Week 8

This week, we were asked to fill out group leadership questionnaires.  These definitely were effective on getting my mind going regarding group leadership styles.  Many of the self- rating scales that were asked were things that I hadn't even really thought about before.  Being confronted with giving my opinion about power that the group leader should have, how much they should guide the group, how much of an "expert" they should be, etc, made me have to consider exactly what kind of leader I need to be.  I think that there wasn't necessarily a correct answer for the questions, but the questions were useful in showing my own attitudes that I hold about leading groups. 

The next section was a tool assess your own skills as a leader.  This tool could also be useful to use regarding compatablitiy among co-leaders in groups.  I feel very confident in many of the skill areas, like reflecting, active listening, empathizing, etc.  However, I don't feel as confident in other areas like interpreting, diagnosing and evaluating.  This was a helpful tool because it helped me identify areas that I'm not as strong in or as confident in, which gives me a lot of helpful direction and focus.  If I were ever trying to find a compatible co-facilitator, this could be a very useful tool to have on hand.  Even if we are not strong in the same areas, there are some where it would be useful that your partner may have a strength that you struggle with, or viseversa.  Using a combination of your skills and strengths could be very advantageous.

Week 7

              I honestly thing that I have to begin by addressing my genuine feelings of surprise when we had the discussion about race in our last lecture.  I think that was the first time that I had even considered how much race could play a part in group therapy dynamics and how much it had to potential to affect the members.  It's really easy to assume that either 1) people in groups are likely going to be adults, and would therefore have gotten past their feelings about race and other parts of their identities, or 2) people would be too fearful to address things like race.  However, I know that these assumptions are absolutely inaccurate and based on nothing more than my personal speculation. What I'm trying to say is that I really had given little to no thought as to how race could play out in group therapy.  Maybe, thus far, we really haven't been given enough training about racial differences in our Social Work education.  It is certainly surprising, but I'm glad we're going a little more in-depth now.

           The article about race was very interesting and allowed for more specific examples of how issues of race and ethnicity can play out in a group.  The vignette about the African American woman and her internal conflict about the SHADE of her skin color was very interesting.  Something that to me would be seemingly insignificant played a huge role in her identity.  Even though it could make for some very difficult conversations or uncomfortable moments, I guess group could almost be a perfect place to address these internal conflicts.  If the group was made up of racially diverse members and the facilitator was competent, group would be a very useful place to work through some of these feelings.

Week 6

        I really connected with Chapter 13, which outlined different types of problematic group members.  I think the the idea of running a successful group can be intimidating, even assuming that all of the members were cooperative and helpful.  In class, a lot of our training has centered around how to guide the group through certain types of issues, and group members that monopolize conversations, that are boring to the rest of the group, or members with personality disorders are certainly avenues to which problems in the group could potentially arise.  I've always been taught to plan for the worst, hope for the best, and I think that attitude is absolutely useful in this case; I feel grateful that this class and our guest speakers have given us so many contingency plans in the event that our groups go awry, which they almost certainly will at some points.

       Also, now that I feel more at ease to speak freely, I need to touch on the group that happened last week.  I still have very mixed feelings about our more recent guest lecturer.  My reaction, which so many people decided would be a good idea to touch on, was much more intense than I anticipated.  I got very angry with him, because I felt as though he was pushing Cameron way too far, and at one point, I literally wanted to jump up and physically come between them.  This might have just been a trigger because Cameron is a close friend of mine, and in that moment I felt very protective.  Also, I have no idea if he was genuinely interested or if he was just trying to get us riled up for the sake of having a good demonstration.   In all fairness, and giving credit where credit is due, it was a very effective demonstration.  I think he just managed to trigger us much more than we anticipated.  The therapeutic style was also very interesting, but definitely seemed like you need to know exactly what you're doing, given that it really LOOKS like you have no idea what you're doing.  I think it would be really great to be able to run the same groups with more or less the same people for years and years.  It probably fosters some really important relationships for everyone involved.  Plus, it seems like something that may be difficult to establish, but once you do, it can run more or less on autopilot. 

Week 5

        I really wanted to take this blog post as an opportunity to speak about how impressive the CBT lecturer was.  It was an interesting experience, because I am currently taking a CBT class, but i really have not been enjoying the material.  I found it to be abrasive and offensive to clients.  We keep having to listen to lectures by Albert Ellis, and I personally would never speak to clients the way that he does.  However, he is brilliant and helped create one of the most widely accepted forms of therapy.

        I don't know if it was the speaker's approach to this technique or the facts that it was in a group setting, but I found it to be much more natural and much more effective.  The challenge in implementing the therapy was certainly present, but I'm confident that will come with practice, practice, practice.  As far as I understood, he's centered his career around CBT, which might feel a little restricted for me, but he is clearly very effective at what he does.  I'm confident that with experience and practice, I'll be able to be an great therapist.
  
       In terms of future learning, I find the idea of transference overall very daunting and also very fascinating.  I am familiar with the concept and have been for a while.  In my first  field placement, my supervisor helped me identify transference with some of the students I was working with.  I had found myself at a loss as to why some of them related to me in certain ways.  I think that the dynamics of transference in groups will be much different, but I'm glad I have a little experience under my belt.