Leading Counseling Groups

The experience we went through at Mount St. Joseph could be said to act as the pinnacle of the theory we studied during the lectures. Actually leading counseling groups requires of you an emulation of the theory and a reflexive attitude. I shall start this essay by providing a detailed description of my experience in leading a group. I shall follow by outlining the group dynamics present at the time. Following would be a detailed hypothesis to why I chose the particular leadership style. Lastly, I shall conclude with a brief summary of the major points.

During the experience as leaders, I and Tiziana decided to lead a group of 11 year old girls who were having difficulty adjusting to the new school. I experienced the group as being quite high in energy, especially when conflict was undergoing between two group members. The attention of the group tended to be quite one sided towards conflict and there were a couple of members who were rarely speaking. It was interesting that I was getting the feeling that the group was effective in reenacting the primary family group (Debattista, 2011). I was getting the feeling that at some point during the conflict there was an attempt to split us as co-leaders and also an ongoing striving by two members for attention.

The high conflict level and the high level of resistance in the group could be a factor which shows that the group is at the Transition stage (Krieg, as cited in Higgs, 1992). Resistance in the group could be said to be rampant. Laughing moments between the members, the conflict between a number of members and a thick silence in the other half of the group which was not fighting are examples of this resistance.

Although we as co-leaders strived to make it plausible that the ...

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...oup was provided, followed by a description of the group processes present. Following was an in-depth reflection of the leadership style I adopted in the group. Lastly some interventions were proposed which have made the session more effective.

Works Cited

Carroll, M., Bates, M. & Johnson, C. (1995). Group Leadership: A Manual for Group Counselling Leaders (2nd ed.). Denver, Colorado: Love Publishing Company.

Corey, G. (2008). Theory & Practice of Group Counselling (7th ed.). USA: Thomson Higher Education.

Debattista, G. (2011). Counselling/Therapy Group [Lecture Notes]. Malta: University of Malta, Department of Psychology.

Higgs, J. A. (1992). Dealing with Resistance: Strategies for Effective Group. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 17(2), p. 67-73.

Yalom, I. D. (2005). The Theory & Practice of Group Psychotherapy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books.