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I plan on utilizing this resource to help guide the development of similar participant guidelines and ground rules for the adult support group. Predetermined rules will consist of the following;

-Confidently

-Being Respectful

-Active Participation

-Weekly attendance

Once the group meets, they will review the predetermined rules and decide what each rule will look like when being displayed. They will also discuss and develop any other rules and/or guidelines they think will be good for the group to abide by. Additional guidelines and rules they could consider are;

-What being present during the group looks like.

-How to avoid conflict and/or what to do if it arises.

-What individual and group accountability looks like.

-What group support could look like for uncomfortable moments.

(Professional School Counselor Small Group Counseling Guide, 2015)

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This support group will specifically focus on adults between the ages of 18 and 30 who are experiencing or who have experienced homelessness. The overall group topic will be: Managing Emotional Wellness While Overcoming Homelessness. Each discussion will have this as the main group theme, with lesson topics each week that break this down into a specific focus.

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Module 3 Planning the Group Action Plan.docx

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Using the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors as a guide. Group participants will master the following upon completing the group:

Category 1: Mindset Standards

M 1. Belief in development of whole self, including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well-being.

M 4. Self-confidence in ability to succeed.

M 5. Belief in using abilities to their fullest to achieve high-quality results and outcomes.

Category 2: Behavior Standards

Learning Strategies:

B-LS 1. Critical thinking skills to make informed decisions.

B-LS 9. Decision-making informed by gathering evidence, getting others’ perspectives and recognizing personal bias.

Self-Management Skills:

B-SMS 1. Responsibility for self and actions.

B-SMS 5. Perseverance to achieve long and short-term goals.

B-SMS 6. Ability to identify and overcome barriers.

B-SMS 7. Effective coping skills.

Social Skills:

B-SS 1. Effective oral and written communication skills and listening skills.

B-SS 2. Positive, respectful and supportive relationships with students who are similar to and different from them.

B-SS 4. Empathy.

B-SS 6. Effective collaboration and cooperation skills.

B-SS 8. Advocacy skills for self and others and ability to assert self, when necessary.

(The ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success, 2021)

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The group will be advertised by creating flyers that have information about that group and how to follow up if interested. These flyers will be placed at local shelters, food pantries, and the housing development. I will also visit the food pantries during their weekly food times with the flyers advertising for the group and talking to potential participants.

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Individuals who complete the interest form will be contacted to schedule a prescreening meeting between themselves and the counselor. The purpose will be for both the counselor and the individual to discuss the group and for the counselor to assess whether the group would be beneficial for the individual. In this meeting, the group description, purpose, overall setup, individual benefits, and expectations will be discussed. Individuals will be assessed by surveying their interest and commitment level after the initial group processes have been discussed. Final picks will be determined once the individual survey answers are reviewed.

(Professional School Counselor Small Group Counseling Guide, 2015)

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After the selection of at least, but no more than, 10 potential group members, an adult support group consent form will be given to them to complete.

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Module 4 Padlet-Adult Support Group Consent

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Stage1

The first group meeting will be considered 'week 0'. We will not discuss a group topic during this meeting. Instead, this meeting will focus on building relationships, setting group norms and building trust. These norms will also be reiterated throughout the entirety of the group. We will discuss the guidelines and rules of the group, and they will have an opportunity to add other rules that they think will be beneficial. This will support group buy in. Once these have been discussed and agreed upon, group members will sign off on them. We will review and discuss the informed consent document. Each bullet point will be reviewed, and an open discussion will take place. The importance of group confidentiality will be discussed, what this looks and how it should be maintained. We will discuss how to avoid putting yourself in a situation that could lead to breaking confidentiality and what to do if you think you may have. We will discuss the duty of the group counselor if confidentiality is found to be broken, and the duty of the group counselor if, by law, they have to break confidentiality.

Stage 2

I plan to keep members working together and being productive by making sure we are staying focused on the learning outcomes and group topics. The group will work together as a whole and in different subgroups to increase cohesiveness, build relationships, and build trust. Lessons will be engaging and centered around the group, taking the lead with the group counselor serving as facilitator. I will do weekly individual check-ins and group check-ins to gauge progress. I will do weekly reviews along with exit tickets.

Stage 3

Group members will begin preparing for the end of the group halfway through our meetings. Having them think about what they may need at group closure early on allows for preparation and can lead to individual success. At weekly check-ins, starting at the halfway mark, I will assess their feelings about the group coming to a close. This will allow me to prepare each remaining week to ease and address any fears or concerns. Each remaining week, we will discuss what the exit plan will be after the group ends. We will also discuss the importance of maintaining confidentiality by reviewing the consent form signed at the start of the group. We will end the group with a celebration that recognizes all those who completed the group. We will have community resources at the celebration to help put them on a path to success after the group.

(Professional School Counselor Small Group Counseling Guide, 2015)

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I feel that the best leadership style for me to use with this group is that of participative leadership.

I feel that this is the best approach for this group because it allows me to guide the group, but allows the group members to really contribute by openly sharing and participating. By guiding and supporting, while allowing the group members to be engaged in the group processes, the group members will have more buy-in, which leads to better group participation and more takeaways.

(Cherry, 2023)

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Leadership styles are classifications of how a person behaves while directing, motivating, guiding, and managing groups of people. There are many leadership styles. Some of the most widely discussed include: authoritarian (autocratic), participative (democratic), delegative (laissez-faire), transformational, transactional, and situational.

Great leaders can inspire political movements and social change. They can also motivate others to perform, create, and innovate. As you start to consider some of the people who you think of as great leaders, you can immediately see that there are often vast differences in how each person leads.

Fortunately, researchers have developed different theories and frameworks that allow us to better identify and understand these different leadership styles.

Lewin's Leadership Styles

In 1939, a group of researchers led by psychologist Kurt Lewin set out to identify different styles of leadership.﻿﻿ While further research has identified more distinct types of leadership, this early study was very influential and established three major leadership styles that have provided a springboard for more defined leadership theories.

In Lewin's study, schoolchildren were assigned to one of three groups with an authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire leader. The children were then led in an arts and crafts project while researchers observed the behavior of children in response to the different styles of leadership. The researchers found that democratic leadership tended to be the most effective at inspiring followers to perform well.

Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic)

Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. This style of leadership is strongly focused on both command by the leader and control of the followers. There is also a clear division between the leader and the members. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently, with little or no input from the rest of the group.

Researchers found that decision-making was less creative under authoritarian leadership.﻿﻿ Lewin also concluded that it is harder to move from an authoritarian style to a democratic style than vice versa. Abuse of this method is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial.

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Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group. The autocratic approach can be a good one when the situation calls for rapid decisions and decisive actions. However, it tends to create dysfunctional and even hostile environments, often pitting followers against the domineering leader.

Participative Leadership (Democratic)

Lewin's study found that participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is typically the most effective leadership style. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin's study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a higher quality.

Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say in the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative. Democratic leaders tend to make followers feel like they are an important part of the team, which helps foster commitment to the goals of the group.

Delegative Leadership (Laissez-Faire)

Lewin found that children under delegative leadership, also known as laissez-faire leadership, were the least productive of all three groups. The children in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation, and were unable to work independently.

Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave the decision-making up to group members. While this style can be useful in situations involving highly qualified experts, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

Lewin noted that laissez-faire leadership tended to result in groups that lacked direction and members who blamed each other for mistakes, refused to accept personal responsibility, made less progress, and produced less work.

Observations About Lewin's Leadership Styles

In their book, The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, Bass and Bass note that authoritarian leadership is often presented solely in negative, often disapproving, terms. Authoritarian leaders are often described as controlling and close-minded, yet this overlooks the potential positives of stressing rules, expecting obedience, and taking responsibility.

While authoritarian leadership certainly is not the best choice for every situation, it can be effective and beneficial in cases where followers need a great deal of direction and where rules and standards must be followed to the letter. Another often overlooked benefit of the authoritarian style is the ability to maintain a sense of order.

Bass and Bass note that democratic leadership tends to be centered on the followers and is an effective approach when trying to maintain relationships with others. People who work under such leaders tend to get along well, support one another, and consult other members of the group when making decisions.

Additional Leadership Styles and Models

In addition to the three styles identified by Lewin and his colleagues, researchers have described numerous other characteristic patterns of leadership. A few of the best-known include:

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is often identified as the single most effective style. This style was first described during the late 1970s and later expanded upon by researcher Bernard M. Bass. Transformational leaders are able to motivate and inspire followers and to direct positive changes in groups.

These leaders tend to be emotionally intelligent, energetic, and passionate. They are not only committed to helping the organization achieve its goals, but also to helping group members fulfill their potential.

Research shows that this style of leadership results in higher performance and more improved group satisfaction than other leadership styles. One study also found that transformational leadership led to improved well-being among group members.

Transactional Leadership

The transactional leadership style views the leader-follower relationship as a transaction. By accepting a position as a member of the group, the individual has agreed to obey the leader. In most situations, this involves the employer-employee relationship, and the transaction focuses on the follower completing required tasks in exchange for monetary compensation.

One of the main advantages of this leadership style is that it creates clearly defined roles. People know what they are required to do and what they will be receiving in exchange. This style allows leaders to offer a great deal of supervision and direction, if needed.

Group members may also be motivated to perform well to receive rewards. One of the biggest downsides is that the transactional style tends to stifle creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

Situational Leadership

Situational theories of leadership stress the significant influence of the environment and the situation on leadership. Hersey and Blanchard's leadership stylesis one of the best-known situational theories. First published in 1969, this model describes four primary styles of leadership, including:

1. Telling: Telling people what to do

2. Selling: Convincing followers to buy into their ideas and messages

3. Participating: Allowing group members to take a more active role in the decision-making process

4. Delegating: Taking a hands-off approach to leadership and allowing group members to make the majority of decisions

Later, Blanchard expanded upon the original Hersey and Blanchard model to emphasize how the developmental and skill level of learners influences the style that should be used by leaders. Blanchard's SLII leadership styles model also described four different leading styles:

1. Directing: Giving orders and expecting obedience, but offering little guidance and assistance

2. Coaching: Giving lots of orders, but also lots of support

3. Supporting: Offering plenty of help, but very little direction

4. Delegating: Offering little direction or support

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It seems like there are as many different styles of leadership as there are leaders. Discover some of the most common leadership style frameworks.

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Universality

-Through group discussions, group members will see that they are not alone in their experiences.

Altruism

-Group members can see that everything is not always about them. They could see that there could be someone who is having it way worse than them, and that person might need their help. This could also lead to those group members seeing that their help could be useful to other group members.

Development of socializing techniques

-Through weekly discussions, active participation, and possibly developing relationships that will continue after the group ends, group members could enhance their social skills and develop effective ways to communicate their needs.

Imitative behavior

-If there are members who come across as leaders and/or have good characteristics, other members can be inclined to imitate them.

Direct advice

-After building relationships, group members may feel comfortable sharing suggestions that benefited them in their journey, which some might be willing to accept and use for handling their own similar problems.

(Yaslom, 1995)

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According to the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council and Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors, there is a rule regarding informed consent.

Per rule 681.35-Informed Consent

The rule states that a professional licensed counselor, before providing any services, must get signed informed consent along with a signed receipt of information in regards to services provided.

This supports me in my role as a counselor because it makes sure that group members understand the group's processes, the benefits, the risks, and the group's limits. It serves as a protection for both myself and group members from potential misunderstandings.

(Rules, 2025)

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The Association for Specialists in Group Work explains the need for ecological assessment. In their Best Practices Guidelines manual, under A. 3: Assessment- b. (Ecological Assessment) discusses that group workers will evaluate things such as community needs, any organizational resources, the mission, and the attitudes towards the group work.

As a group worker, reviewing this information and more will help me make informed decisions in regards to group topics, group needs, any local community resources that could support, and how this group could benefit the community.

(Thomas & Pender, 2008, 113)

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The ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success. (2021). American School Counselor Association. Retrieved September 13, 2025, from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf

Cherry, K. (2023, June 27). How to Lead: 6 Leadership Styles and Frameworks. Verywell Mind. Retrieved September 13, 2025, from https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-styles-2795312

Professional School Counselor Small Group Counseling Guide. (2015, May). Missouri Center for Career Education. Retrieved September 13, 2025, from https://www.missouricareereducation.org/doc/smallgroup/SmallGroupCounseling.pdf

Rules. (2025, July 31). Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. Retrieved September 13, 2025, from https://bhec.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/LPC-Rulebook-2025-July.pdf

Thomas, R. V., & Pender, D. A. (2008, June 2). Association for Specialists in Group Work: Best Practice Guidelines. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33(2), 111-117. 10.1080/01933920801971184

Yalom ID. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). New York: Basic Books.