Group Facilitation: Engagement and Authority

This assignment addresses Outpatients – Part 1 of the video, Understanding Group Psychotherapy Series, which you completed in this unit’s studies. You will focus your observation on group engagement and issues of in-group authority.

Assignment Description
For your assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You have been accepted as a student in a special seminar on the formation and ongoing dynamics of a therapy group. This seminar is hosted by Dr. Irving Yalom, the author of many foundational texts on both group therapy and existential psychotherapy. The seminar, as Dr. Yalom explains, is a simulation intended to present a variety of issues and situations common to all therapy groups. It is centered in the individual experiences of the participants and shaped by the dynamics of the group as a whole, facilitators included.

The difference in this particular seminar is that all students will play the part of a supervisor; they are expected to pay attention to particular aspects of each section and analyze facilitator performance, and then offer comments, ask questions, and make suggestions in relation to how the facilitators, Dr. Yalom and his colleague, Joan, handle the aspects in question.

Assignment Instructions
Your assignment should include the following:

Short summary of the sessions.
Part 1: Group Engagement.
Description of all four observation parameters, noting specific strengths and suggestions for improvement:
Facilitator efforts to create a strong group foundation in the first session.
Facilitator use of empathy and other interpersonal skills.
Facilitator use of self-regulation to monitor personal values, beliefs, and behaviors that could limit effectiveness.
Facilitator recognition of diversity within the group.
Handling of co-facilitation.
Part 2: Group Authority.
Description of all three observation parameters, noting specific strengths and suggestions for improvement:
Facilitator efforts to help the group define what makes a group meeting successful for them.
Facilitation of discussion around confidentiality.
Facilitation of understanding who has the authority in the group therapy setting.
Conclusion.
Analysis of facilitators’ overall performance.
Explanation of facilitators’ overall strengths and suggestions.
A good supervisor should be able to back up his or her observations and suggestions with a body of evidence. Keeping this in mind, support your analyses with citations from both peer-reviewed literature and your textbook.

Minimum of 5 scholarly resources
Watch video
Psychotherapy.net. (2006). Understanding group psychotherapy series [Video]. Kanopy.
To prepare for this unit’s assignment, watch Outpatients – Part 1.