Assignment 2: see chapter 2 readings below; APA format; cite at least 3 relevant sources and please use own words. Assignment will be submitted through safe assign

Note: this is for counseling

Description: Write a two page paper on what it takes to make an effective group leader. What are the characteristics of a great group facilitator? What are some of the things that this person does and what are some of the things that this person avoids? What are some of your personal strengths you bring to this position? What are some growth areas for you in this position

Chapter 2 Textbook content

Corey, M.S., Corey, G., Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and Practice (10th ed.). Cengage

2-2The Group Counselor as a Person

The professional practice of leading groups is a function of who the counselor is as a person. Indeed, the leader’s ability to establish solid relationships with others in the group is probably the most important skill in facilitating group process. As a group leader, you bring your personal qualities, values, and life experiences to every group. For example, if you struggle with perfectionism, you may impose unrealistic standards or goals on your clients without realizing you are doing so. The more self-understanding you possess, the less likely you are to do harm to group members. In general, effective counselors have a high level of self-awareness and engage in an ongoing process of self-reflection.

We address some of the typical challenges faced by beginning group leaders, but there are many benefits to being “new” to the profession as well. We have found that our students and interns possess enormous energy, creativity, and a strong drive to be helpful to their clients. Beginning group leaders often bring a fresh perspective that can help to balance their lack of experience and skill.

If you hope to inspire others to get the most out of living, it is imperative that you attend to your own vitality and that you practice self-care throughout your career. How you deal with the stresses and anxieties of a training program have important implications for how you will function as a group counselor when you encounter various challenges in your professional work.

Problems and Issues Facing Beginning Group Leaders

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Those who are just beginning to lead groups are typically overwhelmed by the problems they face. Those new to group work often ask themselves questions such as these:

How will I be able to get the group started?
What techniques should I use?
Should I wait for the group to initiate activity?
Will I know how to follow through once something has been initiated?
What if I don’t like one of the group members?
What if I make mistakes? Can I do harm to the members of my group?
What do I do if there is a prolonged silence?
Should I interrupt group members who talk too quickly or for too long?
What should I do if a group member is not participating at all?
How much should I participate in or involve myself in a personal way in the groups I lead?
Will I have the knowledge and skills to work effectively with group members who are culturally different from me?
Will I be able to address cultural issues and be sensitive to diversity in my group?
What if a group member challenges me or doesn’t like me?
How do I know whether the group is helping people change?
How can I work with several people at one time?
As a group leader, should I hide feelings of anxiety or sadness?
What do I do if I become emotionally involved and cry with my group?

Whether you are a beginning group leader or a seasoned one, successful groups cannot be guaranteed. In supervising group leaders, we hear them express their fear of making mistakes. To some degree, fear and anxiety are normal, even for seasoned practitioners. Try to harness your anxiety so that it energizes you rather than restricts you. When we are processing a group that students have facilitated in class, we ask students to share observations they had during the group work. Oftentimes trainees are very insightful, yet they keep their observations and insights to themselves because of their concern that they might say or do the wrong thing. We find that the things they are thinking, but not saying as group leaders, are often the most beneficial ideas to put into words.

We encourage you to use supervision and consultation to speak in an unedited manner and to see whether your thoughts about an intervention may have been therapeutic. After each group session, reflect on the experience by writing down the things you were thinking but chose not to say or some of the feelings you had throughout the group. With the help of a supervisor you may begin to find ways to put more of your clinical hunches into words. During a supervision session, one of my (Cindy’s) students described how frustrated she was with a particular group member. LeAnn found it difficult to stay connected to the client because he spoke rapidly and often made it difficult for others to find space to share. Instead of sharing her reactions, LeAnn said nothing, and both she and the group members became increasingly frustrated. LeAnn’s internal dialogue went something like this: “This guy is really annoying. He just keeps on talking. Many members look annoyed and are restless.” I didn’t encourage LeAnn to express her reactions in such an uncensored way, but I suggested that she could use her perceptions to give feedback to the client. I encouraged LeAnn to focus on what she was observing with this group member and to explain the impact that it had on her ability to connect with him. In this way LeAnn could use her reactions without judging him or telling him that he talked too much. Frequently our internal dialogue as counselors can be very helpful to our work with clients, with only minimal adjustments to what we are thinking. Rather than faulting the member for his behavior, tell the member how this behavior affects you. Doing so opens up a different conversation and usually results in the member being less defensive.

One problem you may face as a beginning group leader is dealing with negative reactions from members. You need to learn how to constructively confront those who have these reactions. If you become defensive, the members may, in turn, increase their defensiveness. Allowing an undercurrent of unresolved issues to continue will sabotage any further work. Later in this section and at different places in this book we suggest ways to deal with these situations.

Allowing an undercurrent of unresolved issues to continue will sabotage any further work.

It takes time to develop leadership skills, and beginning group leaders may feel like quitting after leading only a few sessions. Some struggle with the uncertainty that is a part of learning how to lead well. Nobody expects to be perfect at any other skill (skiing, playing the guitar, making pottery) in a few introductory lessons, and becoming an accomplished group leader is no different. Those who finally experience success at these endeavors have had the endurance to progress in increments.

There is probably no better teacher than experience, but unguided experience can be unsatisfactory. We cannot stress enough the importance of supervision by experienced group leaders. Immediate feedback—from a supervisor, from coleaders, or from other students in a training group—enables leaders to profit from the experience. Group supervision of group leaders offers unique opportunities for both cognitive and affective learning because it provides a way to experience group process, to observe models of group leadership, and to receive feedback from many perspectives. Because the practice of group counseling is growing rapidly, it is essential that group leaders be both competent and ethical. Group supervision is a route to the development of competent group leaders (Riva, 2014).

2-2bPersonal Characteristics of the Effective Group Leader

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In our view, who the counselor is as a person is one of the most significant variables influencing the group’s success or failure. Abundant research indicates the centrality of the person of the therapist as a primary factor in successful therapy, and this is inextricably intertwined with the outcome of psychotherapy (Elkins, 2016). In discussing the personality characteristics of the effective group practitioner with some of our colleagues, we have found that it is difficult to list all the traits of successful leaders and even more difficult to agree on one particular personality type associated with effective leadership. The following sections discuss some aspects of a group leader’s personality that we deem to be especially important. As you read about each of these dimensions, reflect on how it applies to you. Consider the degree to which you are at least on the road to acquiring the traits essential for your success as a group leader.

Courage

A critical personal trait of effective group leaders is courage. Courage is demonstrated through your willingness

to be vulnerable at times, admitting mistakes and imperfections and taking the same risks you expect group members to take;
to confront others but to stay present with them as you work out conflicts;
to act on your beliefs and hunches;
to be emotionally affected by others and to draw on your experiences to identify with them;
to examine your life; and
to be direct and honest with members in a caring and respectful way.

Willingness to Model

One of the best ways to teach desired behaviors is by modeling them in the group. Through your behaviors and the attitudes conveyed by them, you can create group norms such as openness, seriousness of purpose, acceptance of others, respect for a diversity of values, and the desirability of taking risks. Remember that you teach largely by example—by doing what you expect members to do. Realize that your role differs from that of the group member, but we encourage you not to hide behind a professional facade. Engaging in honest, appropriate, and timely self-disclosure can be a way to fulfill the leadership function of modeling.

Disclosing your reactions to a member’s behavior and sharing your perceptions provides feedback that the person may find very helpful. For example, consider a member who talks a great deal yet leaves out how she is feeling. You might say, “As I listen to you, I am not sure what you want us to hear. I wonder what you are feeling and what you are aware of in your body as you are telling your story.” When a group member talks a lot, but says very little, other group members may no longer listen to this person and may display frustration and a lack of interest. The group leader’s response challenges the talkative member and invites the member to connect to her emotions while modeling a way other members can confront people without judging them or shutting them down. The member is invited to explore her inner experience more from a place of interest and caring than from criticism.

Presence

Presence implies being fully attentive to what is going on in the moment.

The ability to be present with group members is extremely important. Presence involves being affected by others’ pain, struggles, and joys. However, it also involves not becoming overwhelmed by a member’s pain. Presence implies being fully attentive to what is going on in the moment. Some members may elicit anger in a group leader, and others may evoke pain, sadness, guilt, or happiness. You become more emotionally involved with others by paying close attention to your own reactions. This does not mean that you will necessarily talk about the situation in your own life that caused you the pain or evoked the anger. It means that you will allow yourself to experience these feelings, even for just a few moments. Fully experiencing emotions gives you the ability to be compassionate and empathic with others. As you are moved by others’ experiences, it is equally important to maintain your boundaries and to avoid the trap of personally identifying with your clients’ situations.

To increase your ability to be present, spend some time alone before leading a group and block out distractions as much as possible. Prepare yourself by thinking about the people in the group and about how you might increase your involvement with them.

Goodwill, Genuineness, and Caring

A sincere interest in the welfare of others is essential in a group leader. Your main job in the group is to help members get what they are coming for, not to get in their way. Caring involves respecting, trusting, and valuing people. Some members may be more difficult than others to care about, yet we hope you will at least want to care. It is vital that you become aware of what kind of people you are drawn to and what kind you find challenging. It is also helpful if you can understand what these tendencies toward connection or disconnection reveal about you.

There are various ways of exhibiting a caring attitude. One way is by inviting a client to participate and allowing that person to decide how far to go. Or you can observe discrepancies between a client’s words and behavior and challenge that person in a way that doesn’t intensify fear and resistance. Another way to express caring is by giving warmth, concern, and support when, and only when, you genuinely feel it toward a person. Even when you don’t feel warmth, show your clients respect and concern.

Belief in Group Process

We believe that a deep confidence in the value of group process is positively related to constructive outcomes. You need to believe in what you are doing and trust the therapeutic process in a group. We are convinced that our enthusiasm and convictions are powerful both in attracting a clientele and in providing an incentive to work.

It is often during the most difficult moments in group work that we are challenged to both trust the process and our ability to help group members navigate the conflicts, as well as other painful dynamics, that often arise in group work. One result of working through the rough times is that group members often describe a greater sense of closeness with one another and a deeper sense of self than they could have achieved without the growing pains involved in participating in the group.

Openness

Openness means that you reveal enough of yourself to give the participants a sense of who you are as a person. It does not mean that you reveal every aspect of your personal life. Your being open can enhance group process if you appropriately reveal your reactions to the members and to how you are being affected by them. Your openness can foster a corresponding spirit of openness within the group. It will enable members to become more open about their feelings and beliefs, and it will lend fluidity to the group process.

Self-revelation is not to be used as a technique; it is best done spontaneously, when it seems appropriate. Here is an example of something we might say to a client who is typically very intellectual but at this moment is showing his emotions: “I really respect your intellect, and I know it has served you well. Yet at this moment I am so struck by the way you are sharing yourself emotionally with us. It is delightful to experience this side of you.” This authentic and spontaneous statement highlights the client doing something he has expressed as a personal goal, reinforcing his efforts at emotional expression. It also acknowledges the part of the client that he values—his intellect. The compliment does not diminish one part in order to reinforce another. By sharing her perceptions and personal reactions with this member, the leader has provided another form of self-disclosure.

Nondefensiveness in Coping With Criticism

Dealing frankly with criticism is related to openness. Many of the challenges you may be subjected to by group members require the clinician to develop a thick skin. Members may sometimes accuse you of not caring enough, of being selective in your caring, of structuring the sessions too much, or of not providing enough direction. Some of the criticism may be fair—and some of it may be an unfair expression of jealousy, testing authority, or projection onto you of feelings for other people. It is crucial for you to nondefensively explore with the group the feelings behind the criticism.

If members take a risk and confront the leader and are chastised for doing this, they are likely to withdraw. Furthermore, others in the group may receive the message that openness and honesty are not really valued. Even if someone verbally abuses you as a leader, it is not therapeutic for you to respond in a defensive manner. Instead, model an effective and nonaggressive way of expressing your thoughts and feelings. Maintaining a therapeutic stance with group members does not mean that you need to be unaffected by behavior that is difficult and perhaps even attacking or verbally abusive. You might say: “I don’t like it when you call me offensive names. I am willing to work with you to understand what it is I do to evoke your reactions to me.” As illustrated in this example, you can tell the person your reactions and let him or her know how you are affected by the confrontation. By modeling effective ways to express anger or frustration, you provide members with helpful ways of expressing these emotions in a respectful manner.

Becoming Aware of Subtle Culture Issues

Most of us think of ourselves as open-minded and nonjudgmental. However, it is nearly impossible to be raised in a society filled with cultural discrimination and not to hold some degree of prejudice or misinformation about people who differ from us. Many cultural mistakes that may harm members are unconscious and are not deliberate on our part, so it is important that we increase our self-awareness and challenge our worldview and values. Becoming aware of the unconscious parts of ourselves requires deep and critical self-analysis. The harm we do is not less painful to the individual because it is not intended.

As group leaders, if we increase our awareness of our own prejudices and biases, we stand a better chance of dealing effectively with prejudicial attitudes or remarks made in a group. Even in groups of people who consider themselves open and culturally aware, racial or culturally insensitive remarks are not uncommon. Racist remarks that go unnoticed or unaddressed by leaders or the members do influence the group process. The moments in which these subtle and overt comments are made are timely opportunities for learning and for leader facilitation. If a sexist, homophobic, or racially derogatory comment is made and goes unattended, it can create a climate of mistrust and anger on the part of many members.

Being Able to Identify With a Client’s Pain

It is unrealistic for us to expect that we have experienced the same problems as all of our clients, but the emotions people express are common to all of us. We all experience psychological pain, even though the causes of this pain may be different. One basis for empathizing with clients is being open to the sources of pain in your own life without becoming swept up by this pain. Our willingness to engage in self-reflection can inspire our clients to explore their personal concerns.

Over the years, we have found that it is often the most difficult paths we have taken and the greatest pains we have endured that have helped to fine-tune our clinical intuition and effectiveness. It is not merely having had difficult times, but the willingness to think critically about those times that helps us use these experiences in effective ways as group leaders. For example, if you had a painful divorce, have a lot of unresolved grief, or experienced incest as a child and you have not done your personal work in these areas, it is likely that your clients’ stories involving similar situations will affect you to the degree that you will not be effective with them. However, if you have engaged in your own process of healing, you will likely possess a degree of understanding and sensitivity that will show in your work with group members.

Personal Power

Personal power does not entail domination of members or manipulation of them toward the leader’s end. Rather, it is the dynamic and vital characteristic of leaders who know who they are and what they want. This power involves a sense of confidence in self. Such leaders’ lives are an expression of what they espouse. Being self-confident is not the same as being arrogant or feeling as if you have nothing left to learn. It does not mean that we never make mistakes as leaders. Self-confidence implies trusting in our competence while continuing to fine-tune ourselves as people and professionals. In short, if we feel empowered, we have a basis for facilitating a sense of empowerment in the members of our groups.

People with a strong sense of self are congruent and can be genuine in their interpersonal relationships. Although they may be frightened by certain qualities within themselves, this fear doesn’t keep them from examining these qualities. They recognize and accept their weaknesses and don’t expend energy concealing them from themselves and others. In contrast, people who lack congruence may very much want to defend themselves against self-knowledge. They often act as if they are afraid that their vulnerabilities will be discovered.

Clients sometimes view leaders as perfect and undercut their own power by giving their leaders too much credit for clients’ own insights and changes. We have a concern that leaders will too readily accept their clients’ perceptions and admiration of them. Effective group leaders recognize the ways in which they have been instrumental in bringing about change, and at the same time they encourage clients to accept their own share of credit for their change.

Stamina

Group leading can be taxing and draining as well as exciting and energizing. Therefore, you need physical and psychological stamina and the ability to withstand pressure to remain vitalized throughout the course of a group. Be aware of your own energy level and seek ways to replenish it. It is crucial to have sources other than your groups for psychological nourishment. If you depend primarily on the success level of your groups for this sustenance, you run a high risk of being undernourished and thus of losing the stamina so vital to your success as a leader. If you work primarily with very challenging groups, this is bound to have an impact on your energy level. Unrealistically high expectations can also affect your stamina. Leaders who expect immediate change are often disappointed in themselves and are too quick to judge themselves inadequate. Faced with the discrepancy between their vision of what the group should be and what actually occurs, leaders may lose their enthusiasm and begin to blame not only themselves but also the group members for the lack of change within the group. If your enthusiasm begins to fade, being aware of it is an excellent place to start. Examine your expectations, and if they are unrealistic, make efforts at acquiring a more realistic perspective.

Commitment to Self-Care

Self-care is not a luxury but an ethical mandate.

If we hope to maintain our stamina, we need to take care of ourselves. Those of us in the helping professions have been socialized to think of others, and we often have difficulty recognizing our own needs and taking care of ourselves. At times we may give to the point of depletion and in the process neglect to care for ourselves. A growing body of research reveals the negative toll exacted from mental health practitioners in symptoms such as moderate depression, mild anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and disturbed relationships (Norcross & Guy, 2007). To be able to meet the many tasks facing us as group leaders, we need to be committed to developing effective self-care strategies. Self-care is not a luxury but an ethical mandate. The Ethical Standards for School Counselors (American School Counselors Association [ASCA], 2010) indicates that self-care is a prerequisite for maintaining professional competence: “Professional school counselors monitor emotional and physical health and practice wellness to ensure optimal effectiveness. They seek physical and mental health referrals when needed to ensure competence at all times” (E.1.b). The ethics code of the American Counseling Association (ACA, 2014) addresses impairment: “Counselors monitor themselves for signs of impairment from their own physical, mental, or emotional problems and refrain from offering or providing professional services when impaired” (C.2.G.).

Self-care is a basis for utilizing your strengths, which can enable you to deal effectively with the stresses of your work and prevent some of the risk factors leading to burnout. Staying alive both personally and professionally is not something that happens automatically; it is the result of a commitment to acquiring habits of thinking and action that promote wellness. Self-care involves learning to pay attention to and be respectful of our needs, which is a lifelong task. We cannot provide nourishment to those in our groups if we don’t nourish ourselves. If we demonstrate a commitment to taking care of ourselves, we are modeling an important lesson of keeping vital for the members of our groups. Effective leaders express enthusiastic energy and radiate aliveness through their actions. For an excellent discussion on this topic, we recommend Norcross and Guy’s (2007) book, Leaving It at the Office: A Guide to Psychotherapist Self-Care.

Self-Awareness

A central characteristic for any therapeutic person is an awareness of self, including one’s identity, cultural perspective, power and privilege, goals, motivations, needs, limitations, strengths, values, feelings, and problems. If you have a limited understanding of who you are, it is unlikely that you will be able to facilitate any kind of awareness in clients. As we’ve mentioned, being open to new life experiences is one way to expand your awareness. Involvement in your own personal therapy, both group and individual, is another way for you to expand your self-awareness, especially in recognizing your potential for countertransference and learning how to manage these reactions. You need to become aware of your personal characteristics; unresolved problems may either help or hinder your work as a group counselor. Awareness of why you choose to lead groups is crucial, including knowing what needs you are meeting through your work. How can you encourage others to risk self-discovery if you are hesitant to come to terms with yourself? Reflect on interactions you have had with members of your groups; this is a potentially rich source of information about yourself.

Sense of Humor

We continue to find that using spontaneous wit makes us more real to the members of our groups and results in their being less intimidated by the power differential. However, everything we do and say has the power either to heal or to harm. Although using humor usually evokes positive reactions, it can elicit negative reactions from some clients. This does not mean you should avoid humor, but be cognizant of its potential impact on members. Observe members’ nonverbal reactions as well as checking verbally with group members about their reactions to you, especially if you have been playful or humorous with them. When humor comes from a spontaneous place, not forced or rehearsed, it can have a positive impact. Some students have shared that when leaders are playful it can help to make them more approachable and less intimidating. It is important to maintain a sense of respect for group members when using humor; avoid language that diminishes their suffering or devalues them as people. The key is to balance being authentic and being congruent when relating to members. Refrain from overusing humor in an attempt to build rapport with the group.

Inventiveness

The capacity to be spontaneous and to approach each group with fresh ideas is a most important characteristic. Freshness may not be easy to maintain, particularly if you lead groups frequently. It is important to discover new ways of approaching a group by inventing experiments that emerge from here-and-now interactions. Working with coleaders provides another source for gaining fresh ideas.

If you listen to the members in your group, you will discover opportunities to tap into their creativity. If a member is an artist or a poet, encourage the member to share some of his or her work with the group or lead the group in an activity involving creative arts. During one particularly tense session that had gone on for hours, the group members and leaders decided to step outside for some fresh air and movement. One of the members, who happened to be a soccer coach, had a ball with him and taught the other members some soccer moves. This was highly effective in releasing tension and getting unstuck, and it enabled a typically shy member to take on a leadership role. Group members were playful with one another, which had a more positive effect than continuing to talk. Preplanned exercises and activities can be useful, but often the best creativity comes from the members themselves. Create a space in which this creativity can be valued and explored.

Personal Dedication and Commitment

Being a professional who makes a difference involves having ideals that provide meaning and direction in your life. This kind of dedication has direct application for leading groups. If you believe in the value of group process, and if you have a vision of how groups can empower individuals, you will be better able to ride out difficult times in a group. If you have a guiding vision, you can use it to stay focused and on track with group members when the interactions are troublesome.

Develop a stance of curiosity with group members and encourage them to do so as well. All member behavior has meaning and serves a purpose, if we choose to view it as such. Even the most difficult of members can and should be seen as approachable in spite of how challenging they may make it for others to care for them. It has been said, “Masks reveal what they are intended to conceal.” We interpret this as meaning that the very things people do to keep themselves hidden tell us a lot about who they are, what they fear, what is painful, and what they desire. If individuals are striving to become more authentic, we can help them to discard their masks and to present themselves in more genuine and direct ways. We can do this only if we are invested in them both while they are wearing the mask as well as when they are not. We need to convey acceptance of and commitment to the members of our groups, especially when they are behaving in difficult ways.

The best teachers are always learning and never arrive at a place of being all-knowing.

Being a dedicated professional also involves humility, which means being open to feedback and ideas and being willing to explore one’s self. Humility is truth. It does not mean being self-effacing. It is the opposite of the arrogance that is implied in convincing ourselves that we have nothing more to learn. The best teachers are always learning and never arrive at a place of being all-knowing. In fact, one of the great gifts of our profession is that the process of doing what we do allows us to become better human beings. In addition, professional commitment entails staying abreast of changes in the field, reading journals and books, and attending professional workshops.

The Group Counselor as a Professional

2-3aOverview of Group Leadership Skills

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It is generally accepted that a positive therapeutic relationship is necessary but not sufficient to produce client change. Certainly it is essential that leaders possess the knowledge of how groups best function and that they have the skills to intervene in timely and effective ways. Creating a group climate that fosters interpersonal norms such as openness, directness, respect, and concern for one another will lead to therapeutic interactions among members. A leader’s interpersonal skills, genuineness, empathy, and warmth are significant variables in creating the kind of climate that leads to successful outcomes. In addition to these personal characteristics, group leaders need to acquire a body of knowledge and a set of skills specific to group work. Counseling skills can be taught, but there is also an element of art involved in using these skills in a sensitive and timely way. Learning how and when to use these skills is a function of supervised experience, practice, feedback, and confidence. In Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 we describe some skills that are basic to leading groups with populations of various ages.

Several points about the skills discussed next need to be clarified. First, these skills can best be thought of as existing on a continuum of competence rather than on an all-or-nothing basis. They can be fully mastered and used in a sensitive and appropriate manner, or they can be only minimally developed. Second, these skills can be learned and refined through training and supervised experience. Participating in a group as a member is one good way to determine what a group is about. Leading or coleading a group under supervision is another excellent way to acquire and improve leadership skills. Third, group leaders must be able to multitask, continuously scanning the room, observing the verbal and nonverbal communications of multiple members, and tracking process and content issues for each member. This can be exhausting at first, but it becomes easier as you gain experience. It is helpful to have a coleader whenever possible to share these tasks. Fourth, these skills are not discrete entities; they overlap a great deal. Active listening, reflection, and clarification are interdependent. Hence, by developing certain skills, you are bound to automatically improve other skills. Fifth, these skills cannot be divorced from who you are as a person. Sixth, choosing the skills to develop and use are expressions of your personality and your leadership style.

We next consider some of the skills you will need to acquire and continue to refine as a competent group leader.

Active Listening

It is most important to learn how to pay full attention to others as they communicate, and this process involves more than merely listening to the words. It involves absorbing the content, noting gestures and subtle changes in voice or expression, and sensing underlying messages. Group leaders can improve their listening skills by first recognizing the barriers that interfere with paying attention to others. Some of these roadblocks are not really listening to the other, thinking about what to say next instead of giving full attention to the other, being overly concerned about one’s role or about how one will look, and judging and evaluating without putting oneself in the other person’s place. Like any other therapeutic skill, active listening exists in degrees. The skilled group leader is sensitive to the congruence (or lack of it) between what a member is saying in words and what he or she is communicating through body posture, gestures, mannerisms, and voice inflections. For instance, a man may be talking about his warm and loving feelings toward his wife, yet his body may be rigid and his voice listless. A woman recalling a painful situation may be smiling and holding back tears. In addition to group leaders listening well to members, it is important that leaders teach members how to listen actively to one another.

Reflecting

Reflecting, a skill that is dependent on active listening, is the ability to convey the essence of what a person has communicated so the person can see it. Many inexperienced group leaders find themselves confining most of their interactions to mere reflection. As members continue to talk, these leaders continue to reflect. Carried to its extreme, however, reflection may have little meaning; for example:

Member:

I really didn’t want to come to the group today. I’m bored, and I don’t think we’ve gotten anyplace for weeks.

Leader:

You didn’t want to come to the group because you’re bored and the group isn’t getting anywhere.

There is plenty of rich material here for the leader to respond to in a personal way, with some confrontation, or by asking the person and the other members to examine what is going on in the group. Beginning on a reflective level may have value, but staying on that level does not invite deeper exploration. The leader might have done better to reply in this way:

Leader:

You sound discouraged about the possibility of not getting much from this experience.

The leader would then have been challenging the member to look at the emotions that lay beneath his words and, in the process, would have been opening up opportunities for meaningful communication.

Clarifying

Clarifying is a skill that can be valuably applied during the initial stages of a group. It involves focusing on key underlying issues and sorting out confusing and conflicting feelings; for example:

Member:

I’m angry with my father, and I wish I didn’t have to see him anymore. He hurts me so often. I feel guilty when I feel this way, because I also love him and wish he would appreciate me.

Leader:

You have feelings of love and anger, and somehow having both of these feelings at once presents a problem for you.

Clarification can help the client sort out her feelings so that she can eventually experience both love and anger without experiencing overwhelming guilt. However, it may take some time before she can accept this polarity.

Summarizing

The skill of summarizing is particularly useful after an initial check-in at the beginning of a group session. When the group process becomes bogged down or fragmented, summarizing is often helpful in deciding where to go next. For example, after several members have expressed an interest in working on a particular personal problem, the leader might point out common elements that connect these members.

At the end of a session the leader might make some summary statements or ask each member to summarize. For instance, a leader might say, “Before we close, I’d like each of us to make a brief statement about his or her experience in the group today.” A leader might invite members to think about what they can do before the next session as a way of furthering their work. It may be useful for the leader to make the first summary statement, providing members with a model for this behavior.

Facilitating

The group leader can facilitate the group process by

assisting members to openly express their fears and expectations,
actively working to create a climate of safety and acceptance in which people can trust one another and therefore engage in productive interchanges,
providing encouragement and support as members explore highly personal material or as they try new behavior,
involving as many members as possible in the group interaction by inviting and sometimes even challenging members to participate,
working toward lessening the dependency on the leader by encouraging members to speak directly to one another,
encouraging open expression of conflict and controversy, and
helping members overcome barriers to direct communication.

The aim of most facilitation skills is to help the group members reach their own goals. Essentially, these skills involve opening up clear communication among the members and helping them increase their responsibility for the direction of their group.

Empathizing

An empathic group leader can sense the subjective world of the client. This skill requires the leader to have the characteristics of caring and openness already mentioned. The leader must also have a wide range of experiences to serve as a basis for identifying with others. Further, the leader must be able to discern subtle nonverbal messages as well as messages transmitted more directly. It is impossible to fully know what another person is experiencing, but a sensitive group leader can have a sense of it. It is also important, however, for the group leader to avoid blurring his or her identity by personally identifying with group members. The core of the skill of empathy lies in being able to openly grasp another’s experiences and at the same time to maintain one’s separateness.

Interpreting

Group leaders who are more directive are likely to make use of interpretation, which entails offering possible explanations for certain behaviors or symptoms. If interpretations are plausible and well timed, they can result in a member moving beyond an impasse. It is not necessary that the leader always make the interpretation for the client; in Gestalt therapy, clients are encouraged to make their own interpretations of their behavior. A group leader also may present an interpretation in the form of a hunch, which encourages members to assess what they are hearing. For instance, an interpretation might be stated as follows: “Jeffrey, when a person in the group talks about something painful, I’ve noticed that you usually intervene and become reassuring. This tends to stop the person’s emotional experience and exploration. Do you have an awareness of this, and what might that say about what is going on with you?” It is important that the interpretation be presented as a hypothesis rather than as a fact and that the person has a chance to consider the validity of this hunch in the group. It is also important to consider the cultural context in making an interpretation to avoid mistakenly interpreting a member’s behavior. For example, a member’s silence may be related to a cultural message rather than being a sign of mistrust or resistance. This cultural message could be “Don’t speak until spoken to,” or “Don’t draw attention to yourself.” To interpret the person’s silence as a sign of a lack of trust would be a mistake without understanding the cultural aspects of the behavior.

In addition to making interpretations for individuals, whole-group interpretations are appropriate. An example of this is a leader pointing out how many members may be invested in attempting to draw a particular member out. A leader might suggest that such behavior is an avoidance pattern on the part of the group as a whole. This interpretation may mean something very different during a transition stage than in a working stage. Member behavior needs to be interpreted in light of the developmental level of the group.

Questioning

Questioning is overused by many group leaders. Interrogation seldom leads to productive outcomes, and more often than not it distracts the person working. If a member happens to be experiencing intense feelings, questioning is one way of reducing the intensity. Asking “Why do you feel that way?” is rarely helpful because it takes the emotional material to the cerebral level. However, appropriately timed “what” and “how” questions do serve to intensify experiencing. Examples are questions such as “What is happening with your body now, as you speak about your isolation?” “How do you experience the fear of rejection in this group?” “What are some of the things you imagine happening to you if you reveal your problems to this group?” “How are you coping with your fear that you can’t trust some of the members here?” “What would your father’s approval do for you?” These open-ended questions direct the person to heighten awareness of the moment. Leaders can develop the skill of asking questions like these and avoiding questions that remove people from themselves. Closed questions that are not helpful include those that search for causes of behavior, probe for information, and the like: “Why do you feel depressed?” “Why don’t you leave home?”

Group leaders need to develop skills in raising questions at the group level as well as working with individual members. Group process questions such as these can be productively addressed to the group as a whole: “Where is the group with this topic now?” “I’m noticing that many of you are silent. I wonder what is not being said.” “How much energy do you have at this moment?” Such questions can assist members in reflecting on what is happening in the group at different points.

Linking

A group leader who has an interactional focus—that is, one who stresses member-to-member rather than leader-to-member communication—makes frequent use of linking. This is an important skill that can foster involvement by many members. This skill calls on the insightfulness of the leader in finding ways of relating what one person is doing or saying to the concerns of another person. For example, Katherine might be describing her feeling that she won’t be loved unless she’s perfect. If Pamela has been heard to express a similar feeling, the leader could ask Pamela and Katherine to talk with each other in the group about their fears. By being alert for cues that members have some common concern, the leader can promote member interaction and raise the level of group cohesion. Questions that can promote linking of members include “Does anyone else in the group feel connected to what Katherine is saying?” or “Who else is affected by the interchange between Pamela and Katherine, and are you willing to tell them how you are affected?”

Confronting

Beginning group leaders are often afraid to challenge group members for fear of hurting them, of being wrong, or of inviting retaliation. It doesn’t take much skill to attack another or to be merely critical. It does take both caring and skill, however, to confront group members when their behavior is disruptive of the group functioning or when there are discrepancies between their verbal messages and their nonverbal messages. In confronting a member, a leader should

specifically identify the behavior to be examined and avoid labeling the person, and
share how he or she feels about the person’s behavior.

For example, Danny has been chastising a group member for being especially quiet in the sessions. The leader might intervene: “Danny, rather than telling her that she should speak up, are you willing to let her know how her silence affects you? Will you tell her why it is important to you that she speaks?”

As is true for other skills, leaders need to learn ways to confront both individual members and the group as a whole. For example, if the group seems to be low in energy and characterized by superficial discussions, the leader might encourage the members to talk about what they see going on in the group for themselves and determine whether they want to change what is happening.

Supporting

Supportive behavior can be therapeutic or counterproductive. A common mistake is offering support before a participant has had an opportunity to fully experience a conflict or some painful feelings. Although the intervention may be done with good intentions, it may abort certain feelings that the member needs to experience and express. Leaders should remember that too much support may send the message that people are unable to support themselves. Support is appropriate when people are facing a crisis, when they are facing frightening experiences, when they attempt constructive changes and yet feel uncertain about these changes, and when they are struggling to overcome old patterns that are limiting. This kind of support does not interrupt the work being done. For instance, Isaac feels very supported when several members sit close to him and listen intently as he recounts some frightening experiences as a refugee. Their presence helps him to feel less alone.

Blocking

Group leaders have the responsibility to block certain activities of group members, such as questioning, probing, gossiping, invading another’s privacy, breaking confidences, and so forth. Blocking helps to establish group norms and is an important intervention, particularly during the group’s initial stages. If a member or members are bombarding another member with questions and pushing the member to be more personal, the leaders should comment on the process and ask the questioning members to examine the intent and consequence of their style of engagement, as well as help the member being questioned to express his reservations about disclosing. In addition, members sometimes push others to become more personal as a way for them to remain hidden. The skill here is to learn to block counterproductive behaviors without attacking the questioner. This requires both sensitivity and directness. Here are some examples of behaviors that need to be blocked:

Bombarding others with questions. Members can be asked to make direct statements that involve expressing the thoughts and feelings that prompted them to ask their questions.
Indirect communication. If a member talks aboutanother member who is in the room, the leader can ask the person to speak directly to the person being spoken about.
Storytelling. If lengthy storytelling occurs, a leader can intervene and ask the person to say how all this relates to present feelings and events, and why it is important that we know about a person who is not present in the group.
Breaking confidences. A member may inadvertently talk about a situation that occurred in another group or mention what someone did in a prior group. The consequences and impact of breaking confidentiality need to be thoroughly discussed. Leaders need to teach members how to speak about their experiences in such a way as to maintain the confidentiality and privacy of other group members.

Assessing

Assessment skills involve more than identifying symptoms and figuring out the cause of behavior. Assessment includes the ability to appraise certain behavior problems and to choose the appropriate intervention. For example, a leader who determines that a person is angry must consider the safety and appropriateness of encouraging the member to express pent-up feelings. Leaders also need to develop the skill of determining whether a particular group is indicated or contraindicated for a member and acquire the expertise necessary to make appropriate referrals. Leaders must be able to assess whether the member can be helped or harmed by the group.

Modeling

One of the best ways for leaders to teach a desired behavior to members is to model it for them. If group leaders value risk-taking, openness, directness, sensitivity, honesty, respect, and enthusiasm, they must demonstrate attitudes and behaviors congruent with these values. A few specific behaviors leaders can directly model include respect for diversity, appropriate and timely self-disclosure, giving feedback in ways that others can hear and accept nondefensively, receiving feedback from members in a nondefensive manner, involvement in the group process, presence, and challenging others in direct and caring ways.

Suggesting

Leaders can offer suggestions aimed at helping members develop an alternative course of thinking or action. Suggestions can take a number of forms, such as giving information, asking members to consider a specific homework assignment, asking members to create their own experiments, and assisting members in looking at a circumstance from a new vantage point. Leaders can also teach members to offer appropriate suggestions to each other. Although suggestions can facilitate change in members, there is a danger that suggestions can be given too freely and that advice can short-circuit the process of self-exploration. There is a fine line between suggesting and prescribing; the skill is in using suggestions to enhance an individual’s inclination and motivation toward making his or her own decisions.

Initiating

When the leader takes an active role in providing direction to members, offers some structure, and takes action when it is needed, the group is aided in staying focused on its task. These leadership skills include using catalysts to get members to focus on their personal goals, assisting members in working through places where they are stuck, helping members identify and resolve conflict, knowing how to use techniques to enhance work, providing links among the various themes in a group, and helping members assume responsibility for directing themselves. Too much leader initiation can stifle the creativity of a group, and too little leader initiation can lead to passivity on the part of the members.

Evaluating

A crucial leadership skill is evaluating the ongoing process and dynamics of a group. After each group session, it is valuable for the leader to evaluate what happened, both within individual members and within the whole group, and to think about what interventions might be used next time with the group. Leaders need to get in the habit of asking themselves these questions: “What changes are resulting from the group?” “What are the therapeutic and nontherapeutic forces in the group?”

The leader has the role of teaching participants how to evaluate, so they can appraise the movement and direction of their own group. Once the group has evaluated a session or series of sessions, its members can decide what, if any, changes need to be made. For example, during an evaluation at the close of a session, perhaps the leader and the members agree that the group as a whole has not been as productive as it could be. The leader might say, “Each one of us might reflect on our participation to determine our degree of responsibility for what is happening in our group. What is each one of us willing to change to make this group more successful?”

Terminating

Group leaders need to learn when and how to terminate their work with both individuals and groups. They need to develop the ability to tell when a group session should end, when an individual is ready to leave a group, and when a group has completed its work, and they need to learn how to handle each of these types of termination. Of course, at the end of each session it is helpful to create a climate that will encourage members to make contracts to do work between sessions. This will help members build the skills they will need when the group itself is coming to an end. By focusing members on the ending of each session, they are better prepared to deal with the final termination of their group.

Helping members bring closure to a particular group experience involves

providing members with suggestions for transferring what they have learned in the group to the environment they will return to without the continuing supportof the group,
preparing people for the psychological adjustments they may face on leaving a group,
arranging for a follow-up group,
telling members where they can get additional therapy, and
being available for individual consultation at the termination of a group.

Follow-up and evaluation activities are particularly important as a way for the leader to learn of the effectiveness of the group.

It is important for group leaders to have examined their own history with loss and to be aware of the issues that may be triggered for them during the ending stage of a group. In Chapter 9 we explore some creative ways leaders can facilitate positive and healthy termination for group members.

2-3bAn Integrated View of Leadership Skills

Some counselor-education programs focus on developing counseling skills and assessing competencies; other programs stress the personal qualities that underlie these skills. Ideally, training programs for group leaders should give due attention to both of these aspects. In the discussion of professional standards for training group counselors in Chapter 3, we go into more detail about specific areas of knowledge and the skills group workers need.

You are likely to feel somewhat overwhelmed when you consider all the skills that are necessary for effective group leadership. It may help to remember that, as in other areas of life, you will become frustrated if you attempt to focus on all aspects of this field at once. You can expect to gradually refine your leadership style and gain confidence in using these skills effectively.

Learning in Action

Self-Assessment of Group Leadership Skills

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This self-inventory will help you identify your areas of strengths and weaknesses as a group leader. Read the brief description of each skill and then rate yourself on each dimension. Think about the questions listed under each skill. These questions are designed to aid you in assessing your current level of functioning and in identifying specific ways you can enhance your learning of skills.

You can profit from this checklist by reviewing it before and after group sessions. If you are working with a coleader, he or she can provide you with a separate rating. These questions also provide a framework for exploring your level of skill development with fellow students and with your supervisor or instructor.

To what degree do you demonstrate the following? (One space is for you to rate yourself early in the term and the other space for later on.) On each skill, rate yourself using this 3-point scale:

3 = I do this most of the time with a high degree of competence.

2 = I do this some of the time with an adequate degree of competence.

1 = I do this occasionally with a relatively low level of competence.

Active listening. Hearing and understanding both subtle and direct messages, and communicating that one is doing this.
1. Am I able to hear both overt and subtle messages?
2. Do I teach members how to listen and respond?
Reflecting. Capturing the underlying meaning of what is said or felt and expressing this without being mechanical.
1. Do my restatements add meaning to what was said by a member?
2. Am I able to reflect both thoughts and feelings?
Clarifying. Focusing on the underlying issues and assisting others to get a clearer picture of what they are thinking or feeling.
1. Do my clarifying remarks help others sort out conflicting feelings?
2. Does my clarification lead to a deeper level of member self-exploration?
Summarizing. Identifying key elements and common themes and providing a picture of the directional trends of a group session.
1. Am I able to tie together several themes in a group session?
2. Do I attend adequately to summarizing at the end of a session?
Facilitating. Helping members to express themselves clearly and to take action in a group.
1. Am I able to help members work through barriers to communication?
2. Am I successful in teaching members to focus on themselves?
Empathizing. Adopting the internal frame of reference of a member.
1. Can I maintain my separate identity at the same time as I empathize with others?
2. Do I promote expressions of empathy among the members?
Interpreting. Explaining the meaning of behavior patterns within some theoretical framework.
1. Do I present my interpretations in the form of hunches?
2. Do I encourage members to provide their own meaning for their behavior?
Questioning. Using questions to stimulate thought and action but avoiding question/answer patterns of interaction between leader and member.
1. Do I ask “what” and “how” questions instead of “why” questions?
2. Do I keep myself hidden through asking questions?
Linking. Promoting member-to-member interaction and facilitating exploration of common themes in a group.
1. Do my interventions enhance interactions between members?
2. Do I foster a norm of member-to-member interactions or leader-to-member interactions?
Confronting. Challenging members to look at some aspects of their behavior.
1. Do I model caring and respectful confrontation?
2. Am I able to confront specific behaviors without being judgmental?
Supporting. Offering some form of positive reinforcement at appropriate times in such a way that it has a facilitating effect.
1. Do I balance challenge and support?
2. Does my providing support sometimes get in the way of a member’s work?
Blocking. Intervening to stop counterproductive behaviors in the group or to protect members.
1. Am I able to intervene when necessary without attacking a member?
2. Do I block a member’s behavior that is disruptive to the group?
Assessing. Getting a clear sense of members without labeling them.
1. Do I help members to assess their own problematic behavior?
2. Can I create interventions that fit with my assessment?
Modeling. Demonstrating to members desired behaviors that can be practiced both during and between group sessions.
1. Am I able to model effective self-disclosure?
2. Can I model caring confrontations?
Suggesting. Offering information or possibilities for action that can be used by members in making independent decisions.
1. Do my suggestions encourage members to take initiative?
2. How do I determine when to give suggestions and when to avoid doing so?
Initiating. Demonstrating an active stance in intervening in a group at appropriate times.
1. Do I take active steps to prevent a group from floundering in unproductive ways?
2. Do I teach members how to initiate their own work in the sessions?
Evaluating. Appraising the ongoing group process and the individual and group dynamics.
1. What criteria do I use to assess the progress of my groups?
2. What kinds of questions do I pose to members to help them evaluate their own gains as well as their contributions to the group?
Terminating. Creating a climate that encourages members to continue working after sessions.
1. Do I prepare members for termination of a group?
2. Do I help members transfer what they learn in group to daily life?

Once you complete this self-assessment, circle the items where you most need improvement (any items that you rated as “1” or “2”). Circle the letter of the questions that are the most meaningful to you, as well as the questions that indicate a need for attention. Think about specific strategies you can design to work on the skills where you see yourself as being most limited. It is a good idea to take this inventory at least twice—once at the beginning of the course and then again later.

The Coleadership Model

2-4aThe Basis of Coleadership

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Many who educate and train group leaders have come to favor the coleadership model of group practice. This model has a number of advantages for all concerned: group members can gain from the perspectives of two leaders; coleaders can confer before and after a group and learn from each other; and supervisors can work closely with coleaders during their training and can provide them with feedback.

We prefer coleadership both for facilitating groups and for training and supervising group leaders, and we usually work as a team. Although each of us has independent professional involvements (including leading groups alone at times), we enjoy coleading and continue to learn from each other as well as from other colleagues with whom we work. Nevertheless, we do not want to give the impression that coleadership is the only acceptable model; many people facilitate a group alone very effectively. As we discussed earlier, group leaders preparing to meet their first group tend to experience self-doubt and anxiety. The task seems far less monumental if they meet their new group with a coleader whom they trust and respect.

In training group workers using a coleadership model, we find it is useful to observe the trainees as they colead so we can discuss what they are actually doing as they facilitate a group. Then, as we offer feedback to them, we frequently ask them to talk with each other about how they felt as they were coleading and what they think about the session they have just led. The feedback between coleaders can be both supportive and challenging; exchanging perceptions can enhance their ability to function effectively as coleaders.

Some mistakes students often make as they begin their coleadership duties include the following:

Not sitting across from one another or making continuous eye contact with their coleader
Having a plan or goal for the group but not communicating that to their coleader
Being competitive with their coleader
Asserting power over their coleader
Trying to be right as a leader at the expense of making their coleader wrong
Taking turns leading rather than cofacilitating
Remaining quiet and letting the coleader do most of the work

These behaviors may be subjects for discussion between new coleaders as well as being addressed during supervision sessions.

The choice of a coleader is a critical variable. Careful selection of a coleader and time devoted to meeting together are essential. If the two leaders are incompatible, their group is bound to be negatively affected. For example, power struggles between coleaders will have the effect of dividing the group. If coleaders are in continual conflict with each other, they are providing a poor model of interpersonal relating, which will influence the group process. Such conflict typically leads to unexpressed reactions within the group, which get in the way of effective work. Certainly coleaders will have differences of opinion or conflicts from time to time. Resolving these disputes in a respectful manner provides coleaders with an opportunity to model ways of coping with interpersonal conflict for group members. If a conflict between coleaders occurs in a group, it should be addressed in the group.

We think it is important that the two leaders have some say in deciding to work as a team. Otherwise, there is a potential for harm for both the group members and the coleaders. Not being able to choose your coleader can be problematic. If you find the relationship with your coleader is not productive, consider the following steps:

Identify the specific characteristics or behaviors that bother you about your coleader and examine why these are problematic for you.
Seek supervision and consultation to enable you to work through these issues.
Communicate your feelings to your coleader in an open and nonjudgmental way, and discuss what you each need to develop a more effective working relationship.
Increase the amount of time you spend preparing for and debriefing group sessions with your coleader.
If you, your coleader, or your supervisor determine that these conflicts are likely to cause harm to the group members, consider changing coleaders.

Luke and Hackney (2007) summarize some potential problems with coleadership and note that problems often involve relationship difficulties between leaders: interpersonal conflicts, competition between the leaders, overdependence on the coleader, and unresolved conflicts between the leaders. If these matters are addressed and resolved by the leaders, their relationship will be strengthened, which will have a positive effect on the group. If coleaders are unable to work out their relationship problems or achieve an understanding of their different perspectives, they will not be effective in facilitating their group.

To avoid negatively affecting a group, coleaders need to monitor and discuss their working relationship.

To avoid negatively affecting a group, coleaders need to monitor and discuss their working relationship. A key part of their coleadership relationship involves an awareness of their personal issues that could lead to competitiveness, performance anxiety, and power and control struggles between them in the group. If they are concerned with the welfare of their group, then coleaders must be committed to exploring and resolving conflicts or any difficulties that may arise between them.

A major factor in selecting a coleader involves mutual respect. Two or more leaders working together will surely have their differences in leadership style, and they will not always agree or share the same perceptions or interpretations. If there is mutual respect and trust between them, however, they will be able to work cooperatively instead of competitively, and they will be secure enough to be free of the constant need to prove themselves.

It is not necessary that you be best friends with your coleader, but you need a good working relationship, which you can achieve by taking time to talk with each other. Although we take delight in our personal and professional relationship, we are also willing to engage in the hard work necessary to be a successful team. We encourage those who colead groups to spend some time both before and after each session discussing their reactions to what is going on in the group as well as their working relationship as coleaders.

2-4bAdvantages of the Coleadership Model

LO6

Having acknowledged our clear preference for coleading groups, here is a summary of the major advantages of using the coleadership method.

The chance of burnout can be reduced by working with a coleader. This is especially true if you are working with a demanding population, such as the psychologically impaired who often simply get up and leave, who hallucinateduring sessions, and who may be withdrawn or be acting out. In such groups one leader can attend to problematic behavior while the other attempts to maintain the work going on in the group.
If intense emotions are being expressed by one or more members, one leader can pay attention to those members while the other leader scans the room to note the reactions of other members, who can later be invited to share their reactions. Or, if appropriate, the coleader can find a way to involve members in the work of someone else. Many possibilities exist for linking members, for facilitating interaction between members, and for orchestrating the flow of a group when coleaders are sensitively and harmoniously working as a team.
Coleader peer supervision is clearly beneficial. The coleader can be used as a sounding board, can check for objectivity, and can offer useful feedback. There is no problem of breaking confidentiality in such instances, for the coleader was also present in the sessions. However, we do want to emphasize that it is often necessary for leaders to express and deal with such feelings in the session itself, especially if they were aroused in the group setting. For example, if you are aware that you are perpetually annoyed by the behavior of a given member, you might need to deal with your annoyance as a group matter. This is a time when a competent and trusted coleader is especially important.
An important advantage of coleading emerges when one of the leaders is affected by a group member to the degree that countertransference is present. Countertransference can distort one’s objectivity so that it interferes with leading effectively. For example, your coleader may typically react with annoyance or some other intense feeling to one member who is seen as a problem. Perhaps you are better able to make contact with this member, and so you may be the person who primarily works with him or her. You can be of valuable assistance by helping your coleader talk about, and perhaps even resolve, reactions toward such a client.

Likewise, if a group leader becomes the target for a member’s anger or frustration, the coleader can assist in facilitating the discussion between the group member and that leader. Although it is not impossible to be both a part of the “problem” and also part of the solution, it can be beneficial not to have to manage all of these roles at once. It is advantageous to have a coleader who can assist in the process.

Another advantage of the coleadership model relates to differences in power and privilege based on culture, ethnicity, religious/spiritual orientation, or sexual identity. If one of the leaders represents a position of power and privilege that may affect members in a particular way, the other leader can help process this, especially if he or she does not possess the same social status position.

2-5Developing a Research Orientation to Practice

LO8

LO9

We now turn to a consideration of what researchers can tell us about factors that are associated with positive outcomes in groups. Barlow, Fuhriman, and Burlingame (2004) state that “the efficacy of group psychotherapy has been undeniably established in the research literature” (p. 5). They traced the research trends in group counseling and psychotherapy and concluded that a set of recognizable factors—such as skilled leaders, appropriately referred group members, and defined goals—create positive outcomes in groups. A survey of more than 40 years of research provides abundant evidence that group approaches are associated with clients’ improvement in a variety of settings and situations (Barlow et al., 2004; Burlingame, Fuhriman, & Johnson, 2004a).

Group therapy is no longer viewed as a second-choice form of treatment but instead is viewed as a potent source of change. Group therapy has been shown to be as effective as individual treatment and, in some cases, is more effective (Barlow, 2008). Practitioners need to be able to assess whether clients are better served by being in a group rather than being in individual therapy. Practitioners should know about the availability of groups and the suitability of a group for a particular client.

Weber and Weinberg (2015) were interested in how group therapy was being used worldwide, and they gathered contributions on the status of group therapy from 14 countries. They asked about the ways research informs group practice and found that the theoretical model for group therapy most often investigated by international researchers was cognitive behavior therapy. However, with the exception of Germany, Norway, and Canada, Weber and Weinberg concluded that research on group therapy is scarce to almost nonexistent internationally.

Cognitive behavior therapy and psychodynamic therapy are the models most in use worldwide, although groups were based on a number of other theoretical approaches as well. In both Sweden and Norway, cognitive behavior therapy is the main theoretical orientation. In Israel, group therapy is influenced primarily by the psychodynamic tradition. Germany emphasizes inpatient group therapy, and German group researchers and clinicians have developed a strong research network over the last 20 years. Norway has completed several significant projects comparing short-term and long-term psychodynamic group therapy outcomes using randomized control research designs. Weber and Weinberg were guest editors for the October 2015 issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, and this special issue contains a detailed review of how group therapy is being used around the world.

2-5aResearch on Common Factors

LO10

Having a solid theoretical foundation is critical in guiding our work as group practitioners (see Chapter 4), because theory can help practitioners decide on ways to make effective interventions in a group. However, the common factors among the theories are thought to be far more important in accounting for therapeutic outcomes than the unique factors that differentiate one theory from another. The common factors approach focuses on the value of common elements across different theoretical systems such as empathic listening, support, warmth, developing a working alliance, opportunity for catharsis, practicing new behaviors, feedback, positive expectations of clients, working through one’s own conflicts, understanding interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics, change that occurs outside of the therapy office, client factors, therapist effects, and learning to be self-reflective about one’s work (Norcross & Beutler, 2014; Prochaska & Norcross, 2014). Specific treatment techniques make relatively little difference in outcome when compared with the value of common factors, especially the human elements such as the therapeutic relationship (Elkins, 2016).

None of the common factors has received more attention and confirmation than a facilitative therapeutic relationship (Lambert, 2011). The importance of the therapeutic alliance is a well-established critical component of effective therapy. Research confirms that the client–therapist relationship is central to therapeutic change and is a significant predictor of both effectiveness and retention of therapy outcomes (Elkins, 2016; Miller, Hubble, & Seidel, 2015). Brain-imaging technology in the emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology confirms that healing changes can occur in the brain when clients experience a warm, nonjudgmental, empathic relationship with a caring counselor (Badenoch, 2008; Fosha, Siegel, & Solomon, 2009).

2-5bHow Research Can Enhance Your Group Practice

LO11

With the current emphasis on short-term treatments that provide symptom relief or solve specific client problems, familiarity with research in the group work field is becoming an essential part of practice. Along with follow-up group sessions and individual interviews of members of your groups, research can help you come to a better understanding of the specific factors that contributed to the successful outcomes or the failures of your groups. In school and agency settings, you will often be expected to demonstrate accountability for the groups you conduct, which can involve some form of research on the process and outcomes of the group. Make systematic observation and assessment basic parts of your practice of group work. Applied research can help you refine your interventions and identify factors that interfere with group effectiveness.

Instead of thinking exclusively in terms of rigorous empirical research, practitioners can begin to consider alternatives to traditional scientific methods. Miller, Hubble, Duncan, and Wampold (2010) emphasize the importance of enlisting the client’s active participation in the therapeutic venture. They suggest that it is useful to systematically gather and use formal client feedback to inform, guide, and evaluate treatment. Monitoring the progress of each group member through systematic data collection on how each member is experiencing the group can help leaders make adjustments to their interventions and enhance the group process.

Jensen and colleagues (2012) recommend that group practitioners integrate practice-based evidence (PBE) into their therapy groups to supplement clinical judgment. For example, asking members to complete a brief form at the end of each group session rating specific items can provide the group leader with a sense of the progress of the group as a whole. Collecting data directly from members about their group experience is a significant part of developing practice-based evidence. The PBE approach can help therapists assess the value of a group for its members throughout the life of the group as well as provide a tool to aid evaluation of the group experience during the termination phase. Group workers have an ethical responsibility to determine how well a group is working and should be willing to use the feedback they receive from group participants to refine their interventions.

-5cThe Challenge of Combining Research and Practice

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Ideally, theory informs your practice, and practice refines your approach to group work. Combining research and practice takes knowledge and skill, but it can reap dividends. Clinical work can be greatly aided by research findings, and clinical work can also inform research (Stockton & Morran, 2010). A commitment to be both a group practitioner and a researcher is demanding. If you do not have the time or the expertise required to conduct research, you can benefit by integrating the research findings of others into your group practice.

Whether or not group workers conduct research with their groups may be less important than their willingness to keep themselves informed about the practical applications of research on group work. At the very least, group counselors need to be up to date with the research implications for practice. Yalom (2005b) claims that group trainees need to know more than how to implement techniques in a group—they also need to know how to learn. According to Yalom, a research orientation allows group therapists, throughout their career, to remain flexible and responsive to new evidence. Practitioners who lack a research orientation will have no basis to critically evaluate new developments in the field of group work. Without a consistent framework to evaluate evidence of the efficacy of innovations in the field, practitioners run the risk of being unreasonably unreceptive to new approaches.

A gap exists between research and practice in group counseling, and closing it involves overcoming some major obstacles. One of the key problems is the lack of collaboration between researchers and practitioners. Researchers often do not really understand what can be learned from clinical experience, and practitioners often perceive research as being irrelevant to clinical practice. Only a small percentage of group practitioners use research findings in any consistent manner or engage in research of their own. Often research findings are not integrated into clinical practice due to the constraints of experimental research that limit the applicability of findings to a real-world context. Although experimental studies may have internal validity, they may have little practical value to group workers. If this knowledge gap is to be bridged, practitioners and researchers need to develop mutual respect for what each can offer and increase their collaboration (Stockton & Morran, 2010). In reporting on the status of research on group therapy in Italy, Giannone, Giordano, and Di Blasé (2015) identify methodological issues and clinicians’ distrust of research as factors accounting for the limited empirical research on the effectiveness of groups. To address this challenge, researchers and group clinicians in Italy have sought ways to collaborate with each other. Practitioners can benefit from researchers by gaining useful information concerning the efficacy of the groups they conduct in their agencies. Researchers stand to benefit by collaborating with practitioners and gaining access to a variety of real-world groups that can be studied. For more on research evidence on group therapy, see G. Corey and M. Corey (2016).

2-6aPoints to Remember: The Group Counselor

Concepts and Guidelines for Group Practitioners

Personality and character are important variables of effective group leaders. Techniques and skills cannot compensate for the shortcomings of leaders who lack self-knowledge, who are not willing to do what they ask group members to do, or who are poorly trained. Think about your personal characteristics and try to decide which will be assets and which liabilities to you as a group leader.
Effective group leaders are knowledgeable about group dynamics and possess leadership skills. Use the self-evaluation inventories at the end of this chapter as a means of thinking about skills you might need to improve and skills you might need to develop.
As a group leader, you need to decide how much responsibility for what goes on in the group belongs to the members and how much to you, how much and what type of structuring is optimal for a group, what kind of self-disclosure is optimal, what role and function you will assume, and how you will integrate both support and confrontation into group practice.
In a therapeutic group, participants can learn more about themselves, explore their conflicts, learn new social skills, get feedback on the impact they have on others, and try out new behaviors. The group becomes a microcosm of society in which members can learn more effective ways of living with others. Depending on the type of group, there are some clear advantages to constituting a group that is diverse with respect to age, gender, sexual orientation, cultural background, race, and philosophical perspectives.
Develop behavioral guidelines and teach them to group members. Some of the behaviors you might stress are keeping the group’s activities confidential, respecting the differences that characterize the members, taking responsibility for oneself, working hard in the group, listening, and expressing one’s thoughts and feelings.
Groups should be thought of as the treatment of choice rather than as a second-rate approach to helping people change.
Look for ways to meaningfully combine a research perspective with your practice when leading groups.