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The name for the group support is “Our Common Experiences”. The group topics are designed to support newcomers to the United States with open discussions to help students become accustomed to the culture and language of others around them. This group will allow students to discuss his or her own struggles since moving to the United States and Texas. This group is for ninth grade students.

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The mindsets and behaviors that will be mastered in this small group will be:
Category 1: M 3:  Sense of belonging in the school environment (ASCA, 2014)
Category 2: B SS 2:  Create positive and supportive relationships with other students and B SS 9:  Demonstrate social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment (ASCA, 2014). Students will increase his or her sense of belonging to the school environment by increasing exposure to individuals of a different culture as well as form positive supportive relationships with participants and the facilitator of the group. Additionally, with learning the cultural norms of their new environment, students will discover how to behave appropriately in various social settings.

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•     What does your campus policy state regarding informed consent?

The school that I work for does not have a specific written policy for group counseling. My district has its own group of school counselors that conduct group counseling and this task is not completed by the guidance counselors. School counselors may make referrals for outside counseling services and provide a list of community resources for parents and students.

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•     This ground rules handout will be provided at the beginning of the sessions and will be read out loud by the group participants. As needed, this handout will be referred to if participants need to be reminded of their expectations.

•      What rules are predetermined by you and what rules can be determined as a group?
The ground rules are predetermined by the group leader, should additional rules need to be created, those will be decided as group and added to this sheet.

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Stage 1- How do you plan to build relationships and trust between group members and yourself?

I plan on building relationships by reviewing the purpose of the group and individual goals. I think it is important to establish early dialogue among the group members in order form them to make connections to one another.

How will group norms be established?

Group norms will be established in the first session. The school counselor will set expectations. This will be reinforced at the beginning of each meeting.

How will you address limits of confidentially within the group and establish that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, even though it is an expectation (i.e., limits to confidentiality, Are others responsible for keeping my secrets?, etc.)?

The school counselor will remind the students the limits of confidentially in the beginning of each session. While confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, group members will be encouraged to not talk about sensitive subjects (or others) outside the group.

•      Stage 2- How do you plan to keep your members working cohesively and productively as you progress through each session towards your learning outcomes? How will you check in with group members to gauge progress throughout the group?
Group members will review the session purpose as needed and be reminded of improvements and goal attainment as the group progresses.

•      Stage 3- What is your plan for group closure? Will you monitor/explore how group members are feeling about the group ending?
As the group concludes, members will complete exit interview to reinforce newly learned skills. The school counselor will also review confidentiality. Should a student want or need continuation of group counseling, plans will be made to continue during the next session.

(Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015)

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•      What leadership style(s) do you feel you might use when working with this group?
The leadership style that will be used when working with this group will be more of a "democratic" style (Cherry, 2020). With this leadership style, I can offer direction and guidance to the group members while encouraging group participants to openly engage in conversations.

•      Why do you feel that approach would work best with this specific population?
I feel this approach would work best with this specific population because often new students to the country or state are reluctant to speak up and voice his or her opinions. For example, only 30.8% of Japanese students are not afraid of expressing his or her opinion before debates (Fukuda, 2003). While the group sessions are not necessarily debates, discussions will be held with non-native English speakers who have differing opinions. The facilitator will be able to encourage participation and guide topics to allow students the freedom formulate answers and responses to keep the conversations going.

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Using Yalom's Therapeutic Factors, this small group may demonstrate "Universality" and "Development of Socializing Techniques" (Yalom, 1995). In Universality, the group members might discover that they are not the only individual feeling a certain way, thus increasing his or her feeling of connectedness. With "Development of Socializing Techniques", group members will increase his or her socializing techniques and learn about the cultural norms of the new environment they are in.

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•      What are your plans to inform the participants of your group?

When determining if a student would like to join the small group, the counselor will meet with the individual to discuss the group topic, goals, tasks and membership. After group selections have been made, the school counselor will send a formal invitation to the student to participate in the small group. The school counselor will send home informed consent letters both hard copy and via email. The school counselor will discuss any concerns the student may have prior to attending the first session.
•      How do you plan to assess participant readiness to participate, willingness, and interest?
The school counselor will assess participant readiness to participate by conducting a formal interview with the student.

•      Will you screen participants individually or as a group?
Participants will be screened individually. The counselor will discuss with the student the group and ask the student if they would like to join. It is best if the school counselor uses the T-A-P method (Morganett, 1990). In using this method, the school counselor tells the potential participant about the group, asks if they want to participate, and picks members based on group dynamics (Morganett, 1990).

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•      How do you plan to disseminate the information for your small group to various audiences? (i.e., Parents, Students, Teachers, Administrators, Counselors, etc.)
I plan to provide publicity about this small group to interested individuals by posting flyers in the hallways, periodic announcements, information on our schools counseling group page found on the high school's website, and finally invitations when new students enroll. Additionally, the English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher will provide names of students who he or she thinks needs a personal invitation to join the group.

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According to American School Counselors Association, school counselors must apply legal and ethical principles in all situations when working in any capacity. School counselors must "B-PF 3 B, adhere to legal responsibilities of the role of the school counselor" (ASCA, 2019). This is especially important in B- PF 3, "Adhere to the ethical and statutory limits of confidentiality" (ASCA, 2019). School counselors working in group settings, like this small group must maintain confidentiality and follow procedures when confidentiality limits have been reached and a steps must be taken to protect the student. This is especially true when a student makes an outcry of wanting to harm themselves or others. School counselors must remember his or her own training and work to ensure the safety of not only the student both those around in the situation.

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According to the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, A. 2.c. "school counselors must communicate information in ways that is culturally appropriate (ACA, 2014). With this small group, this principle will used to ensure that parents understand in a clear and understandable language the informed consent for his or her child to participate in the group sessions. School counselors must provide informed consent documents in the parent's native language to ensure that parents understand what their child will be participating in. In the Supreme Court case Lau vs. Nichols (1974), the Supreme Court upheld that students who speak a language other than English must receive a meaningful education and educational opportunities (Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563). This would include receiving equitable counseling services as native English speakers. One way that school counselors could apply this law would be to ensure that if a translator is needed during sessions or speaking with parents, one will be provided.

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American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics.  Alexandria, VA: Author.

American School Counselor Association (2019). ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies. Alexandria, VA: Author.

American School Counselor Association (2014). Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success: K-12 College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Every Student. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Cherry, K. (2020, August 03). What Are Prominent Leadership Styles and Frameworks You Should Know? Retrieved September 11, 2020, from https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-styles-2795312

Fukuda, Shinji (2003) Attitudes toward argumentation in college EFL classes in Japan. Proceedings of the First Asia TEFL International Conference. Pusan, Korea. pp. 417-418

Lau v. Nichols, 414 U.S. 563

Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators. (2015). Professional school counselor small group counseling guide: A professional school counselor’s guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating school-based counseling groups. Retrieved from https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/guid-respon-serv-small-group-counseling-guide-2015.pdf

Morganett, R. S. (1990). Skills for living: Group counseling activities for young adolescents. Chicago: Research Press.

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