Group Work Approaches Related to Setting II

Location: CBC Campus - SWL 108
Time: Wednesdays from 5:30-8:15
Week 08: 03/04/20
Topic and Content Area: Group Work Approaches Related to Setting II
Reading Assignment: Garvin et al. (2017) Chapters 17, 19, and 22
Assignments Due:

• Assignment 03a: Informal Class Presentation Due Wednesday 03/04/20 during class
• Assignment 02: Research Paper to Inform Group Practice due Sunday 03/08/20 by 11:55 PM on My Heritage
  Other Important Information: Informal Class Presentation Due During Class Week 08

• Informal class presentations
• Activity attempting to change perceptions on discrimination
• TED Talk about addiction
• Group interventions for partner abuse

As a group, students will share with their classmates what their plan is to implement their group (i.e. when and where), and what the content that they are going to do for their groups. These presentations should not be longer than five minutes

Chapter 17 Group-Based Approaches to Preventing Adolescent Substance Abuse: The State of Social Work Science, David Córdova, Francheska Alers-Rojas, Brian Perron, Christopher P. Salas-Wright, & Michael G. Vaughn Chapter 19 Groups for Reducing Intergroup Conflicts, David Bargal Chapter 22 Group Interventions for Partner Abuse, Daniel G. Saunders

In the Groups for Reducing Intergroup Conflicts, they discuss groups completed in war torn and conflict laden areas. There is intergroup conflict that is common in the united states, such as discrimination.

Speed Hating: A Date with Discrimination

• Something I was taught by creators at national RHA meeting
• Will have a brief period of time to read the scenario, then act out the conversation

[Whole Class Activity] Have everybody move chairs and tables into speed dating set up…

[Activity] Have everybody complete the speed dating topic.

• Something I was taught by creators at national RHA meeting
• Will have a brief period of time to read the scenario, then act out the conversation

Debriefing

• What did you think of the activity
• Any areas that it made you think differently?

While the text is describes a number of types of groups (Interactional group psychotherapy, Social Skills Training, Cognitive-Behavioral Groups, and Disease-and-recovery Group Therapy), I want to expose you to other ways of thinking about treatment and ideas that look at the problem from a non-traditional view…

[Whole Class Activity] Watch the TED Talk by Johann Hari (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs).

With partner abuse being such a widespread social, health, and mental health problem, looking to groups to address these complex problems. There are a number of intervention methods that get implemented. These include:

• Skills training: Group leaders model positive behaviors through role plays, followed by the role-play rehearsal of new behaviors by group members. The goal is to enhance relationship skills in in order to replace abusive and other negative behaviors.
• Cognitive Restructuring: Assumes faulty patterns of thinking lead to negative emotions, which lead to abusive behavior. Focuses on restructuring of these thoughts to reduce anger and fear. Focused on addressing the abuser
• Sex Role Resocialization: Focus on helping men consider gender equality and greater flexibility in gender roles.
• Awareness of Control Tactics: Build awareness of control tactics used to gain or maintain dominance over one’s partner. Includes things such as isolation, demeaning language, control of finances, and other means of control
• Family Systems: work with dealing with repeated cycles of interaction that may culminate in abuse.
• Trauma Therapy: Work on healing from previous trauma, and developing empathy.

Social workers can teach women about assertiveness and how to develop assertiveness skills.

[Discussion] How many of you have some difficulty with assertiveness? In what ways?

Assertiveness involves verbal and nonverbal behavior that is straightforward but not offensive. There are generally thought to be three different styles.

• Aggressive Style (“The Persecutor”)
  • Answers before the other person is through talking, speak loudly and abusively, glare at the other person, speak “past the issue (accusing, blaming, demeaning”), vehemently expound your feelings and opinions, Value yourself “above others,” and hurt others to avoid hurting yourself
  • Dominating, manipulating, and humiliating others
  • Frequently hostile in interactions or ignores
• Nonassertive / Passive Style (“The Martyr”)
  • Likely to hesitate, speak softly, look away, avoid the issue, agree regarding-less of own feelings, not express opinions, value yourself “below” others, and hurt yourself to avoid any chance of hurting others
  • Primary aim is to keep others happy
  • Put aside her own needs and wants in deference to the wants of others because she doesn’t see herself as important
• Assertive Style (“The Balancer”)
  • You will answer spontaneously, speak with a conversational tone and volume, looking at the other person, speak to the issue, openly express your personal feelings and opinions, value yourself equally to others, and hurt neither yourself nor others
  • Balance her needs and the needs of others
  • Involves consideration bot yourself and others

Assertiveness training helps people to distinguish among assertive, aggressive, and nonassertive responses.The following are steps to help establish assertive behavior:

1. Help client scrutinize actions

2. Ask client to make a record of situations

3. Help client select and focus on some specific instances

4. Help client analyze how reacted

   • Eye contact
   • Body posture
   • Gestures
   • Facial expressions
   • Voice tone, inflection, and volume
   • Timing
   • Content

5. Help client identify a role model and examine how that person handled a situation requiring assertiveness
6. Assist your client in identifying a range of other new responses for situations where she lacks assertiveness

7. Ask your client to picture herself in the identified problematic situation
8. Help your client practice the way she has envisioned herself being more assertive (role playing, unresolved real life situations)
9. Review new assertive responses

10. Continue practicing steps seven, eight, and nine until comfortable.
11. Direct client to try out her new assertiveness approach in real-life situations

12. Encourage client to continue to expand her assertiveness repertoire until such behavior becomes part of her personal interactive style
13. Reinforce your client for her achievements in becoming more assertive

[Demonstration] We will imagine that this was an assertiveness training group. Process a real life example with a student where they were either nonassertive or aggressive.

Process the event (Eye contact, Body posture, Gestures, Facial expressions, vocal [voice tone, inflection, and volume], Timing, Content)

What are things that you could have done differently

Visualization activity

Role playing or Unresolved real life situations

[Activity] Help an elbow partner process through a real life conflict where they were either nonassertive or aggressive.