When I was co-facilitating a mindfulness group at my internship I experienced a critical incident. One member of the group was pregnant due to being raped. The other members of the group were supportive of this member and empathetic of what she was going through. The pregnant member came to the first few group sessions and it was visible how stressed and frightened she was about her pregnancy. I am going to call the pregnant member of the group Ashley, her name has been changed to obscure any identifying information. A few groups in, Ashley was absent from the group due to her work schedule. During the session, other group members began to disclose that they didn't agree with how Ashley was taking care of herself during pregnancy. It was …show more content…
As facilitators, we strived to ensure we always had an ending phase because the ending phase of the group tends to be overlooked. Also, the beginning, middle and ending phase allowed structure, which many members yearn for. We would incorporate sessional beginnings as well as sessional endings in this group. For our sessional beginning, we would have all members introduce themselves each session and share anything that was on their mind from the past week. Check-ins are essential because they allow all group members to have a voice and encourages mutual aid in the group from the start (Clemans, 2011). Check-ins are used so members are invited ,at the beginning of each session, to share their struggles, questions, dilemmas, accomplishments, and failures related to their group work and requires other members to listen and offer mutual aid to each other (Clemans, 2011). I noticed that sessional beginnings generally begin good conversations among our group, which makes the group start off on a positive …show more content…
As facilitators, we felt the need to go back and re-read the contract as a group. The group had broken rules because they were stating their personal opinions, being disrespectful and talking about a member when she wasn’t there to defend herself. We also told the group members if they are ever worried about a group members safety, they can feel free to email us or schedule a meeting with us so it is dealt with professionally. We wanted to make sure the group knew they had this option when it comes to safety
According to Halter (2014), all groups go through three phases of development which includes the orientation (introductory) phase, working phase and termination phase. As facilitators, we used motivational interviewing skills such as open-ended questions so that participants could engage in the discussion and share their experiences. Reflective listening and summary were used to recap some of the points discussed by the participants after each question. The group plan was very helpful in helping us keep up with the time.
Tuckman and Jensen (1977) explain that the group begins forming when they first come together. Our group began to form when we discovered the identity of whom we would be working with and we engaged in conversation for the first time. During our first conversation we introduced ourselves and discussed our preferred team roles using Belbin’s (1981) model.
Topics explored with this group included; conversational skills, internet safety, bullying, conflict resolution, social media, and personal appearance. Accordingly, I was able to gain insight on how to plan activities tailored to the needs of the group as well as obtain tips on conducting groups effectively. Additionally, I was able to get a sense of the group dynamics, attain knowledge on the stages of a group through observing all the individuals belonging to the group, their uniqueness and how their personality impacted the group itself. Individuals were able to join the group at different stages hence; the forming stage was repeated each time a new member was recruited. This also provided me with the opportunity of gaining first-hand experience of the interaction on the basic dynamics on group stages of forming, norming, storming and
In schools, mindfulness interventions most commonly include meditation practices focusing on breathing and awareness of emotions. According to Follette et al. (2006), “Mindfulness practices provide a method in which people can practice experiencing thoughts and feelings that have been avoided in the past” (p. 58). These studies and interventions have mainly focused on improving students’ behavior (Felver et al., 2013; Greco et al., 2008; Lee et al. 2008; Semple et al. 2010). Students who are suffering from long-term effects of trauma are often found to act out in school, avoid work, fixate on thoughts, and show a lack of flexibility (Follette et al. 2006). These students are more likely than their peers to experience maladaptive
It was rather an uneventful week. I still struggle with facilitating and co-facilitating group therapy. I think I am becoming less uncomfortable, but still anxiously nervous. Every time I need to say something, give feedback, or ask a question, I overthink in my head and wonder if it is the right thing to say, if it is going to be helpful, or rather sound silly. The thing that stands out most is my frustration when my groups become “individual sessions with audience”. Even if I try to bring it back to we-centered theme, involve others, and encourage group thinking, some people tend to monopolize the group time, and I just feel that it is a wasted time. Co-facilitating seems to make group running a little easier, but only if I and the other
For my group experiential activity, I chose to attend an open self-help group, Narcotics Anonymous, which is a support group that focuses on the healing and recovery process of people with addiction. The Narcotics Anonymous group was a very informal, open group in which members could come and go at their own free will and were not coerced to disclose any information that he or she did not feel comfortable sharing with the larger group. In addition, new members were welcome to attend. The group was comprised of approximately 19 group members and one group leader. I found it interesting that there were also children of recovering addicts present at the meeting because I was not aware that children could attend these meetings. Nonetheless, I found it very compelling to witness so many families present with their families because it showed that there was still a sense of social support present despite turmoil that the addiction may have caused. The purpose of the group was to engage in the recovery process with other group members but also to adhere to the group’s mission of providing an environment of recovery to those individuals who are still suffering with his or her addiction. The purpose of the group was clearly stated by the group leader during his introductory speech about welcoming new members who would like to share in the recovery process with other group members. Just from observing, there appeared to be a group leader, referred to as the “chairperson,” who provided a brief overview of the group and voluntarily asked members to participate with the reading of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of the Narcotics Anonymous program. In addition, the group leader facilitated the flow of the group members’ conversations and ...
I often try to visualize my leadership skills and my ability to lead groups as a professional school counselor. The video offered a lot of techniques and information a beginner school counselor could use in their counseling program. One of the most important lessons I learned from the video is preparation. It’s important for school counselors to conduct needs assessments, interview students and ask students want kind of groups they want and/or need. As we have learned through our courses and learning materials, gaining trust and feeling comfortable is very important in a group setting. I can see myself using the introduction technique because not only did it allow students and the leaders to learn each other names, it was also a good way
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 part 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.
The environment throughout the weekend could be described as chaotic, crowded, and loud. As previously mentioned, this group had four of the youth had low IQs and two had well documented behavioral issues. Without knowing the fully histories of the participants, I knew of at least two youth who had been hospitalized for suicidal behaviors. Three of the young women have acted out sexually towards boys and men of all ages. This is all to say that this was a complex group and each of the youth had varying levels of need, and they required a lot of supervision. The focus on supervision takes away from the leader’s ability to utilize the necessary therapeutic factors. Thinking about this helped me to be more empathetic towards the youth who were arguing with one another. If I was not able to effectively intervene, how could I expect my group to behave in a way that I was unable to support in
The ending stage as stated in Toseland and Rivas on page 402, mentions how the worker examines each ending task and the skills and techniques the worker can use to facilitate the effective ending of the group. Some of these skills include learning from members, maintaining changed efforts, helping members deal with their feelings about ending, planning for the future, making referrals and evaluating the work of the group. In our group’s last session, Jolene had an agenda made and started off with an activity. This activity was called a web activity. The main idea was to pass around a string to each group member and say something positive about that individual and how they made an impact in the group. This activity showed group members that
Tuckman, B., & Jensen, M. (2010). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group Facilitation, (10), 43-48. Retrieved March 27, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global.
One way the textbook challenged my thinking was when it mentioned the fact their group leaders need to have knowledge different culture background. Its also challenged my thinking because I did not know that group leaders can be given lawsuits if they do not use due care and acts in good faith. In addition, this textbook also broadens my thinking because I did not know that in the United States the populations of prisoners were growing at such a fast pace that it was forcing prisons to run groups counseling. Also, I did not know that group counseling in prison is one of major therapeutic modalities. This broadens my think because I did not know that prison had group counseling or that it could be so therapeutic for prisoners. Moreover, this textbook also broadens my think because I did not know that group leader would show less enthusiasm to members in a mandatory group. This broadens my thinking because I would think that group leaders would put more effort into these types of group members because they really need the help and
Many of the adverse behaviors such as mistrust in the transition stage are underlined by anxiety and defensiveness. The key concept of the transition stage “is to create a safe and trusting climate that encourages members to take risks by identifying and exploring their fears” (Corey, Corey, and Corey. 2014, p. 217). Establishing trust to me is the main goal in the transition stage as the group cannot be successful if there is no trust. If there
The first stage in the group work stage theory is forming a group. This stage is about the formation of a group plan. Corey and Corey (1997), describe this stage as being extremely important in terms of expressing the expectations and outcomes you will have of the group. This means that the better the planning, the better the outcome for the group and if the planning is lacking, it will show later in the group. In our particular lab group, our planning involved making a course outline for a parent help group who were having trouble with their children’s behaviour, or a group of young adults who were using drugs and alcohol. As the facilitators of the group, we had the task of coming up with a ten week plan together. Corey, Corey and Corey (2010), explain that careful thought and planning are necessary in order to lay a solid foundation for any type of group, which is something that should be considered when facilitating any of these two groups; or any other group, no matter the seriousness of the issue. The type of group that we were facilitating is known as a ‘formed group’. Garvin (1986) describes formed groups a...
At the beginning of my mindfulness journey, I felt frustrated as I began to realize how much I struggled with being in the present. I could not focus and I struggled to make it five minutes of practice. In the first two weeks, mindfulness felt like a chore. As I sat down to practice I would feel defeated each time. I did not really understand the point of mindfulness as focusing on breathing felt meaningless to me. My mind would wander each time I tried to focus on breathing and I began to realize how hard it was to still and control my mind. I knew that I was supposed to feel more relaxed and connected with my mind and body, but after each practice I felt more frustrated with myself. In the beginning I began to realize