Group Process Analysis

Paper 1
Ivy Schihl SW 4010

Introduction The group I have chosen to assess would be a youth group formed in my field placement at Family Youth Interventions. This emergency shelter and basic center is for youth ages 12 through 17 years old. This residential program can house a maximum of six youth from the ages of 12-17 for up to 21 days. The shelter is always staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and there is also a 24 hour crisis line for youth, families, and those interested in referring youth to the program. Before youth can be admitted into the program, they must take part in a personal assessment by a staff member and then their participation within the program can be determined. All of the programs provided by Family Youth Interventions are voluntary and the youth must be motivated to reach some type of goal. The basic center has a highly structured daily schedule and clear expectations of what needs to be met. The clients here at this residential program have to do at least 7 hours of activities everyday in which they are enrolled unless they go to school. Because clients are between the ages of 12 and 17, the parents are highly encouraged to keep their youth in school while they are attending the program. If the youth is expelled, suspended, or cannot attend school at the moment of being enrolled in the program, they have two study hours throughout their everyday schedule that is mandatory for them to do some type of educational work. Along with these two study hours, the clients are required to complete life skills activities which include preparing lunch and dinner from scratch, meal planning, household chores, etc., Interpersonal life skills which include positive communication skills, assertiveness, handling anger, conflict resolution skills, cultural diversity, etc., and they are able to have recreation time. Recreation time includes games, pool, wally ball, exercise, walks, playing XBOX, basketball, arts & crafts, and reading.

Assessment Interpersonal Life Skills time is where the staff and clients have their daily discussions of a certain topic. Throughout my internship, we have discussed anger management, family relationships, and boundaries. The significance of the interpersonal life skills groups to the groups development as a whole is to open the client up to the other clients in the group as well as letting staff know where clients stand on certain issues. This is beneficial to other clients because the clients can then feel that they are not alone in feeling a certain way about a certain topic and various situations. The members of the group can also benefit from these discussions because they have a chance to vent without judgment from the staff as well as their fellow housemates. This session is crucial to the members because this is where the members learn valuable life skills such as how to manage their anger and how to build positive relationships with their peers and family. These skills can be used in their everyday lives in and outside of the program. As a result of these group sessions, the clients begin to become more comfortable being around one another and know how to act while in the program. The changes that the group go through are positive changes in terms of the groups development because the clients learn skills that they never were exposed to. Family Youth Interventions seems to use the learning theory in which they set goals for the clients to obtain, come up with measurable outcomes, praise and reward the clients with what they do right, and influence the group to make positive changes (Toseland. W. R., pg. 60). These clients include troubled youths that may have not had one on one beneficial interaction with people and they dont know how to express their emotions so they act up when around other people so the group as a whole is beneficial to them because they are influenced in group to work on personal goals and establish positive relationships with the other clients as well as staff members.

Group Dynamics Evident In These Sessions When the clients step into the program, a treatment plan for each client is made. The treatment plan starts off with the problem that the youth faces, whether it be not getting along with their parents, anger management, etc. The staff and I then look at the clients chart that explains why they have entered the program. The parents fill out a form saying what the problem is and what they would like their child to gain from the program as well as the client filling out the same form stating the same problems and goals. This part is the second part of the treatment plan. The staff and counselor then put the two forms together and come up with a similar goal to real between the parent and child. Family Youth Interventions is an all voluntary placement so they let the child decide what they want their relationship to be with their parents as well as what they would like to work on within individual and family therapy. Twice a week, the client meets with Anna, who is the counselor of the program, for their individual therapy and then the family of the client is encouraged to come in at least once a week for family therapy. The family counseling is also voluntary and sometimes the parents do not want any part in the program. The main group goal for group discussions is to get an idea of where the clients stand regarding certain issues and teach them better ways to cope with their actions. As well as using the learning theory in the interpersonal life skills groups, Family Youth Interventions also practices the Remedial Model. By practicing this model, the group time focuses on helping change behavior, puts the clients in the leading position to decide what they would like to open up about during that specific discussion, and is task-centered, time limited, and goal-directed (Toseland. W. R., pg. 51). During the first discussion of the first interpersonal lifeskills meeting, the clients are usually withdrawn and dont know what to talk about so staff states examples and

asks them questions about how they feel about a certain topic. Throughout a few more sessions, the clients start to open up and just speak whats on their mind without direction. They are more eager to talk and it is apparent that they are more trusting of the clients and staff. There is always the one client that doesnt want to talk much because they dont trust anyone or they dont know how to express themselves, but we try to encourage them to talk in discussions. Those are the group norms of the interpersonal lifeskills groups. The level of cohesiveness is good within the group. According to Cartwright, members are attracted to groups because they have the need of affiliation, recognition, and security(Toeseland. W. R., p. 78). With the population of youth that Family Youth Intervention encounters, I highly believe that this is the main reason why the children become so involved within the group. Cohesion can affect the functioning of individual members and the group as a whole in many ways. Many beneficial dynamics of cohesion of this group include the effective use of other members feedback and evaluations, feelings of self- esteem and self confidence, and perseverance toward goals. The group culture is similar within the group because the clients ten to share the same values, beliefs, customs, and traditions. If the group culture is not similar about certain topics, the members of the group are exposed to other peoples views, values, beliefs, customs, and traditions. Most of the clients have been involved with the law and have been exposed to bad situations it is not difficult to believe that Members contribute unique sets of values that originate from their past experiences as well as their ethnic, cultural, and racial heritages(Toseland. W. R., 2012, p.87). Impressions I think that the clients have greatly increased their awareness of certain situations and have gained many skills needed to change some of their behaviors. I feel that it is the clients choice to take what they learn into group and use those skills outside of the residential program.

The moment of truth for the clients is when they are back to their everyday schedules at home and have to make the choice of using the skills they have gained and really changing their behavior and making that positive change or not. I feel that the clients that come into the program are vulnerable individuals and they want the feeling of being needed and wanted. In most cases, the parents are to blame for instigating issues and not standing their ground with punishments so the child feels that they can do whatever they want. I think the group as a whole transpires into a group of young individuals that are aware of what they should do when they are out of the program and it is their choice to make them happen. The staff and I can only encourage them to make the right choices and be the better person in most cases but we do not have complete control over what they do. Plan of Action I plan on changing the group behavior by using more realistic examples when talking in our group discussion as well as just being more of a listener to them instead of constantly leading the group and choosing whose turn it is to talk. I have learned that silence in a group is okay and when the clients are ready to talk they will. To make the group more effective, the clients need to be more engaged and need to have their buttons pressed. To make this happen, the staff and myself have to bring up issues that relate to them specifically without revealing their confidentiality. Doing this may trigger something in their heads and make them really think about their situations and what they can do to change them. Most of the clients want a better relationship with their parents or want to do better in school but they dont understand how to approach the situations and solve them. That is why staff have to give them real life examples and relate them more to them.

Conclusion All groups have a function whether it be, treatment groups focusing on the members personal needs, task groups focusing on the task to be completed, support groups focusing on helping members cope with stressful life events, or even education groups focusing on educating the members through presentations, discussion, and experience. The types of groups within a given agency all depend on the population and the goal for the clients within that agency setting. As far as Family Youth Interventions goes, the interpersonal lifeskills group falls under many of these categories. The main goal for this group is to educate the clients and help them grow as prospering individuals that can function in society without causing conflict. Through self-help and socialization, these clients can gain the skills and make the decision on their own whether or not they are going to use them when their twenty-one days at the program is up.

Reference Page Toseland, Ronald W., and Robert F. Rivas. An introduction to group work practice. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2012. Print.