Group Counseling: Building Trust, Differences and Similarities of Counseling and Psychoeducational G

Building Trust During the Initial Stage

Please answer each question in at least 3-5 sentences, unless the question is asking for a list. It is okay if you write more than 3-5 sentences. 

1. During the initial stage of the group, what are you as the leader seeking to build? How would you do so?

• During the initial stage of a group, as a leader I am seeking to build trust within the group. I am going to do that by having everyone share something about their day, on how their day went.  I will also explain the norms of the group so everyone can know what to expect. 

2. Please write out two differences and two similarities of counseling groups and psychoeducational groups. 

•  Counseling groups are more of the person's experiences being shared, this is where the individual talks about his or her past experiences or present with the group. 
•  Counseling group can also meet to interact with one another,  

•  Psychoeducational groups are more focused on educating an individual or a group about substances he or she used. In this group one can also get to know about some strategies and consequences of using drugs or Alcohol.

•  Depending on the group you are working with, psychoeducational therapy focused more on the counselor offering various strategies.              

• Both Counseling Groups and Psyeducational groups can be done with a group of individuals, with an individual or with a family. 
• Psychoeducational groups can also include counseling as well.

3. Please provide two statements you may make in group as a leader focusing on “here-and-now” 

• Let's bring attention to your breathing and how you feel presently in your body.
• Consider something in your day that you felt very grateful for. 

4. You are asked to create a group for children who experienced trauma. Of the practical considerations, please pick two and share what specific considerations need to be made (group composition, group size, open versus closed group, and length of group, frequency & duration of meetings, place for group sessions). 
     

•  Group size, knowing the group size helps you as a therapist arrange the rooms better in a proper way. This also gives you an idea about the size of the group you are going to have in the session with and how best you can organize yourself well also before the start of the session.

Differences and Similarities of Counseling and Psychoeducational Groups

•  Frequency and duration of meetings/Place for group session- Member has to know a specific place to meet, that way everyone knows the place the session is going to be at, this has to also has a particular time as well to have the session well organized, and also the length the session is going to last for also count. 

5. Ethically, when must you break confidentiality? 

•  As a practicing counselor I do feel confidentiality can be broken if someone is going to harm themselves or trying to harm others.  At times you as a counselor cannot keep things private, knowing that you are obligated to breach confidentiality for your group safety or that of the individual health as well, which is your client. To my knowledge if the regulations of confidentiality are beach you as a therapist can have a legal case against you. As a therapist you want to be private about what your client discusses with you during the session.

1. Define culture. Why is it important to be culturally aware as a group counselor? How is this important for you specifically? 

• Culture is the system of beliefs or behaviors of a specific group or an individual. It is also the way of living that is passed down from one generation to another. It is essential to be culturally aware as a group counselor because as a counselor knowing about other cultures helps you to be able to work with them better, which I think helps make sessions easier for you as well because you have an idea about your client culture. Culture also plays a great part in counseling and this is important for me because it will help me build rapport with my client and also trusting relationship with my client.  

1. What are some of the common fears of group members during the initial stage? 

• During the initial stage of group members they are always having the fears of being judge and you as a counselor do not want to be judgmental because they will limit your client progress, rather you want to be nonjudgmental as a counselor to help clients feel comfortable to tell you more about their story.

1. Why is it important to set goals in group counseling?

• Setting goals helps you know the direction of the group, like the end goal of the group and group also knowing what is expected of the group is very important moving forward in group counseling.