Assignment 2: Starting a Group
Group therapy represents a large portion of treatment opportunities for clients battling substance use disorders. Groups are an important part of treatment, allowing clients to feel as though they are not alone in facing a problem and that other people have faced similar problems and overcome them successfully.
This particular assignment consists of two parts. For this assignment, assume that you have been working as an individual counselor at a substance abuse treatment center for some time now. Your supervisor has asked you to create a therapy group for a handful of the substance abuse clients that you and the other counselors work with. In order to identify the appropriate clients that can be placed in your group, your supervisor has asked you to prepare a report outlining the important points of the group you are forming:
Part I
Prepare a 1–2-page report detailing the following items in your group design:
- Goal(s) of group
- Group norms (such as attendance requirements, privacy, confidentiality, relationships with group members, etc.)
- Differences between therapy group and self-help groups
- Procedure for dealing with disruptive and/or resistant clients
- Form(s) of power to be used
- Consequences for relapse
- Procedure for dealing with a member leaving the group
Part II
For the next part of this assignment, read this passage and address the questions that follow:
As the group leader, it is important to take time to look at some of the issues you may need to be aware of in yourself throughout each of the four stages of group development. For example, the second stage of group development includes an opportunity for clients to challenge or critique you. The way you handle criticism is an issue you need to identify and be wary of how you respond. Keeping this in mind, your supervisor has asked you to do the following:
- Reflect on your potential issues for each of the four stages of group development.
- Present at least two self-care strategies that you will be able to choose from in order to address these issues as they arise in your career.
Write a 3–4-page paper that includes both parts of the assignment in Word format.
