Working with groups

Abstract

The group is a closed group consisting of ten members of both genders and two co-leaders. All the other members have similar kinds of difficulties to Caroline. Initially she finds the group to be a little frightening and exposing, but she gradually feels able to trust the others and surprises herself by some of the things she discloses in the sessions. In particular, she begins to understand her relationships with significant others in her life. The skilled facilitators prompt her to make associations between how she behaves with her parents and how she behaves in the group. These insights are very powerful for Caroline, and help her to understand her early experiences and how they relate to her current difficulties in relationships. The group context brought the issues to the surface with a therapeutic impact that individual counselling was unable to achieve.

Caroline is a single parent of two girls aged five and two. Since the birth of her second daughter life has seemed a struggle. She has lost much of her self-confidence, feels anxious in social situations and has periods of depression when it takes all her effort just to keep the family routine going each day. Caroline has had some individual counselling from a community mental health nurse. This has helped to an extent, but the CMHN’s suggestion that she joins a new group at the local Community Mental Health Centre seems a good, if somewhat daunting, opportunity. Caroline arranges for a relative to look after the children once a week and agrees to attend the sessions, which last for two hours over a period of six months.