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If you have worked in groups before, please come prepared with 1 of the following to discuss:                 

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If you have worked in groups before, please come prepared with 1 of the following to discuss:                 

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A. A time you struggled to engage a group
B. A time where you felt like you were in an ethical dilemma during a group
C.A time you were caught of guard by a group
D.A boundary you struggled to keep with a group.

AND:
What are you strengths and weaknesses when it comes to running groups?

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If you have NOT worked with groups please come prepared with the following: 

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If you have NOT worked with groups please come prepared with the following: 

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A.At least 2 strengths you have that will help you to run groups successfully
AND
B. At least two weaknesses you worry about when it comes to running groups successfully.

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D. a boundary I struggle to keep in group sometimes is withholding personal information. Clients can sometimes try to pry into the counselor’s life and find out more personal things about them. This has been happening more often lately as the clients are starting to get more comfortable around me. I think it makes them curious to know more about me and my background because they are starting to work with me more. They typically ask about where I go to school, why am I in this field, if I have a personal connection to addiction, what do I do aside from my internship. I usually don’t mind answering these questions, but it does make me feel weird when they start trying to figure me out. Sometimes if they get on a certain topic during a discussion, then they might turn to me and ask how I feel about it or what my opinions are about something. I’d prefer to not share much about myself, but I suppose I don’t mind if that makes them feel more comfortable working with me. But I definitely have been struggling to hold this boundary in group settings.

E. my strengths with group is that I am able to laugh at myself if I mess up or if I’m struggling with something. I think that shows the group members that I have a good sense of humor and I don’t take everything too serious. I think this has allowed clients to feel comfortable working with me. Another strength I have are my listening skills. I believe I am very good at listening, communicating to the clients that I am listening, and then being able to reflect back what they just said to me. I think that shows the clients that I care about what they are dealing with and what they have to say. My weakness with groups is that I get really nervous right before it starts. I get in my head a lot, and I doubt myself and my abilities. A lot of my fears about group are due to feeling like I won’t have the “right” thing to say or that there will be uncomfortable silences. I also worry about if the clients don’t listen to me or if they don’t respond well to me and any activities we’re doing.

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A. Every Friday I run a group from 2-3 pm and it is always the first group of the day because in the morning the clients spend their time at the gym, having lunch, and enjoying free time. Because it is the first group of the day, I always tend to struggle with engaging the clients because most of them take a nap during their free time, meaning that they are usually quiet and sleepy during my group. When this happens, I will either tend to have them participate in a funny ice breaker to get them to laugh or I will tell them to stand up and stretch to get their energy flowing for group. I have found that these two things tend to work because at first, I would just try to talk through the beginning of group and I noticed that they were not really paying attention, whereas now they tend to be more engaged because I actually do something about their lack of engagement and acknowledge it.
B. A time I can vividly remember having an ethical dilemma during group is when a majority of group members I had once, and I had opposing personal values. At the time, those clients had very specific political and social views that I strongly disagreed with, and I had the hardest time trying not to impose my own views. In the end I never argued with them about their views or talked about my own because it is irrelevant to my role in their treatment process.
C. The group that I run on Fridays is all about Co-Dependency, so I do not tend to hear many traumatic stories during that group because those are usually meant for our process groups or grief group. One time though I remember when a mandated client went off topic and started talking about her past trauma during her childhood during Co-Dependency group. This completely caught me off guard because I did not expect it and I was definitely not trained on how to handle a situation like this when in a group setting since I have never been in a process group or grief group (those are run when I’m not there). I let her continue to share because I did not want to cut her off and the other clients and I just listened to her talk. After group I ended up going up to her alone and offered to keep listening to her if she wanted me to.
D. During group, a lot of my current clients have grown more comfortable with me because I tend to socialize with them as a group so much more outside of when I’m obligated to during group. This has made them a lot more comfortable to the point where they tend to ask me a lot more personal questions now. For example, during group my clients asked me once what I wanted to do after my internship was over. One time they even asked me where I worked at outside of Gateway. For both questions I sort of deflected and asked why they wanted to know and addressed the questions outside of group without giving them exact details.
Strengths and Weaknesses: My strength when running group now is that my confidence is so much better than when I first started. I also learned how to establish myself better with the way I spoke, making myself more loud and vocal instead. My weaknesses are that sometimes I struggle with how to respond to certain stories or comments that my clients make and that I have to learn to be okay with the fact that sometimes the clients do not feel like sharing or talking.

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B. Stepping Stones hosts a Family Education group every Wednesday where anybody is allowed to attend. On a busy day, a family came in and they reeked of marijuana. The whole room noticed, but no one addressed it. We are in an addictions treatment facility, so them smelling like that was a cause of concern. Do we allow these people that are actively using stay in the group? They still have a right to be there - so I was unsure how to proceed. After some time, the family left because their infant was crying. They did not come back that day. The other staff and I were not sure how to handle this situation. Every person has a right to attend, but is it ethical to allow persons to attend when they are actively using? Later, we discussed this in supervision. Given our setting and purpose of our program, I believe it would have been ethical to ask that family to leave.

Strengths and Weaknesses: One of my biggest strengths is that I am comfortable with silences. I do not feel the need to fill gaps in conversation - which can be useful in a group. A weakness I see in myself is my experience. I have not led many groups on my own, so my confidence is not where it needs to be. I worry I may not be able to keep clients engaged. In theory, I know how to run a group, I am just not confident in practice.

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C. A time I was caught off guard by the group was one night when someone brought up the new law that was recently passed regarding including LGBTQ history in school curriculum. The majority of the group began talking about how they felt it was wrong. Originally I attempted to listen to their concerns and then educate them on different parts that they didn't understand.  When I noticed that it wasn't working because they were being disrespectful I attempted to shut down the conversation.  When I did that it ended abruptly and I felt horrible about it because I wanted them to be open and discuss their feelings so they could be addressed.  We took a break and I came back and I apologized for shutting down the conversation and then proceeded to explain why I had.  They all appreciated my honesty and we were able to continue a constructive conversation about the topic and they were open to asking questions and the conversation went well.

Strengths:
*I'm observant
*I engage the group members and make sure everyone participates
*I am able to build rapport quickly and get everyone sharing
*I can ride the wave of the group with our conversations and topics allowing the group to go where it needs to

Opportunities:
*getting caught off guard about topics that I hold opposite views in
*when I am challenged with a difficult client I do one of two things.  I either attempt to let the moment pass and revisit privately or I attempt to control the situation which shifts the energy in the group and makes it go silent.
*Sometimes I move too quick through the beginning of the group which makes it take longer to get people to warm up and get talking. Processing too quickly.

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C. The first IOP group after Thanksgiving was far more intense than I was prepared for. I was asked like 10 minutes before if I wanted to facilitate it, and I optimistically agreed because I needed the spontaneity and experience. Well, we had two brand new members, neither of which really wanted to be there, a member who recently experienced the near-death of a loved one, a member who came in high (heroin), and a generally somber atmosphere. After the first hour I switched out with the counselor who usually runs it because I was out of my league. It made me afraid to do groups for awhile.

Strengths:
I love encouraging vulnerability and emotional expression

I really enjoy doing experimental art activities

I remind them constantly that all feelings are valid (but not all actions)

I let them get off topic once in awhile to allow social skills and trust to develop

Weaknesses:
I am visibly anxious sometimes, especially if I don't know what to talk about or where to go next

I struggle to verbalize my thoughts in an organized way, which can make more abstract concepts confusing

I rush through things a little too quickly sometimes

I get easily bored with psychoeducational/skill building groups

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A. A time I struggled to engage a group was early on in my internship. I was given a topic by the staff member who usually runs the groups. I was unfamiliar with the topic, at least unfamiliar enough to lead group on it. I did research the topic beforehand but was not as prepared as I would have liked. The clients were very used to how my co-facilitator ran group, in more of an educational way with very directed questions. I felt that I attempted to allow the group to have more of an open discussion and they did not seem engaged by my approach.

Strengths
Open minded
Sense of humor
Creative
Supportive
Observant

Weaknesses
lack of experience
If the group goes off topic, I struggle bringing them back.
Confidence in speaking in groups

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A. A time I struggled to engage a group was about three months ago. It was during thanksgiving and I had prepared a cute little activity. I had a client that was difficult to work with. The client would make comments and complain about stuff she did not like. On this day she was not in a very good mood and became very disruptive when the activity was given out. Client stated that this was childish and she did not know why she had to participate. The rest of the group became unfocussed and everyone stated talking. I tried to regain focus of the group but the difficult client continued to be disruptive. The rest of the clients lost interest in the activity and some of them ended up not doing the activity. This was the first time something like this has happened and I had a difficult time bring the group back together and to engaged in the activity.

Strengths
Build rapport quickly with clients and help them feel comfortable
observant
creative

Weakness
move quickly
trouble bringing attention back to activities
uncomfortable with silence

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A. A specific time I struggled to engage a group was back in September, when I first started at my internship. I had previously observed a few group sessions with my supervisor, and I was comfortable contributing when there was someone else there. However, by my third or fourth group, I was asked to run the last hour on my own. I was pretty nervous because I struggle with confidence when it comes to things in which I lack experience. I had prepped for a while, finding good activities to do, printing a few worksheets, as well as discussion questions, just in case I needed them. Once passing out the first worksheet, I explained what the activity was and asked the women to complete it.  Well, many of them kind of looked at it, and I could tell by their facial expressions did not want to do it. A couple of the women began filling it out while a handful of them did not attempt to do it at all. After a little bit I was asked if they were turning it in, to which I replied no, it is for your own self-reflection. After this many of them threw it away on their way out. Since it was my very first-time running group, I was completely uncomfortable. I did not know how to confront the women who were not interested in participating and kind of sat there not knowing what to say.  Although it was not many, I was thankful for the few women that did participate. Ever since then, I have been running groups on Friday and have definitely become more comfortable with the process. I have developed relationships with the clients there which helps a lot when it comes to leading groups.

Strengths: I think one of my biggest strength is my positive and optimistic attitude. I try to see the good in everyone and thing. Another strength I have is my listening skills. I have been told by both my supervisor and clients that people feel comfortable with me which is nice to know.

Weaknesses: One of my biggest weaknesses is my lack of confidence. I definitely get nervous when running groups but I have been trying to work on this. Another weakness is overthinking. I tend to overthink a lot of the activities picked, discussions to be had, or even things to say. I am always worried about saying the wrong thing which I think ties into my confidence level.

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C.  A time that I was caught of guard by a group actually occurred this morning.  I facilitate the first half of group every Wednesday, which consists of members taking turns completing check ins, then group members take a twenty minute break before returning for the second half of group which consists of the psycho-education lesson for that session.  However, the last Wednesday of every month a music therapist facilitates music therapy for the first half of group, then the members their twenty minute break before returning for the second half which consists of the check in that they would have in the first half of group.  Having explained that, the first half of today's group was music therapy.  The music therapist handed out lyrics to a song that she played and asked members to identify lyrics that stood out to them and share why.  During this process when a client was sharing, the client shared  that they had self-harmed the day before, and that this worried the client because they acted on it so quickly without thinking and the client went on the share other lyrics of the song and kind of overlooked mentioning the self harm and changed the subject.  This had caught me off guard because something like this had not been shared in a group setting with me facilitating before, and at first I wasnt sure weather to address it right away in front of thr group or not but I did not feel comfortable doing so, especially with the music therapist in the room in which this was the clients first interaction with this therapist in addition the client displaying signs that it wasn't a concern they felt comfortable discussing at that moment.  I also felt that at this moment the client was a safe place.  Once group departed for break, I told the client's primary counselor what the client had shared.  The client's counselor then pulled the client to process this further and to develop a safety plan.  The client was also seen by the medical staff.

Strengths - I feel I am able to connect and build rapport naturally with clients.  I also feel a strength I have is being able to identify clients' strengths and bringing these to the clients' attention.

Weaknesses - I feel that I struggle with silence in the group setting or when members are not willing to participate.  I also struggle when I an presented with a difficult member in the group. Another weakness I have is I tend to talk very quickly and want to improve on taking my time

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D. A boundary I struggle to keep during group (but believe I am improving in) involves self-disclosure. For most of the groups that I have facilitated, the concept of self-disclosure has been pretty black-and-white; it is evident that I should not reveal my personal history of substance use, issues that I have been/am struggling with, any sensitive/personal information, etc. However, there was a group in particular that had to deal with processing grief and loss, and it was difficult for me to ignore my urge to disclose how I could relate to the clients in my group. When the clients were struggling to open up about their experiences, I had the urge to be vulnerable about my own in order to make them more comfortable to disclose theirs. I offered simple empathetic sentiments to those who shared, like "grief is experienced in a dozen different ways, felt with a range of emotions" or "wow, you are really processing a lot of pain right now", but it did not feel like I could communicate empathy in an effective way. Because of this struggle of trying to manage my own countertransference to what the clients were expressing,  I was distracted from hearing all the details that the clients did disclose, which further affected by ability to empathetically respond in a clinically appropriate way. To summarize, I struggle to find a balance of self-disclosure that is both helpful to the client's experience and is not a product of my own insecurity or inability to effectively demonstrate that I hear and understand my clients' experience.

Strengths: One strength that I believe I possess is patience. I think I am great at separating myself from the emotional reactivity of my clients and am able to not take their response personally. I think this also aids in strengthening my clinical lens to analyze what the clients are saying and better weed through BS excuses, lies, or defense mechanisms that my clients resort to as a means of self-preservation.
I also think that I have the ability to communicate in a way that is easy to understand and effective in rapport-building with my clients. I have grown tremendously in group facilitating and promoting group cohesion as well.

Weakness: A weakness I have is my own self-doubt. I am constantly second-guessing myself and whether or not I acted in the "right" way or said the "right" things. I believe that I am able to present as confident when facilitating groups, but I still experience anxiety every time I'm about to begin group, fearing that I will be faced with a situation I don't know how to handle or with a question I don't know how to answer. Being so young and new to the field, I think I am more insecure about saying "I don't know" and asking for help because it feels like a poor reflection of my skills rather than an appropriate way of handling a situation.

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Strengths:
One of my strengths for groups is that I believe I can handle confrontation well. I had an experience in my group last semester and through vocalizing my concerns, we were able to work out our differences. By the end of the semester and group, my group members thanked me for this because we able to communicate mote effectively. Another strength for me would be my dedication. I am not a person will let myself be unsuccessful, therefore it motivates me to better myself and my skills. Ultimately I believe these will be vital to help me succeed in one day facilitating a group

Weakness:
In groups, I typically struggle with self-confidence. Thus far, I have not had any experience running therefore I would be nervous to, as I lack the experience to do so. For me this causes anxiety because I do not know what to expect, especially because I have not yet had the opportunity to see a group being run in an actual treatment center setting. Another weakness that I believe I may encounter is learning how to multitask during a group session. A key component is listening, but it is also documentation, and for me I believe finding that balance will be difficult initially.

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2 strengths

-I’ve never run a group so I’m not sure of the dynamics, but my personal strength includes being sociable, creating conversation is not difficult. Interacting with clients is not complex for me, I have not had a lot of interactions where clients do not speak to me at all. Another strength is that I am humble, I do not try to act better than someone else. I try to make my power not noticeable unless needed to.

2 weaknesses

-one of my weaknesses is that I can get distracted easily. Since talking to others is sometimes easy, I can get lost in conversations. Another weakness is that I feel that silence is awkward. While some people embrace silence, I try to evade it so that people are not uncomfortable.

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A time in which I was caught off guard, and faced an ethical dilemma was when I was doing the group check-ins. My supervisor was supposed to run group that day, and he had asked me to take over because he had an event to attend, and said that he would try to make it back. Even though we weren't sure if he would make it back, I prepared group for that day. As we were doing check ins, I was working my way through the circle, and I got to a client that had recently been new. This client was barely engaging ever since she started. When I got to her, I wanted to ask her opened questions, in hopes of getting to know her more. Unfortunately, I asked a question about her job (since she had told me what she does) and right when I asked that, I knew I had blown it. I had blown it because I disclosed what her career is and it had not crossed my mind that she didn't want to share that in group since she had told me before. I knew right away I had made a mistake. Her reaction said it all. She didn't verbally say anything. I just noticed because of her body expressions. This mistake of mine, and encounter with her, lasted less than 30 seconds, and it unbalanced me for the rest of group because I just kept thinking about it. When we went on break I brought her in my office and apologized for disclosing  that.

Strengths:
When it comes to running group, one of my strengths is that I am very patient when people are sharing. I have had experiences when clients are sharing something and are taking longer than anticipated. In my patience I ask questions from what they share, in hopes of trying to point out things that they may not have noticed as much from their experiences. Another strength of mine is getting group members to get involved and participate. I don't like "preaching" when I run groups because I prefer members to share and share their thoughts from the content for the day.

Weaknesses:
One of my biggest weaknesses in group is that I have a hard time cutting people off when we do check ins in the beginning. Even when I do give my thoughts after they share, and try to wrap it up so that I can go to the next person, I sometimes struggle to find the right words because I don't want to minimize their experiences. Another weakness of mine is that I ask too many things when a member shares, and I forget that I can't just focus on one person.

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A)  A time in which I struggled to engage a group was back when I first started running groups by myself. It was around September and it was an afternoon group where I had to choose how to run the group. I decided to do positive affirmations. This is when each person writes something positive about another person and at the end they read aloud what was written about them. I personally had done this so I felt it would be a good exercise and a way for each client to see their strengths. When I started the group the clients did not like the activity at hand. They kept saying how stupid it was and how they did not want to do it. Of course, I made them do it but each client only wrote down one word for each affirmation. I expected them to take time and write down at least a sentence about the other person.

Strengths and Weaknesses:  My personal strengths when leading groups would be I am not shy about asking hard questions. I listen intently and ask questions that make them think. My weaknesses would be that I do not know how to stretch a conversation out in order to fill the time requirement.

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B.) An ethical dilemma that I greatly struggle with in groups is self disclosure. Not that I give personal information to clients regularly, but struggle revolves around the question of if I am in recovery or not. I usually stumble because I am unsure of whether or not I should just shut down the question or answer and explain, even though I have no obligation to explain. I had a client ask me this a few months ago and I responded with "no I am not in recovery" and I felt the need to explain my reasons for wanting to be in this field and the background I do have, but the client walked away from me and rolled their eyes before I had the chance. This is something I consistently struggle with in the group setting because I stumble on my response and wish I could just say something like "that is not important information" or "why would you like to know?".  I feel stuck every time because I cannot find the right words and especially being asked this question in front of the entire group becomes intimidating.

Strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths in running groups:
I have gotten good at refocusing an unfocused group when they are off task or if there are too many side conversations.
Weaknesses:
I struggle the matter of self disclosure in front of the entire group. I also struggle with my confidence in running a productive group and feeling good about my ability to put together an effective group session.