Group Facilitation: Engagement and Authority

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Readings

Read the following chapter in your An Introduction to Group Work Practice textbook:

  • Chapter 4, “Leadership,” pages 98–135.

Assignment Overview

This assignment addresses the video, Group Counseling With Inmates: San Quentin Prison, to complete this assignment. You will focus your observation on group engagement and issues of in-group authority.

Assignment Description

For your assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You have been accepted as a student in a special seminar on the  formation and ongoing dynamics of a therapy group. As part of the  seminar, you will participate in an observation activity. While playing  the role of the supervisor, observe and analyze the facilitators’  performance, and then offer comments, ask questions, and make  suggestions in relation to how the facilitators handle the aspects in  question.

Assignment Instructions

Your assignment should include the following:

  • Short summary of the sessions.
  • Part 1: Group Engagement.      
    • Description of all four observation parameters, noting specific strengths and suggestions for improvement:        
      1. Facilitator efforts to create a strong group foundation in the first session.
      2. Facilitator use of empathy and other interpersonal skills.
      3. Facilitator use of self-regulation to monitor personal values, beliefs, and behaviors that could limit effectiveness.
      4. Facilitator recognition of diversity within the group.
      5. Handling of co-facilitation.
  • Part 2: Group Authority.      
    • Description of all three observation parameters, noting specific strengths and suggestions for improvement:        
      1. Facilitator efforts to help the group define what makes a group meeting successful for them.
      2. Facilitation of discussion around confidentiality.
      3. Facilitation of understanding who has the authority in the group therapy setting.
  • Conclusion.      
    • Analysis of facilitators’ overall performance.
    • Explanation of facilitators’ overall strengths and suggestions.

A good supervisor should be able to back up his or her observations and suggestions with a body of evidence. Keeping this in mind, support  your analyses with citations from both peer-reviewed literature and your  textbo