal behavior is essential because members enter the group with varying levels of dysfunction.

In addition, leaders of psychotherapy groups must understand not only current abnormal behavior, but also how abnormal behavior develops.

Therefore, knowledge of psychopath-ology and its relationship to normal and abnormal human development is neces-sary.

Knowing the relationship of personality theory to group psychotherapy also is important for psychotherapy group leaders.

Therefore, they must possess a thorough understanding of human development and personality development.

Leaders of psychotherapy groups also must know crisis theory and its relation-ships to helping and to group psycho-therapy.

In psychotherapy groups, crises may arise with some regularity, but they can provide opportunities for the leader to promote change.

Knowledge of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (IV) of the American Psychiatric Association is important for psychother-apy group leaders.

This knowledge is useful to assess pro-spective clients in relation to DSM-IV categories and to integrate assessment data with criteria for group member selection.

Special screening attention needs to be given by psychotherapy group leaders to selecting group members who could benefit from group.

Group members included can be those from a wide spectrum of psychological and emotional disturbance.

However, those with poor reality contact or character disorders are not good cand-idates for group psychotherapy.

Self-defeating behaviors of many unique kinds can be experienced in psychother-apy groups.

Therefore, leaders need to be able to manage behaviors that are antagonistic to a member’s needs and/or goals, repre-sent an extreme dysfunction, or heighten liability.

Intervening in critical incidents within a psychotherapy group could involve situa-tions that are at higher risk than in other forms of group work.

At times, these critical incidents may include crises or emergencies that require direct leader intervention.

Disruptive members in psychotherapy groups can evidence dramatically pronounced expression of behavior.

These more obvious and extreme dis-ruptions may require direct (perhaps even physical) intervention on the part of the leader to manage the member’s behavior and the group itself.

Transfer of learning may require in-creased support, gradated trials, and repeated attempts in psychotherapy groups .

Hospitalization may sometimes be neces-sary for a member of a psychotherapy group and therefore leaders must know procedures for instituting hospitalization, should that be necessary.

Assessment procedures for evaluation in psychotherapy groups may need to be focused more closely than in other groups on the individual’s accomplishment of gradated goals.

Assessment of psychotherapy group member contributions is often concern-ed with modest gains.

BEST PRACTICESIN GROUP WORK

Guidelines for Effective and Appropriate Group Leadership

“Best Practices” in group work are activities, strategies, and interventions that are consistent and current with effective and appropriate professional, ethical, and community standards.

Best Practices encompass:Planning

Performing

Processing

Planning is the part of group lead-ership that occurs primarily before the group begins, but also con-tinues throughout the group pro-cess.

Effective group work leadership includes adherence to the ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, as well as adherence to other applicable professional standards.

Professional Context for Planning

Effective group work necessitates that the leader have appropriate and pertinent cre-dentials, such as being an National Certified Counselor (NCC) and having graduated from a program accredited by CACREP (or its equivalent).

Effective group work leaders are affiliated with professional associa-tions such as the American Counsel-ing Association and its group work emphasis division, the Association for Specialists in Group Work.

Professional Context for Planning

Effective group work also needs to fit within the values, norms, and general practices of the local community.

Professional Context for Planning

Group work offered through an agency needs to be consistent with the agency’s mission, philosophy, and general practice.

Any group work offered through an agency needs support of its staff to assist in resource allocation, referrals, and involvement.

Counselors who desire to perform group work leadership need to value the power and promise of group work, and to help colleagues and clients to accept its value.

Conceptual Underpinnings for Planning

Group workers need to define their scope of practice, based on (a) self-knowledge, (b) knowledge and training in group work, (c) type of group, and (d) a needs assessment for the group.

Because group work is not an individual service, a group, interpersonal, and system perspective is necessary for group work to be effective.

Conceptual Underpinnings for Planning

Group work leader knowledge of personal values, strengths, and limitations is critic-ally important.

Group work leader knowledge of personality and counseling theories also is important.

Conceptual Underpinnings for Planning

However, because these theories were devel-oped primarily with reference to individ-uals, they must be adapted to group work.

Development of an interpersonal and inter-active framework for group leadership is essential.

Ecological Assessment for Planning

Ecological assessment is comprehensive and addresses the cultural, demographic, economic, political, social, health, and psychological needs of prospective members and is matched to an appro-priate group methodology.

Assessment data provide a basis for de-signing and/or choosing if group work is the appropriate method to use.

The comprehensive nature of ecolog-ical assessment allows for data to con-verge from several vantage points.

Ecological Assessment for Planning

Importance should be placed on understanding the broad culture of the community.

Methods for ecological assessment include:

Community surveysInterviews of individualsFocus groupsKey informantsDemographic analysisSocial indicatorsCase findings

Ecological Assessment for Planning

Ecological Assessment for Planning

Planning for group also should utilize information from a variety of profes-sional resources such as:

TextbooksJournal articlesScholarly presentationsProfessional meetingsDissertation abstractsThe World Wide Web

Program Development for Planning

Prior to beginning the group work, significant attention should be given to the group’s goals, methods, themes, interventions, conceptual framework, leader qualifications, marketing, and recruiting and screening.

All the essential components of the group work should be addressed before the group process begins.

Program Development for Planning

Session-by-session planning also is very important and should include develop-ment of:

Session goal(s)Methods/ActivitiesTime for each activityLeader responsibilitiesResources neededProcessing of activitySummarization

Program Evaluation for Planning

Evaluation of the group helps to keep it on track and to determine if its goals were reached.

Regular or periodic monitoring of mem-ber satisfaction (i.e., process evaluation) is always useful.

Evaluation of effectiveness and goal ac-complishment (i.e., summative evalua-tion) is always recommended.

Resources for Planning

First to be determined is whether a single leader or co-leaders are appropriate.

Co-leadership has the advantage of providing mutual and continuing support, access to feed-back, and sharing of responsibilities.

If co-leaders are used, they must be carefully selected for compatibility and attention should be given to their working relationship.

Meeting Space Planning

The meeting space for group work should be selected carefully and ideally should

Be roomy and comfortableAfford privacy and confidentialityHave movable furnitureBe consistently availableBe convenientHave any necessary resources

Marketing and Recruitment Planning

In order for group work to be feasible, member recruitment and marketing must be done ethically.

Available resources, such as personal contacts, public media, or the Internet, should be used as is appropriate.

Funding Planning

Funding must be available to support group work offerings, including monies for materials and supplies and for sup-port of professional development for group work leaders.

Member payment obligations and plans, if any, should be operationalized (e.g., by an insurance company or “out of pocket”) before the group work begins.

Professional Disclosure Planning

Use of a Professional Disclosure Statement is always desirable and sometimes re-quired by state statute through licensure laws.

A professional disclosure statement serves to inform prospective group members and the general public of group leader’s qual-ifications.

Professional Disclosure Planning

A professional disclosure statement should include the group work leader’s

Scope of practiceLicenses and certificationsSpecific training for group workSpecific experience in group workFees for services

Preparing Group Members Planning

Preparation of group members for parti-cipation is very important for all group work, but especially so for personal change groups such as psychoeducation, counseling, and psychotherapy groups.

Member preparation involves Screening, Informed Consent, and Ethical consider-ations.

Preparing Group Members Planning

Screening is concerned with the idea that the group is appropriate for each poten-tial member.

Counseling and therapy groups generally require screening whereas psychoeduca-tion and task groups may not need screening and/or may use intact groups.

Screening Planning

Screening is intended to insure that each group member

is a match with the group’s goals.is a match with expectations for the group.is a match with group availability and schedule.has an appropriate level of psychological and emotional functioning.can become involved interpersonally.has appropriate social interest in the group.

Informed Consent Planning

Prospective members need to provide informed consent for their participation in (at least) counseling or psychotherapy groups.

The informed consent process should be focused on:

Group goalsTechniques and activitiesLeader qualificationsLeader and member responsibilities

Confidentiality Planning

During screening, and throughout the group, leaders need to help members understand confidentiality and its limits.

Confidentiality in groups cannot be guaranteed, but it is a fundamental tenet for effective group work.

Confidentiality Planning

Limits to confidentiality include need to report danger to self and/or others or child or elder abuse or neglect, court-ordered reporting, and necessary re-porting to managed care companies for insurance purposes.

“What is said in the group needs to remain in the group,” is an important general concept, except when limits are activated.

Professional Development Planning

Group leaders must continually pursue professional development in order to keep competencies current and sharp.

Reading, workshop participation, writing, taking courses, attending conference presentations, and professional supervision are common examples of effective professional development activities.

Trends Planning

Group work leaders must keep abreast of changes in the world around them.For example, mental health services, including group services, are increas-ingly affected by managed care policies and procedures.

Group work services may fit particu-larly well within managed care due to economy and effectiveness.

Trends Planning

Cultural, ethnic, age, sexual orientation, and racial changes demand that group leaders increase their understanding and sensitivity to multicultural and diversity issues and practices.

Group leaders also must attend to rapid changes in technology, including use of computers and the Internet.

Performing is the part of group leadership that involves the appli-cation of the group work plan in an effective and appropriate man-ner in order to positively affect group members and reach group and individual member goals.

Performing

A first rule of performing effectively is to know oneself, including personal strengths and areas in need of improve-ment.

Group work leaders who perform effectively participate in each group as a member seeking self-learning and improvement.

Performing

Effective group work leaders deliver group work competencies (i.e., know-ledge and skills) effectively and effici-ently.

Effective group work leaders also adapt the group plan so that it fits the situa-tional needs of each group session.

Performing

Effective group work leaders rely upon previously tested and validated models for group process, even though no group perfectly fits a model.

Noting what happens in and during a group provides leaders with important data to inform and guide their inter-ventions.

Effective group work leaders create therapeutic conditions that enhance group functioning and movement toward group goals.

Performing

These factors include universality, instillation of hope, imparting of information, altruism, corrective recapitulation of primary family group, socializing techniques, imitative behavior, interpersonal learning, group cohesiveness, catharsis, and existential factors.

Effective group work leaders choose interventions intentionally and with care after considering alternatives.

Performing

Consideration is given to:intervention level (individual, inter personal, group)intervention type (conceptual, ex periential, structural)intended intensity (high, medium, low)

Performing

Effective group work leaders focus on events and experiences occurring pre-sently and try to help members bring past or outside events into the present discussion.

Meaning attribution skills are used to help members learn from group events by converting their experiential learn-ing into cognitive learning.

Performing

Collaboration between group leaders and members is important for satisfac-tion and success for all.

Leaders are the experts in group work, but the group members are the experts on their own lives and experiences.

Performing

Effective group work leaders are intentional about valuing diversity and being responsive to it.

The acronym “RESPECTFUL” provides a way to remember diversity factors to which attention should be given.

continued

RESPECTFUL

Religious/spiritual identityEthnic identitySexual identityPsychological identityEconomic class standingChronological challengesThreats to one’s well beingFamily historyUnique physical characteristicsLocation of residence

Processing is the part of group work leadership that involves leaders meeting after sessions to evaluate what occurred during the preceding session, to derive mean-ing, to consider any impact on future sessions, and to guide the group forward productively.

Processing allows leaders to share and compare, draw meaning from events and experiences, and to make appro-priate adjustments.

Processing

During before-session processing, leaders are concerned with preparation, the link between goals and strategies, the match between plan and development of group and members, and clarity of leader roles.

During after-session processing, leaders focus on what happened, assessing member and leader behavior and effectiveness, drawing meaning, and making adjustments for the future.

Processing

Reflective practice is based on “learning from experience” and involves analyzing experience and practice, drawing meaning from it, and applying learning appropri-ately and effectively to new situations.

Processing

Reflective practice can be enhanced by such strategies as (a) between-session processing, (b) keeping session journ-als, (c) reviewing session and evalua-tion results, and (d) critiquing video tapes.

Processing during reflective practice can be of two general types: pragmatic processing or deep processing.

Processing

Pragmatic processing involves noting and describing without interpretation the events and experiences occurring within group sessions (e.g., who talks to whom).

Deep processing involves moving from pragmatic processing to probe more intensely the relationship between what occurred during a session and the leaders’ values, cognition, and affect.

This concludes the presentation on GROUP WORK

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