Group Facilitation: Engagement and Authority
GROUP FACILITATION: ENGAGEMENT AND AUTHORITY
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
This assignment addresses Outpatients – Part 1 of the video, Understanding Group Psychotherapy Series, which you completed in this unit’s studies. You will focus your observation on group engagement and issues of in-group authority.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following competencies and behaviors:
Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior.
C1.GP.B: Use reflection and self-regulation to manage personal values and maintain professionalism in practice situations.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior.
C1.GP.E: Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C7.GP.A: Demonstrate effective oral and written communication in working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and colleagues.
Related Assignment Criterion:
2. Demonstrate effective oral communication skills during the group facilitation.
Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice.
C2.GP.C: Apply self-awareness and self-regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients and constituencies.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
Competency 4: Engage in Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice.
C4.GP.C: Use and translate research evidence to inform and improve practice, policy, and service delivery.
Related Assignment Criterion:
8. Demonstrate application of research evidence to inform practice.
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C6.GP.B: Use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to effectively engage diverse clients and constituencies.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C7.GP.C: Develop mutually agreed-on intervention goals and objectives based on the critical assessment of strengths, needs, and challenges within clients and constituencies.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities.
C8.GP.E: Facilitate effective transitions and endings that advance mutually agreed-on goals.
Related Assignment Criterion:
7. Describe how personal values, beliefs, and behaviors limit the ability to practice effective social work.
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. This seminar is hosted by Dr. Irving Yalom, the author of many foundational texts on both group therapy and existential psychotherapy. The seminar, as Dr. Yalom explains, is a simulation intended to present a variety of issues and situations common to all therapy groups. It is centered in the individual experiences of the participants and shaped by the dynamics of the group as a whole, facilitators included.
The difference in this particular seminar is that all students will play the part of a supervisor; they are expected to pay attention to particular aspects of each section and analyze facilitator performance, and then offer comments, ask questions, and make suggestions in relation to how the facilitators, Dr. Yalom and his colleague, Joan, 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:
Facilitator efforts to create a strong group foundation in the first session.
Facilitator use of empathy and other interpersonal skills.
Facilitator recognition of diversity within the group.
Handling of co-facilitation.
Part 2: Group Authority.
Description of all three observation parameters, noting specific strengths and suggestions for improvement:
Facilitator efforts to help the group define what makes a group meeting successful for them.
Facilitation of discussion around confidentiality.
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 textbook.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting standards.
Number of resources: Minimum of five scholarly sources. All literature cited should be current, with publication dates within the past five years.
Length of paper: Minimum of three double-spaced, typed pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Note: Your instructor may use the APA Writing Feedback Rubric to provide additional feedback on your academic writing. The writing feedback rubric does not affect your assignment grade, but its feedback may factor into the grading criteria, if professional communication and writing is a course competency. Evaluate your own work using this rubric. Refer to the Learner Guide for instructions on viewing instructor feedback.
RESOURCES`
Solution Preview
Group Facilitation: Engagement and Authority
To facilitate certain event effectively, you should first comprehend the desired results of the group, and the history as well as context and goal of the event. In the initial session, it is important to establish a strong background, and this can be facilitated by the facilitators. The facilitator should work hard to ensure that all the sessions of the event are successful.
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