Group Reflection

The process of running a group therapy session is a unique time to tests a person’s skills abilities when it comes to facilitating that group. This paper will mainly look at ways when it comes to my learning's of this class that I took ways; I will also show examples and skills to run a good group therapy session. This whole paper is a reflection of the many things that I took was on being an active group counselor facilitator.

In the grief support group I co-lead with a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and supervised by a Master of Social Work I learned how to facilitate a meeting. The LPCC taught me the person-centered approach and the social worker taught me to monitor client’s progression of goals. She allowed me to take lead, to link members together by similarities they share, and to give members homework. The LPCC believed in self-disclosure, she demonstrated this for me in a fantastic manner the social worker I was with did as well. Teaching me that it is great to self-disclose when appropriate and when it will benefit the progression of the group or for them to feel comfortable trusting the leader. In my group sessions I did not deem self-disclosure appropriate to use. How I will translate this is to be aware of my clients, to ask them what goals they hope to achieve, and for them to keep journals of progress. I will create a safe atmosphere for clients to speak, provide affirmation, and help clients set and maintain goals.

Part two of this group counseling session was a time for group members to become comfortable with each other and start expressing feelings and emotions. I watched each group member become honest with themselves and others during this session. Most group members were able to express their purpose in the group and become real with one another (Association for Specialists in Group Work, n.d.). I believe the group worked hard in this transitional stage, while tackling anxiety, trust, and resistance. I believe this group will succeed in the stages to come.

The purpose of this specific field experience was to identify a problem at my current school site. The school rewards students who have received zero citations for each trimester. These awards (ROAR Rewards) consist of fieldtrips to the local teen center, a trip to the movie theatre, or school site carnivals. The problem I presented to my group was that teachers at my school site feel the criteria for this trimester incentive needs to be revised. Teachers have been noticing that some students attending these trimester rewards have not received any citations, but are not turning in their schoolwork, not participating in classroom activities/assignments, or have poor attendance. The stakeholders involved in this problem include the students and staff members at my school site, Lincoln Elementary. The group was

For our group presentation, my peers and I had a group chat and a shared file to work with. Most of our communication was via Facebook Messenger and Google Docs and during class time. Though this method eased our work and gave us flexibility, it also caused some problems that we did not foresee. I expected this project to be taxing, but instead found it much easier. The group overall was about the same as an essay, but with a visual twist which was interesting.

The Information Technology department at my job is a group I am part of and also a group that has some history. Our longest standing member has served the company for nearly ten years and could probably describe the changes that have occurred much better than me. From my perspective, this group has not changed much since I became member. Much of the standards and principles shared by each member have been in place well before I started.

For the deliberative dialogue assignment and presentation, I believe my group and I went through the Phase Theory of Group Development while working on this project. Before being assigned the project, the five of us, Charisse, Bryce, Abby, Chris, and I, were put together into a group. In class, we got together and decided which topic we wanted to research about. We shared our personal thoughts and experiences in order to have an understanding of each other’s viewpoints. This would be considered the first phase orientation, having a grasp of everyone’s perception in order to reach an agreement of the task. At first, it was difficult for us to write our position in the form of a formal letter. We all had the same goal in mind but didn’t have the steps leading to it. When we had planned to meet outside of class, there wasn’t much discussion or debate regarding our topic due to a collective agreement. Charisse and I attempted to push our group into the second phase of conflict by bringing up new ideas to challenge our existing points. This enabled us to further exchange our thoughts in order to find an effective solution. Our topic affected Chris and I the most, but I attempted to make it relatable to everyone else in the group. Charisse questioned how we should deliver the presentation during class by dividing our topics into three points with an introduction and conclusion. This lead to the third phase, emergence. Through discussion, we were able to uncover details and

Working in a distance group has been a new experience for me, but it was enjoyable and the mood in the group always was positive. The collaboration that I gave into the group was to complete my part in each assignment and also I tried to be active in the group like that I could be helpful to my teammates if they were troubling, but the group almost always work smoothly and few complication were given through the whole project. The Anonymous group was well organized during the whole project, each member of the group always took a part in the assignments and at the end of each week, the leader put all the information together in order to submit the assignments. The group always did every assignment on time.

I remember the day I was assigned to my team with Jackie, Jeremiah, Sona, Skyler, Milan, and Javi according to our Myers-Briggs test results. I was excited to socialize and begin working with people, but I remember feeling like I was probably the dumbest person in the group. In the beginning, I thought anything I had to say would not be valid I felt less valuable than the other members. The rest of the team was just so intimidating and seemed like they were much smarter than me, but over the course of the semester, they proved to be an incredible and down-to-earth group of people because they showed me that my input is valid and welcomed. They showed me that I am not stupid and I am just as important as a member of the group as everyone else. Their dedication helped us become a high achieving group although we did encounter some challenges and mistakes over the course of the semester.

During my last five weeks I’ve learned that groups are not an individual effort. My thinking has slightly changed in the sense that I believe that teams are needed in order for more change to be accomplished in the world around us. I used to think that a lot of things could be done individually. In order for a group to be a success there has to be not only a group of committed team members but also an organized team leader. This leader must be approachable, friendly, and able to communicate both verbally and nonverbally. The members make up a large component of the group, too. The members must be committed, have skills, and be accountable, trustworthy, supportive, talented, and knowledgeable. I’m surprised to learn during this course that a leader must also be a nurturer of a team. Relationships must be formed and nurtured in order for a team and or group to be formed and well maintained. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wikipedia) Relationships must be formed within the group and outside the group in order to achieve the common goal. I’ve learned that the common goal must be agreed upon by all members and not solely by one member. Because of the module I have enhanced my knowledge of team relationships and have enjoyed increasing my understanding and purpose of creating establishment of teams and or groups.

On August 23, 2017, Professor Henry split her English Composition class up into four groups. These four groups were given instructions to write an essay together. The essay was simple. Get to know one another and write an essay about yourselves. The task allowed them to get to know one another inside and outside of the classroom. Getting to know each other creates tolerance of all diverse types of people and their respective backgrounds, possibly even lifelong friendships. Every group coming together to see they are more alike than they perceived. One of these four groups consisted of Darin, Ella, and Nikki. The three of them began talking. Many of the things they discovered were surprising. These three individuals came together to create a masterpiece. The three of them ranged in age, style, and stature. Darin, young and athletic, with an outgoing personality, is the first group member we will get to read about. Ella, the youngest of the group, is kind hearted, a little sarcastic, and full of life. Vivacious might be the best way to describe Ella. Nikki, however, is young but not quite as young as Darin and Ella. Nikki is strong, caring, and passionate. Prepare to look into the lives of Darin, Ella, and Nikki, possibly even step into someone else’s shoes for a moment.

During the course of this unit, I learned how to work in a large group. I learned how to communicate with my group members. For example, often times, we discussed our goals for the day or for the following days. I also communicated my ideas regarding our artistic vision or blocking. I also developed my problem solving skills because as a large group, we encountered numerous issues. One example is the problems we encountered while building our set. We had to consider issues such as safety or the impacts on our blocking. We had to build an innovative and effective set using the materials available to us. We tried to use the big black boxes, however, they presented a safety issue and were ineffective at hiding the boys. Thankfully, we were able to overcome this obstacle as we ended up with a creative set made up of cardboard boxes. We were able to use this set effectively in terms of blocking as well.

Throughout the first week of class, I have learned a lot about my learning skills, through groupwork, classwork, and individual work. During the first day of class, we split up based on what we thought our learning styles are. I personally related to South because it was described by the word caring. Listening and giving everyone a chance to talk. I learn best when I hear everyone’s point of view and ideas and listening also inspires ideas of my own.

I thought my participation was good in this group meeting. When it was my turn with the “talking” ball, I would contribute to the conversation. When a group member was talking, I thought I did a good job making eye-contact with those group members. If I wanted to add to what a group member had said, I would wait until they were done talking and grab the “talking” ball. I also would show non-verbal gestures, when group members were talking. Grace was sharing something about her family and trust, and I found myself nodding and making eye-contact with her. So not only did I participate in the discussion, but I also participated by fully paying attention to the members of my group. Overall, I thought my participation was great in this group meeting.

Knowing how to facilitate a group is a vital skill for social workers to have, as there are very few branches of social work that will not require the skills to be used at some point. Throughout the course of the semester, Social Work With Groups has taught us how to lead groups through the use of theory and practice. For the practical element of the class, we were given the opportunity to facilitate a group on the topic of stress for university students. My partners, Ashley and Megan, and I decided that we wanted to focus our specific group on healthy living and its relationship with stress. We all chose different aspects of healthy living for each of us to facilitate. We led our group on Monday, November 13th. While I feel that my facilitation did not go as well as I had hoped, I learned a lot from my experience of facilitating, participating and observing, from the material provided in the course, and now I am able to understand the implications of what I have learned on my future as a social worker.