Description
Respond to a colleague who has a different response to Talia. Discuss the benefits of using a strengths-based strategy in this group setting.
Response to Betty
Your description of the purpose of this group.
In the Johnson video, Talia recalls the incident at a fraternal party. She was drunk and ask Eric to take her home, but because she was drunk, he took advantage of her and rape her (Laureate Education, 2013). Talia is in a group of teenagers who have been sexually abused or raped by other boys. The purpose of the group for members to share their stories and identify the commonalities about their abuse.
Explain the use of empowerment and strengths-based strategies.
The social worker in the case is allowing the members of the group to open up and share their stories. This openness enables them the members to believe in their strengths and not focus on their trauma. The strengths-based strategies used in the group is for them share their thoughts and understand that they are not alone. They each possess the strengths when they openly share the pain of their experiences. An example encouraging the members and empowering them is to use statements as “Expressing yourself about this painful issue really shows your courage” (Toseland, 2017). Some of the girls in the group are in the middle stages of the group process and are empowered to share with Talia that they understand where she is, and they share the same rape experiences. They are now using their pain to encourage Talia.
How does “positive regard” impact the group session in this video?
The worker in the video used the statement “Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your support,” and it is important in a group to open and share their emotions. The use of positive regard indicates that she is expressing genuineness, warmth, and empathy to the members of the group. Rogers termed the use of these therapeutic qualities as positive regard (Faber, 2011). The purpose of positive regard by the social worker in this video creates an atmosphere that depicts the therapeutic relationship that she has built with the group members. This therapeutic relationship allows the members to gain the understanding that they are worth the workers time which helps them to trust and share their experiences.
How might you respond to Talia when she voices her skepticism of the usefulness of group sharing?
Talia is skeptic about the usefulness of the group sharing their experiences because she feels betrayed, hurt, and blames herself for allowing this to happen. She is also a new member of the group and has not gained the full understanding of the therapeutic effect of sharing traumatic events with others. My respond to Talia will be “I have not experienced the pain that you went through, and I can only imagine what you are going through right now.” “However, I have worked with several groups who felt the same way as you are, but incorporating therapeutic models they have been able to pull through.” “I hope we can work together on this issues.”
The use of social relations model (SOREMO) allows the client to share information with the hopes of gaining positive feedback from group members that can help therapeutically. According to Piper et al. (2006), a therapist uses SOREMO to answer questions about characteristics of the perceiver, the person receiving the feedback, an interaction between the characteristics of the perceiver and the person receiving the feedback, characteristics of the group, and any errors. The use of the social relations model also enables the worker to observe the intrapersonal relationship of the group members and how they can intervene based on the dysfunctional or irrational belief system of the members.
References
Farber, B. A., & Doolin, E. M. (2011). Positive regard. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 58–64.
Piper, W. E., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Lamarche, C., & Joyce, A. S. (2006). Use of the social relations model by
group therapists: Application and commentary. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy,
56(2), 191–209.
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013b). Johnson (Episode 3) [Video file]. In Sessions. Baltimore, MD:
Producer. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
