Facilitating Challenging Groups

Leaderless, Open, and Single-Session Groups

Nina W. Brown

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780415857154
• eBook ISBN:
  9781135093389
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Groups—like the people in them—come in all forms, and often they don't fit a standard mold. Single-session, leaderless, and open groups are three of the most common kinds of nonstandard groups, but participants and facilitators of these kinds of groups have few, if any, resources at their disposal when they try to confront the unique challenges that their group structures present. Facilitating Challenging Groups confronts these challenges head on and offers activities, tools, tips, and techniques vital to everyone from the smallest self-help group to the largest human-relations training session. Readers will come away from this book with a deep understanding of each group's unique needs, the leader's role where applicable, and concrete strategies for developing the two traits most important to any successful group: universality and hope.

1

Facilitating Challenging Groups: Leaderless, Open, and Single Session Groups

The reality of leading a group can be very different from the leader’s educational and training experiences. Group leaders can encounter many unanticipated and sometimes difficult events and situations with their groups. Many preparation courses and programs are geared to providing the knowledge, skills, and techniques for facilitating a particular type of group, usually a closed group with consistent membership and a limited number of sessions. The reality of practice may be that even when the group is closed, the leader is unprepared to cope effectively with sporadic or inconsistent attendance by one or more group members; a member terminating his or her participation without notice; life events for members that affect their ability to attend a group session; the leader’s inability to screen out or terminate inappropriate members (e.g., for non-attendance) because of policies that are in place; and so on.

In addition, there is little information presented in preparation programs about leaderless, open, and single session groups. An examination of six textbooks and other leading books on group facilitation has shown that most do not present any information on leaderless and single session groups, and while all do have some information on open groups, that information is limited (Corey, 2008; Coyne, Crowill, & Newmeyer, 2008; Forsyth, 1999; Jacobs, Masson, & Harvill, 2009; Posthuma, 2002; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). There are many of these challenging groups in the field, and this book is intended to fill these gaps. It is intended to provide guidance for entry-level and untrained group leaders who are called on to facilitate these challenging groups, and for trained group leaders who may be leading one or more of these groups for the first time.

Chapter 1 provides descriptions and definitions for three types of challenging groups, a rationale for some perceptual shifts leaders need to make, ethical considerations, and an overview of the remaining chapters. To get oriented, let’s begin with defining and describing challenging groups.

Open Groups

Open groups are not easily defined but can be conceptualized as groups organized around a common theme or purpose, the duration for the group is open-ended, members are added or terminated along the life of the group on an as needed basis, and these groups call for a high level of leader flexibility to accommodate the ever changing group membership (Gruner, 1984). Examples of groups that fit this category include some support and self-help groups, some substance abuse treatment groups, and peer supervision groups for mental health professionals. Some of these examples will also be classified with the leaderless groups.

Other characteristics of open groups include the following:

The leader may be formally trained to lead groups, may be an untrained leader, or the group can be peer facilitated.

The emphasis may be problem/issue focused, or the group is used as a teaching tool, such as some training groups (T-groups).

The group is created as an open group.

The group may not have a definite life span, or can be time bound.

Some groups may have mandated membership (e.g., court ordered), while others have voluntary members.

Open groups call for a different set of leader skills and perceptions than do closed groups.

Progression or stage development differs from that found in closed groups described in the literature.

Ambiguity and uncertainty are continuous as new members are added and other members leave the group.

Leaderless Groups

Leaderless groups can be found in many venues, such as training groups for mental health professionals, self-help and support groups, and some treatment groups such as the long term leaderless women’s group described by Counselman (1991) that has some therapy aspects. Leaderless groups usually do not have a professional leader or facilitator who is responsible for the group and its functioning, although when the group is composed of mental health professionals there can be one or more members who alternate responsibility for facilitating group sessions. The term leaderless, in this discussion, refers to the absence of a formal group leader who is not a group member but is responsible for the group’s functioning. These groups have their own benefits, concerns, and challenges that revolve around or are associated with the lack of a formal leader. Some major characteristics for these groups are as follows:

There is usually no designated leader/facilitator. Members assume this role.

Some or many leader tasks are not fulfilled.

The purpose for which the group was created can become lost or blurred over time.

Group members who assume the role of leader are likely to be untrained in group leadership and consequently may not understand group dynamics and how to manage group leadership tasks.

The group can be helpful for members’ sharing, venting, and as a source of support.

These groups may run the risk of “Group Think” that produces a situation where disagreement and differences are not tolerated.

Single Session

Two types of single sessions groups are discussed; the planned single session group, and the unplanned single session group. The planned single session group has a specified time frame where all members attend or are expected to attend the full session. Unplanned single session groups refer to planned multisession groups where one or more members will terminate prematurely, usually without notice, after the first session.

Single session groups are just what the title describes—one session. It can be frustrating to have to lead a group where the time constraints do not permit the learning, the dawning of awareness and insight, the unfolding of process and group development, or many of the group factors that have been shown to be helpful but that also need time to develop. Leaders can wonder about the usefulness of conducting a single session, but there can be also be positive outcomes when the leader understands the possibilities for effective use of the available time. Further, it may be that several sessions are planned, but one or more members attend a single session. The discussion will address how to make this limited participation positive for both the leader and the group member(s).

There is another use for a single session group perspective. It could be helpful to organize a multisession group so that each session is self-contained (Brown, 2011), so that even inconsistent attendance, such as what can happen when the group is open, allows members to receive some benefits from the sessions that they do attend.

Other characteristics of single session groups include the following:

They may be planned as single sessions, or can be unplanned when the attendance contract is not honored and there is premature termination for one or more members.

The leader may be trained in group leadership skills, but not prepared emotionally for members to attend only one session.

There may not be screening or pregroup preparation for the group.

Planned single session groups tend to be structured and theme focused, such as teaching performance appraisal techniques.

It is difficult or impossible to establish a therapeutic relationship for unplanned single session groups.

The unplanned single session may produce a negative impact on the leader’s self-perception of self-efficacy.

Perceptual Shifts

The perceptual shifts that are needed for many group processes are very important for group leaders, especially trained group leaders, because these can differ for challenging groups as opposed to the usual closed group. For example, the planning process is a part of the preparation and training for group leaders (Corey, 2008; Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). This planning process will be very different for some challenging groups, however, and while some planning is recommended for all types of groups, some leaderless and self-help groups may not use it because of the lack of a trained leader, or because of leader absence or leader turnover. The trained group leader may need to make some perceptual shifts, but an untrained or temporary leader can be...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Facilitating Challenging Groups: Leaderless, Open, and Single Session Groups
• 2 General Group Factors
• 3 Developing a Therapeutic Alliance: Leader–Member Relationships
• 4 Open Groups: Challenges and Benefits
• 5 Open Groups: Issues, Concerns, and Possible Strategies
• 6 Open Groups: Facilitative Skills and Techniques
• 7 Leaderless Groups: Challenges, Benefits, and Self-Help Groups
• 8 Leaderless Groups: Guidelines for Facilitation
• 9 Single Session Groups: Challenges and Benefits
• 10 Single Session Groups: Planned or Unplanned Groups, Managing Premature Termination
• 11 Activities: Guidelines, Introductions, and Ice Breakers
• 12 Activities: Self-Reflection and Expressing Emotions
• 13 Activities: Communications and Closure
• References
• Index