Groups, Body Image, Sexual Identity January 31, 2010

Seminar National Capital Region Chapter of Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (NCR CCPA) presents: Generational Differences in the Workplace Saturday, February 12, 9am to 12pm St Paul University $35 for students

Today Groups Group Work practice At Risk Populations: Body Image Sexual Identity Group Facilitation

Group Types Education Discussion Task Growth and experiential Counselling and therapy Support Self-help

Role of the Leader Determined partly by type of group Process functions Content functions

Stages of a Group Beginning Working or middle Closing or ending Storming and transitions

Practice Form groups, names on envelope Pick a role from the envelope Try to stick to it through out You are a high school lunch-time group about study skills

How did it go? Leaders? Group participants?

Problems of Groups Group members may try to: Skip topic to topic Try to dominate discussion Be chit-chatty instead of personal and focused Attend sporadically Be shy and withdrawn Get angry at leader or each other Try to force others to speak Try to preach morals and religion to group Be resistant because of forced attendance Dislike other members Stop attending group

Strengths of Groups Efficiency More viewpoints Belonging Feedback Vicarious learning Practicing in a setting close to real life

Disadvantages of a Group Confidentiality difficult to enforce and may affect disclosure Requires more skill and competence than one-on-one Forces conformity and peer pressure Members receive less individual help and attention Leader has less control and influence Casualties can occur Kotter & Kotter (2007)

At Risk Populations Body Image and Eating Disorders Mainly females but male population rising It is ok to be who you are! Also ties into mental health

At Risk Populations Sexual Identity Population: ~10% Schools: ~1 – 3% Almost 21% of American males and 18% of American females reported homosexual behaviour or attraction since age 15. (Schaefer & DiGeronimo, 1999) Different responses, over and under 15 Also relates to suicide, bullying

Sources Jacobs, E.E., Masson, R.L., Harvill, R.L. (1998). Group Counselling: Strategies and Skills. Pacific Grove, CA: Brook/Cole Publishing Company. Kottler, J.A. (1993). Advanced Group Leadership. Pacific Grove, CA: Brook/Cole Publishing Company. Schaefer, C.E. (1999). How to Talk to Teens About Really Important Things. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Today’s readings Gladding, ST. (2003). Group work: A counselling specialty (4 th ed.) (pp ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Kottler, J.A. & Kottler, E. (2007). Ch5: Counseling in the classroom(pp.77-94). Counselling skills for teachers (2 nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. O’Dea, J.A. (2004). School-based health education strategies for the improvement of body image and prevention of eating proble3ms: An overview of safe and successful interventions. Health Education, 105(1), Thompson, S.I. & Johnston, L. (2003). Risk factors of gay, lesbian and bisexual adolescents\; Review of empirical literature and practice implicaitons. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Next Week Mental Health, Crisis Intervention & Suicide: Mike Bane, Chair, YSB Skills Assignment Due Group Facilitators: – Samantha Worth – Jen Martin – Attila Bertalan – Dori Koutlemanis – Emily Ormond – Katherine Joberty