3 Comments 6-2, 7-1, 7-2: Group Leadership Skills

3 COMMENTS 6-2, 7-1, 7-2
Student’s Name:
Professor’s Name:
Course Title:
Date:
Question 6-2: Some of the group leadership skills that a group leader needs to acquire or refine in order to lead his or her group effectively include: active listening, clarifying skills, empathy, evaluating skills, and linking skills. As a group leader, it is very crucial to learn or refine how to pay full attention to others as they communicate. Active listening involves more than just listening to words. A leader must absorb and sense underlying message and also note subtle changes in voice and expression of the speakers.
Group leaders must recognize barriers that interfere with their attention paying skill. Such barriers include: evaluating and judging others without listening to their side of the story and interrupting others before they have finished speaking. The skill of clarifying focuses on main underlying issues in a group in order to solve conflicts and confusing feelings. The skill of clarifying can be learnt by first learning how to listen actively. Empathy lies in being able to identify with others, especially in a culturally-diverse group (Brabender, Fallon, & Smolar, 2004). To learn or refine this skill, the leader must openly feel another’s experiences while maintaining his or her uniqueness. The linking skill involves an interactional focus where the leader insists on a member-to-member communication process rather than a leader-to-member process. This skill fosters multiple member involvement. To learn or refine this skill, the group leader must initiate interactions with members and be insightful in finding means of relating with other members. Finally, evaluation skill involves assessing the success of ongoing processes as well as the dynamics of the group after every group session. This skill is learnt or refined through self-reflection on teachings or activities performed throughout a session.
Question 7-1: A parent-child group would be desired where parent-child interaction therapy (or PCIT) is desired. In particular, forming a PCIT group helps at-risk and abused children (between ages 2 – 8) as well as their parents or guardians. In such a group, the group therapists teach parents and guardians as they interact with their children. In this way, parents or guardians le...