Pre- Group
Before the first group meeting, the facilitator should develop this, which identifies the group's purpose, topics, goals, and activities.
What is a group plan or agenda?
At the beginning of a group, both facilitators and members should have an opportunity to do this.
What is introduce themselves?
This process, in which group members help and support one another, does not necessarily happen automatically and must be fostered by the facilitator.
What is mutual aid?
Facilitators should begin preparing members for this before the group's final meeting actually occurs.
What is the ending or termination of the group?
Forming, storming, norming, and performing are the four stages associated with this well-known model of group development.
What is Tuckman's Model?
In addition to deciding what activities will happen, facilitators should plan this element so they know when the group will open, break, resume, and close.
What is timing?
This document or shared understanding establishes expectations for respectful and ethical behavior within the group.
What is a group agreement or code of conduct?
During the middle stage, members may begin taking on these, which can either help or challenge the functioning of the group.
What are group roles?
Before the group ends, members should be helped to identify these positive things they have gained through participation.
What are the benefits, strengths, or gains from the group?
Pre-affiliation, power and control, intimacy, differentiation, and termination are the five stages associated with this social group work model.
What is the Boston Model?
Two social workers will be leading a group together. Before the group begins, they should decide who will attend primarily to these two different aspects of the group.
What are content and process?
Facilitators should make sure members understand how this applies both inside and outside of the group.
What is confidentiality?
Asking members, “How do you think we should handle this challenge together?” helps develop these three qualities emphasized during the middle stage.
What are belonging, ownership, and mutual aid?
In addition to processing the experience, members should complete this to provide feedback about the group.
What is a group evaluation?
Establishing a relational base, mutuality and interpersonal empathy, and challenge and change are distinctive stages of this model.
What is the Relational Model?
A facilitator has created several engaging activities but has not determined the purpose of the group or what members should gain from participating. What major pre-group responsibility has been missed?
What is establishing the group's purpose and goals?
Members enter a new group quietly, seem nervous, and are reluctant to speak. Rather than immediately pushing them into a serious discussion, the facilitator uses an icebreaker and a circle go-around.
What beginning-stage need is the facilitator addressing?
Members have become comfortable solving problems together and are beginning to lead portions of the discussion themselves. From an anti-oppressive approach, what change can the facilitator make?
What is step back into a supportive role and allow members to take more leadership?
After a successful group ends, a member asks the facilitator to stay connected personally through social media. What issue should the facilitator consider before agreeing?
What are professional boundaries and the social work code of ethics/social media policy?
n the Boston Model, conflict and struggles involving influence or authority appear relatively early during “power and control.” In Schiller's model, connection, safety, and empathy are intentionally developed before the group reaches this later stage involving disagreement and confrontation.
What is challenge and change?
Two co-facilitators arrive for the first meeting with a detailed agenda, but both repeatedly interrupt each other, respond to the same members, and miss tension developing between participants. What pre-group planning conversation would most likely have prevented this?
What is deciding facilitator roles, including who will focus on content and who will observe group process?
A facilitator begins the first session by immediately asking members to disclose difficult personal experiences. Members become guarded and participation decreases. Based on beginning-stage principles, what should the facilitator have established first?
What are safety, comfort, relationships, expectations, and group agreements before expecting deeper participation?
A group has developed strong ownership and usually leads itself. During one meeting, however, two members begin engaging in harmful behavior that violates the group's agreed-upon rules. What should the facilitator do, despite normally taking a less directive role?
What is take more control of the group process to maintain safety and address the harmful behavior?
Members of a highly cohesive group begin expressing sadness and anxiety as termination approaches. Instead of avoiding those feelings, what should the facilitator help members do?
What is process the meaning of the group experience, recognize their strengths and gains, and prepare for life outside the group?
A group has moved beyond struggles over power and control. Members are comfortable with one another, can openly express differences, and are increasingly able to function independently while using what they have learned in the group. According to the Boston Model, what stage has the group reached?
What is differentiation?