The Colombo Plan Asian Centre for Certification and Education of Addiction Professionals Training Series

Curriculum 41
Basic Counseling Skills
for Addiction Professionals

MODULE 5 – GROUP COUNSELING: BASIC

SKILLS
Important

 Group counseling is not the same thing as

doing individual counseling in a group setting!
 Using individual counseling skills in group may
not always be effective
 The needs of the group as a whole must be
balanced with the needs of individuals in the
group
 Group counseling includes good facilitation
skills that enable the group to do mist of the
work
1.2
Module 5 Learning Objectives

 Describe the process of preparing clients for

groups
 Describe at least 2 basic issues or tasks for each
typical group phase
 Describe a basic way to structure a group
session
 List at least 3 ways to avoid leader-centered
groups
 Demonstrate ways of managing disruptive
behavior in groups
1.3
Preparing Clients for Group

 Preparing clients for group work:

 Helps groups become more therapeutic more
quickly
 Has a positive effect on client improvement

1.4
Pre-group Meetings with Clients

 Clarify expectations
 Of the client
 Of the treatment program
 Setup basic rules
 Explore the advantages of group therapy
 Correct any misconceptions about groups

1.5
Assessing and Matching Clients to Groups

 Consider:
 The client’s characteristics, needs, preferences,
stage of change, and stage of recovery
 The program’s resources
 The nature of the group or groups available

1.6
Special Considerations

 Not all clients are right for a group:

 Clients with co-occurring mental disorders (e.g.,
severe depression; anxiety) may not be able to
function well in a group setting
 Clients with a co-occurring personality disorder
may need a group with very strict boundaries to
avoid a negative group experience or to avoid
negatively affecting other group members
 Eachclient must be assessed for his or her
own individual needs in treatment
1.7
Special Considerations (continued)

 Not all clients are right for a group:

 Clients who have experienced trauma, especially
sexual abuse, may need a homogeneous group
 Clients in the throes of a life crisis may require
more concentrated attention than groups can
provide
 Clients who choose not to participate in group
therapy should not be criticized or penalized

1.8
Preparing Clients for Group Work

 Screen clients for appropriateness

 Assess ability to function in group
 Assess stage of change
 Assess willingness to participate

1.9
Preparing Clients for Group Work
(continued)

 Provide information:
 How group counseling compares with other group
experiences clients may have had
 The benefits of group counseling, or how group
might specifically help the client
 How the group is structured
 The kinds of issues the group addresses

1.10
Preparing Clients for Group Work
(continued)

 Recognize and affirm clients’ expectations

 Ask about expectations
 Correct any misconceptions
 Affirm positive expectations
 Address and reframe fears

1.11
Preparing Clients for Group Work
(continued)

 Group agreements
 Attendance requirements
 Expectations of confidentiality
 Whether physical contact is okay
 Use of substances
 Minimum participation requirements
 The counselor’s punctuality

1.12
Goals of Preparation

 Establish a preliminary alliance between client

and counselor
 Gain a clear mutual understanding about the
client’s expectations
 Offer information and instruction about the
group

1.13
Goals of Preparation (continued)

 Deal with initial client anxiety about joining a

group
 Present and gain acceptance of a group
agreement

1.14
Small-Group Exercise: Preparing
Clients for Groups

 Resource Page 5.2: Potential Group

Members: Client Profiles
 Resource Page 5.3: Types of Groups
 For each of your three assigned clients:
 Which group is most appropriate?
 Why?
 How will you prepare the client for the group?
 For
one client, develop a role-play
demonstrating preparing the client for group
1.15
General Types of Groups: Time-Limited
Versus Ongoing

 Time-limitedgroups have a set number of

sessions (an education group is a good
example)
 Ongoing groups have no specific end date

1.16
General Types of Groups: Static Versus
Revolving Membership

 Staticmembership groups keep the same

membership throughout the life of the group
with no new people joining
 Revolving membership groups have people
come and go, join and leave, and the group
continues on despite the changing
membership

1.17
General Types of Groups: Content-Oriented
Versus Process-Oriented Groups

 Content-oriented groups focus on identified

topics for each session (for example:
education or skills-training groups)
 Process-oriented groups focus on the
interaction between group members and
counselors and are “here and now” focused,
with no specific topic identified for each
session

1.18
Your Agency’s Groups

 Membership: Static or revolving?

 Timeline: Time-limited or on-going?
 Focus: Content-oriented or process-oriented?

1.19
Phases of Group Development

 Beginning phase
 Middle phase
 End phase

1.20
Beginning Phase Issues and Tasks

 Introducing members and facilitators

 Establishing/reviewing a group agreement
 Providing a safe, cohesive environment
 Establishing norms
 Initiating the work of the group

1.21
Middle Phase Issues and Tasks

 Balancing content and process

 Noticing and rolling with resistance
 Keeping the group focused
 Modeling a healthy interactional style
 Facilitating rather than running or directing the
group

1.22
End Phase Issues and Tasks

 Putting closure on the experience

 Examining the impact of the group on each
person
 Acknowledging the feelings triggered by
departure
 Giving and receiving feedback about the group
experience and each member’s role in it
 Completing any unfinished business
 Exploring ways to carry on the learning

1.23
Break
15 minutes

1.24
Structuring a Group Session

 What is intentionality in counseling?

1.25
Structuring a Group Session (continued)

 Intentionality means:
 Selecting helping behaviors and specific
strategies with a clear purpose and direction in
mind
 Having a clear objective in mind for a session and
not allowing the session to take on its own
momentum (while being appropriately flexible)

1.26
Structuring a Group Session (continued)

 By structuring a group session:

 The facilitator ensures that important aspects of
the work are protected
 Group members know what to expect from a
session
 Beginning and ending rituals are established

1.27
Structuring a Group Session (continued)

 Opening and welcome

 Check-in
 Review group norms and rules
 Active work
 Summary and homework
 closing

1.28
Opening and Welcome

 Greet each participant warmly

 Start the session ON TIME!
 Beginning on time sends the message that the
work of the group is important
 A late group leader sends the message that the
group is not important and conveys a lack of
respect for participants’ time
 Waiting for late group members reinforces
lateness and conveys lack of respect for group
boundaries and participants
1.29
Opening and Welcome (continued)

 Introducenew members
 Make announcement
 Opening ritual

1.30
Check-in

 Review of last session

 Homework follow-up
 “How are you all feeling today?”

1.31
Active Work

 The heart of the session

 Content-oriented or process-oriented,
depending on type of group

1.32
Summary and Homework

 Summarize the work of the group or ask the

group to summarize
 Give or reinforce homework assignments
 Affirm the work of the group
 Ask the group for any other affirmations
 Check in with participants if necessary

1.33
Closing

 Closing ritual
 For example: Asking group member what was
learned that they are taking away from the group

1.34
Leader-centered Groups

 Content-oriented group
 For example: Psycho-education groups
 Leader becomes a teacher
A process group that remains leader-centered:
 Limits include one-on-one counseling in the group
 May include one-on-one counseling in the group
 Does not use the full power of the group to
support experiential change or to build authentic,
supportive interpersonal relationships

1.35
Group Facilitation

 Thepractice of supporting a group’s process

rather than creating or directing it

1.36
Group Facilitation (continued)

 Avoid doing for the group what it can do for

itself:
 Turn questions back over to the group
 Ask a group member to direct a comment to
another group member
 Don’t always be the one to break a silence
 Ask the group to comment on process

1.37
Group Facilitation (continued)

 Teach participants to support one another:

 Model support in early stages of group
 Teach specific skills
 Reinforce and affirm participants’ support of one
another
 Don’t rush in the later stages of group

1.38
Emotional Contagion

 Another’ssharing can stir frightening

memories and intense emotions in listeners
 Emotional contagion can overwhelm group
members and the group process

1.39
Modulate Emotionality

 Keep emotionality at a level that enables the

work of group to continue
 Example:
“We’ve been expressing some intense feelings here
today…To prevent us from overload, it might be
valuable to stop what we’re doing and try together to
understand what’s been happening and where all
these powerful feelings come from”

Source: Yalom, I. D. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. 4th ed. New
York: Basic Books. P. 350. 1.40
Small-Group Demonstration: Instructions

 Decide:
 In what phase of development is your group?
 What portion of a group session will you
demonstrate?
 Select a facilitator
 Select client roles from Resource Page 5.2
 Prepare an 8- to 10-minute group role-play
 Be creative!

1.41
Issues in Group Management

 Handling conflict in group (Resource Page

5.8)
 Unhealthy interactions
 Covert conflicts
 Displaced anger
 Managing subgroups (Resource Page 5.9)
 Make covert alliances overt
 Reframe what the group is doing
 Rearrange

1.42
Issues in Group Management (continued)

 Responding to disruptive behavior (Resource

Page 5.10)
 Talkative or interrupting clients
 Clients who flee a session
 Coming in late or absence
 Silence
 Turning out
 Focusing only on others

1.43
Small-group Presentations: Issues in Group
Management – Instructions

 Read your assigned Resource Page

 Select a facilitator
 Select client roles from Resource Page 5.2
 Create a presentation and a demonstration
role-play

1.44
Lunch
60 minutes

1.45
Small-group Presentations: Issues in Group
Management

Presentations

1.46