Psychotherapeutic Group Pregroup Issues

Directions

You have decided to start a new psychotherapeutic group and need a manual. Instead of finding one, you are going to write your own! Decide on a focus for your new group, considering age, type of group work, mental health issues to be addressed, and so on. You can choose any type of group you want, be it process, self-help, psychoeducational, or any other.

Ideas for coming up with a group:

What’s missing in your community?

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What kind of group do you wish you had as a parent or caregiver?

Over the semester, you will develop a comprehensive manual detailing your development of this group. This is an opportunity to be creative while grounding your proposed group in the established research and literature on group work and your target population.

The manual should be functional and appropriate for eight one-hour sessions. For this assignment, each stage will last for two sessions, although in practice, groups typically last longer, with the middle stages taking up a lot more time (and other groups are open-ended with individuals going through stages at different times). Information should be practical and written in an explicit manner so that others could facilitate the group.

Information on each session should be detailed. Explain how each session’s activities or process is relevant to the given stage of group formation and development. Create at least two tools for your members to complete at the beginning and at the end of your group to evaluate the effectiveness of the group experience. You can also create other tools and activities.

Please provide information about each item in the space provided in the template; do not write a paper.

The manual must be your original work. Any submitted work that draws heavily on previously developed or published material will receive a failing grade. However, you can draw from such material to enhance your original idea; all such material must be referenced.

Name:

1. Type of group: Describe the practical elements of your group (closed or open, homogeneous or heterogeneous, size, meeting place, frequency and length, short term or long term, and so on). Explain why your selections are appropriate to your specific group.

• Topic or theme of the group

• Target population and age of participants

• How and why this group is relevant to your identified population

• Dates and times of group meetings for eight sessions

• Qualifications for the group leader, including educational level, licensure, certification, and so on

• How and where the group will be advertised/announced. Indicate how you will identify, attract, and get members for your group. How is your means of announcing the group key to identifying and recruiting group members?

• How participants will be selected and interviewed. Identify criteria to screen participants. Why is this type of screening appropriate for your group? (Include the final screening sheet as an appendix in the group manual.)

• Ground rules or a process to establish them with the group.

1. Informed consent procedures for your group members. Draft and include an informed consent form. If your group is for children, include forms for both children (age-appropriate) and their parents/guardians. (Include the final informed consent form(s) as an appendix in the group manual.)

New Psychotherapeutic Group Stage 1

Name:

1. As a group leader, how would you lead the initial stage of your group?

• Identify ways in which you might facilitate trust in your group. How would you know that trust has been established among your group members?

• Identify one role you have as group leader during this phase of group development. How would you approach and implement this role?

• Draft a tool for your group members to complete at the beginning and at the end of your group to evaluate the effectiveness of the group experience. Include a description of the tool and how you will present it in one of the sessions in this assignment, with the tool itself on a separate page. You must develop this tool yourself. (Include the final tool as an appendix in the group manual.)