Essay Sample on Psych-Educational Group

The name of this Group therapy is the T-Group which earned its name through an extensive use of training of its clients and the group leaders in matters drug and substance abuse. It is situated in London with branches found worldwide. This paper aims to give a thorough discussion of its roles, purposes, its composition and a description of one clinical moment in the group.

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This group is a psych-educational group which is mainly used for educating clients on matters related to substance abuse, the behaviors that come by as a result of the substance abuse and its consequences. It uses defined content that is specifically for the group, and in most cases, it is taught using tapes, audiocassettes or talks. What follows later is a knowledgeable and competent group leader facilitating a group discussion where every member is required to participate. This group gives a direct information that is meant to impact on the life of a client directly. They are used to instill the core value of self-awareness and give the various and diverse options for growth and positive change. It also identifies community resources that can be of help to clients recovery process and necessitate the comprehension of the whole process of recovery (Lewis, 2011).

The key purpose of the T-Group is creating a wide view of awareness about the social, medical and the psychological impacts of substance abuse. The second major goal is to give the client the boost and morale to enter the recovery-ready stage(David,2016)).Its main agenda is assisting its clients to incorporate knowledge acquired during the session in bringing about and maintaining abstinence from various substance abuse. This way they can make choices that benefit them in the long run. Another purpose of the group is enable the client counter the denial phase. Give them a valid reason as to why they should seek and stick to their continued treatment, influence alterations in maladaptive behaviors such as associating with other users of drugs and give them support in behaviors that are meant to speed up the process of recovery. Lastly, the group offers great support to families of drug abusers regarding information pertaining treatment and support.

NAME OF THE GROUP comprises of people aged between 12-23 years be it female or male. Its participants are people of all race and color but mainly whites and black. It has branches in major Cities in the United States which helps it draw more people for help. Every subgroup has their group leader whose main role is to encouraging everyones participation and strongly discourage passive note taking. He also sees to it that the lectures are not very long as it brings about boredom to the clients. Moreover, he/she encourages the clients to take full responsibility of their learning process and not channel everything to the group leader.

The main roles of GROUP NAME

1) Assisting clients in pre-contemplative or rather their contemplative level of change for the purpose of reframing the impacts of drug abuse. It also helps them develop an internal urge for help and most importantly come to the realization of the many avenues of change.

2)Helping clients that are at their early stages of recovery acquire more knowledge of their disorders, realize the challenges that come with recovery and give them a clear understanding of the course they should follow towards recovery.

3) Assisting the families of the clients to have a better understanding of how people with substance abuse disorder act with the main aim that the family members will be in a better position to help their loved ones towards recovery and also educate them on their need for change.

4) The group also open different channels of recovery in that it enables its clients to know the resources that can be helpful to them in the process such as the essence of meditation, recreation training. Anger management, spiritual development, and nutrition. We use coping skills such as anger management or the use of I statement that is mainly taught in other group therapies such as the skills development group.

5) Help the clients recognize, evade and finally master both the internal and external circumstances that aid them towards recovery from substance abuse.

The techniques used in conducting the group are mainly concerned with how info is staged together with how to help the participants merge learning in such a way as it leads to good and meaningful behavior, enhanced thinking and psych-emotional change. We realized that the most effective way to reach the younger generation who in most cases are the victims of substance abuse is through interaction and active exploration rather than lectures (Brown, 2014). Nonetheless, this is not to insinuate that lectures are unimportant rather that they are less effective compared to the techniques above.

There are various significant clinical moments for this group, but I will focus on one. It happened when one client who was so adamant about his addiction and came to seek therapy through the use of force and coercion from the family members finally admitted to having a problem during one of the interactive sessions and even broke down. Through this, the group was able to understand and recognize the unique workings of every individuals mind from a psychodynamic viewpoint. Later on what happened was a series of heart to heart sessions where every member opened up about the most innate and confidential issues they have encountered due to drug abuse. This broadens my view of therapy as it is through it that I was able to understand the real meaning of healing through sharing.

From the existing literature, diversity brings about both negative and positive changes in a group setting regarding inspiring creativity and reduces information distribution and cohesion. I was able to come to a full understanding of both group conflict, and group engagement in that most participants developed emotions of guilt after sharing their struggle with abuse especially the client that ignited the session. This is some of the effects that accompany closure (Brandler& Roman, 2016). On the other hand, it enabled them to get past the fear of being victimized, and this brought about a quick route to recovery.

Group leaders should be aware of their strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities and the impact it has on the other group members. The vulnerability is referred to the quality of being easily hurt or attacked by others. Strengths are the dominant reasoning and feeling that come naturally to a person while on the other hand, weaknesses refer to the things that drain a person and he or she is not good at. I find strength in admitting one's vulnerabilities and weaknesses (Dewane, 2006). In this case, the initiator of the clinical moment felt vulnerable at first, and that is why he could not open up, but with time he chose to be strong enough to open up to everyone. This is seen in all participants as they were strong enough to wash away the feelings of shame guilt that comes with closure as they shared their past that they felt ahold remain confidential.

Ethical dilemmas inherent in social group works are also known as ethical conflicts. NASW code of ethics states that a social worker should always make a decision that benefits the client in spite the fact that they may not make such decisions themselves in their personal lives. One ethical dilemma pertains receiving gifts from clients as a way of showing their gratitude. The principles that come into conflict here is the value of human relationships which states that not accepting the gift taints the rapport created with time and may make the client feel rejected (Nancy, 2017). The principle in conflict with this is integrity which states that since your job revolves around helping others, we should maintain professional boundaries with clients.

The takeaways from the clinical moment are that admitting one's disorder or problem is often the first step to healing. This is because once one accepts his addiction to a certain substance, that is the point where he will seek ways to recover and be open minded about the different channels that are often used. It also enhanced by belief in the power of interaction and sharing over lectures since it's through one persons decision to open up that made all the other participants including the group leader pen up to. Psychoeducational groups are essential in every society as it helps people get past their addictions and the terrible effects brought by it.

Reference,

Nancy. (2017).The continuing Central Importance of Analytic Therapy in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

David, D. (2016). Underappreciated Aspects of Analytic Therapy: Gratitude and Compassion.

Brandler, S., & Roman, C.P. (2016). Group work: skills and strategies for effective interventions, third edition (pp. 1-25). New York, NY: Rout ledge.

Brown, N. W. (2014). Facilitating challenging groups: Leaderless, open, and single session groups (pp. 113). New York, NY: Rout ledge.

Dewane, C. J. (2006). Use of self: A primer revisited. Clinical Social Work Journal,

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