SWK 522 Group Case Study Assignment 1
: SWK 522 Group Case Study Assignment 1
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Group Case Study Assignment 1
SWK 522-Reference: Chapter 3: Understandin" rel="nofollow">ing Group Dynamics. Chapter 4: Leadership. Chapter 8: Assessment-- Toseland, R. W. & Rivas, R. F. (2017) An in" rel="nofollow">introduction to
group work practice. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Answer these questions and reference Chapter 3, 4, & 8 INCLUDE PAGE NUMBERS.
Beth is a social worker at a community mental health program in" rel="nofollow">in a large city. She provides in" rel="nofollow">individual and group therapy in" rel="nofollow">in an outpatient mental health program. In
addition to mental health and substance abuse problems, most of Beth’s clients have anger management issues and have spent time in" rel="nofollow">in prison. The purpose of the program
is to help clients to alleviate and/or cope with co-morbid mental health and substance abuse problems and their tempers that have contributed to their committin" rel="nofollow">ing
crimes. One of the groups that Beth leads is for female offenders with histories of violent behavior. The group consists of ten members. Beth prefers her groups to
have eight members, yet even though these clients are mandated by the legal system to attend all treatment requirements, in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing group, rarely do all members show
up. The group has met five times so far. On most days between five and seven women attend and a core of five members has attended each of the first five sessions. Beth
starts each week by askin" rel="nofollow">ing the women how they are doin" rel="nofollow">ing, and if anyone would like to share what happened durin" rel="nofollow">ing their week. She believes that this helps members to
take ownership for their own treatment. For the past two weeks, members have not spoken in" rel="nofollow">in response to her in" rel="nofollow">invitation. By pickin" rel="nofollow">ing up on nonverbal cues, Beth believes
that Carol wants to share, but that somethin" rel="nofollow">ing is stoppin" rel="nofollow">ing her. She remembers a few weeks ago, when Carol was sharin" rel="nofollow">ing an emotionally charged issue from her past
(in" rel="nofollow">incest), that she immediately stopped in" rel="nofollow">in the middle of her story. When she stopped, she averted her eyes from one side of the group. One of the members of the group
appeared to be starin" rel="nofollow">ing at her very in" rel="nofollow">intently, with a smile on her face that Beth and other group members noticed. Beth, a young, white social worker decided to conduct
a check in" rel="nofollow">in go round to see how the members were doin" rel="nofollow">ing, to get them to share at least some in" rel="nofollow">information, and to break what she perceived to be tension in" rel="nofollow">in the room. Beth
decided to start the go round with Mary so that it ended on Luisa, the Latin" rel="nofollow">ina woman who had been starin" rel="nofollow">ing so in" rel="nofollow">intently at Carol while she spoke about her childhood. Beth
asked the members to rate how they were feelin" rel="nofollow">ing and doin" rel="nofollow">ing this past week, on a scale from one to ten, ten bein" rel="nofollow">ing fantastic, one bein" rel="nofollow">ing terrible. The majority of the
women in" rel="nofollow">in the group reported numbers between 3 and 6. However, Janelle an African American woman who suffers from bipolar disorder reported a 2. Luisa reported a nin" rel="nofollow">ine.
When the go around stopped, Beth asked Janelle if she would like to share about why she scored her week so low. Scannin" rel="nofollow">ing the group to gauge the responses of the
members, Beth noticed that several members were lookin" rel="nofollow">ing at Luisa, and that they were shiftin" rel="nofollow">ing uncomfortably in" rel="nofollow">in their chairs. Janelle seemed to look at Luisa before
decidin" rel="nofollow">ing if she wanted to share or not. Luisa said, “I don’t thin" rel="nofollow">ink we should focus on people who had bad weeks. I had a great week, and I want to talk about it. Why do
we always have to focus on the garbage? I mean, I had a messed up week in" rel="nofollow">in some ways, but that’s life, why should we talk about it, you know.” Beth thanked Luisa for
speakin" rel="nofollow">ing up, and told her that she understood her feelin" rel="nofollow">ings about discussin" rel="nofollow">ing negative events. These could be very pain" rel="nofollow">inful to share, yet she believed that sometimes
people needed to get thin" rel="nofollow">ings off their chest, or get feedback about thin" rel="nofollow">ings so they can be changed. Tomika, a young African American woman with a history of bein" rel="nofollow">ing
sexually abused, started to laugh uncontrollably. She said that she had the funniest thin" rel="nofollow">ing happen to her durin" rel="nofollow">ing the week, and somethin" rel="nofollow">ing Jill said had remin" rel="nofollow">inded her of
this. She started to get up from her chair and began to do an impression of a friend. Carol began to cry and Luisa started to get up and leave the group. Beth asked
for everyone to sit down. She said that she understood that the group was goin" rel="nofollow">ing through a difficult period, and that it was important to figure out what was goin" rel="nofollow">ing on.
She asked the group if they would take a few min" rel="nofollow">inutes to sit in" rel="nofollow">in silence so that “we could try to get ourselves together.” Jill and Tomika sat down and the group slipped
in" rel="nofollow">into momentary silence.
After havin" rel="nofollow">ing read chapter 3 and 4 in" rel="nofollow">in your text and havin" rel="nofollow">ing completed the previous exercise on group dynamics, take a few min" rel="nofollow">inutes to write down your observations of the
group dynamics.
Answer the followin" rel="nofollow">ing questions in" rel="nofollow">in APA format to help guide you in" rel="nofollow">in your assessment
1. What are the communication and in" rel="nofollow">interaction patterns in" rel="nofollow">in the group?
2. Describe the group’s cohesion.
3. Describe the norms of the group.
4. Describe the rules of the group.
5. Discuss the various roles different group members play.
6. Discuss status hierarchies that may be operatin" rel="nofollow">ing.
7. How would you describe the culture of the group?
8. What did Beth do well as the leader of the group? What needs improvement?
9. How do you thin" rel="nofollow">ink that ethnicity/race may have affected the development and current functionin" rel="nofollow">ing of the group?
10. What would it be like to lead such a group?
11. What would you do differently?