CPSY 660 Kathleen Ritter

Fall 2008 Office: (661) 654-3062

kritter@csub.edu

California State University, Bakersfield

School of Education

THEORIES OF GROUP COUNSELING

(4 quarter units)

Catalog Description:

Focus on the major approaches to group counseling. Emphasis on small and large
group processes and involvement in experiential activities designed to relate the
clinical process to theoretical explanations. Prerequisite: CPSY 650.

Goals:

1. Understand principles of small, task, and large group facilitation including

group process dynamics and components, developmental stage theories, and
group member roles and behaviors.
2. Develop a personal perspective on the facilitation of group process from the
reflective roles of observer and participant.
3. Recognize the influence of diagnostic and demographic variables such as
ethnicity, gender, social class, and sexual orientation, on group process and
interaction.

Objectives:

1. Utilize research and theoretical concepts to explain group process.

2. Analyze the ongoing process of a small group and provide accurate
assessment of the dynamics and leader interventions.
3. Identify and illustrate the therapeutic factors of a group and specific
interactions that facilitate group process.
4. Develop the self of the reflective group counselor by participating in small
group interactions.

Content:

1. Theories of group counseling and pertinent research and literature

2. Process and intervention strategies
3. Developmental stages
4. Professional and ethical considerations
5. Selection criteria
6. Evaluation of effectiveness
7. Cultural and diversity issues

Assignments:

1. Participate in a group
 2. Observe a group
3. Write weekly process papers that relate observations to the theoretical
literature
4. Provide feedback to group facilitators
5. Complete a research report in which 10 literature-based concepts are
discussed

Course References:

Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2006). Groups: Process and practice (7th ed.). Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Yalom, I. D. (with M. Leszcz). (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy
(5th ed.). New York: Basic Books.

On Wednesday, September 24th, you will hand in a paper (10 points) with verbatim
illustrations from the September 19th group of 10 of McWhirter's facilitator skills
selected from the following list:

Perception Check
Reflection of Feeling
Paraphrase
Empathic Understanding
Linking
Bridging
Intensifying Comfort
Intensifying Feelings/Excitement
Ego-Enhansive
Deflection of Content
Deflection of Feeling
Discouraging Gossip
Focusing on Here/Now (defocusing there/then)
Encouraging Ownership

Please bring to class on Wednesday, September 17th, recording sheets of your own
design onto which you can write verbatim illustrations of 10 of the above-listed facilitator
behaviors that you observe during that group session. Please study the descriptions in
advance since you will be shown concrete illustrations during the first half of group only.
You will be "on your own" during the last half. Your paper will consist of 10 headings
and 10 corresponding short verbatim illustrations of facilitator interventions.

[For additional insight into 18 specific group leadership skill competencies (ASGW,
2000), see Corey and Corey (2006) pp. 57-61.]

Course Expectations:

This course is primarily experiential in nature and, by virtue of your enrollment, each of
you has consented to participate. As is well documented in the literature, experience
alone is unproductive without related cognitive processing. Therefore, you are being
asked to prepare 6 papers of no more than 2 typewritten pages each during this class.
The purpose of these papers will be to "tie" your experience or perception of the group
process to the literature. (Note: the emphasis is upon process as contrasted with
content.)

A secondary purpose is to give you the opportunity to develop a skill that each of you
will use if you are ever to facilitate your own group; that of researching some
phenomena that actually occurred in the group thereby giving yourself a better
understanding of the processes involved.

After either the Monday participation or Wednesday observation group, you will refer to
resource material in order to explain the theoretical nature of one (or rarely) two of the
most prominent PROCESS questions that arose from the day's experience. Please
write the question that your paper is attempting to answer at the top of your paper. You
should refer to at least two sources per paper and cite each source consulted. Cite
paraphrasing as well as direct quotes. Use APA citation style in the text - i.e.,
(Yalom, 2005, p. 14) - and provide an APA-style bibliography at the end (APA, 5th ed.,
2001). Points will be awarded on the basis of depth of analysis. Work with the ideas;
don't simply copy verbatim; and build a case from the literature (and not from your
opinions) to answer the question. Please interweave your observations with relevant
literature.

The papers will be handed in on October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22,
October 29, and November 5. PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THESE DATES
ONLY. Each paper will be assigned a point value of 0-10 (60 points total).

GROUP COUNSELING FINAL EXAMINATION

During the course of the class, you will be reading about various aspects of the group
process. Each person perceives events in his or her own way and, therefore, the topics
you choose to research in your weekly papers will be unique to you. In order to provide
for a commonalty of cognitive input and also to ascertain that you don't "miss" any
major areas of group functioning in your research, you are being asked to respond to
the following topics. Write a brief (two-page) paper on each topic. The purpose of
these mini-papers is to summarize research, and then to relate this literature to an
event in one of your groups (if asked to do so by the question). Head each of the mini-
papers with the topic you have researched. Please staple all 10 papers together (20
pages total) and hand them in before or on Monday, November 17 th (3 points each:
30 total possible).

Since different writers take different views of the same phenomena or explain similar
events or dynamics in dissimilar ways, no two of your papers will be exactly alike.
Appropriate selection of descriptive materials and clarity of expression are important. I
will be looking specifically for depth of analysis, as opposed to mere repetition of
content. (In other words, you are not to copy verbatim entire sections or quotes from
textual material.) Use at least two sources per question.

Document each major point (i.e., Corey & Corey, 2006, p. 45) and provide one
bibliography at the end of the 20 pages. Use only information from your two texts,
current journal articles, or the newest texts from other authors that you may borrow
from my office.
1. Discuss why it is important for effective group development to establish appropriate
norms early in the group. Provide at least two illustrations from one of your groups.

2. Discuss member’s perception of leader(s) during the three major stages of group
development and specific facilitative tasks the leader performs in each phase to
refocus the group back on itself. Provide concrete illustrations from your groups for
each of the three stages.

3. Discuss specific structuring interventions used by a leader to deal with: (a) a

monopolistic member; and ( b) a silent member. Use facilitator illustrations from
your groups for each of the two “problem” members.

4. Discuss the effect of subgrouping on the total group process and describe specific
leader interventions to work effectively with this phenomenon. [Cite two specific
instances from your groups]

5. Discuss differences in facilitator focus between content and process when leading
small (counseling or therapy) or large (task or psychoeducation) groups. Provide
illustrations of the use of 1) a content and 2) a process focus in the groups with
which you were involved (two separate illustrations needed).

6. Discuss relevant ethical considerations in establishing a group in the kind of setting

in which you see yourself working. Be as specific as possible.

7. Discuss the concept of structuring, versus the use of structured exercises.

Distinguish between the two and provide a rationale for the facilitative use of each.
Provide an example of both concepts from your groups.

8. Discuss leader self-disclosure and provide two specific illustrations of situations

from one of your groups where this was facilitative (use verbatims or paraphrases,
if possible).

9. Discuss issues and therapist interventions related to: (a) member transference to
the counselor or therapist; and (b) therapist countertransference to a member. Cite
one specific instance from your groups.

10. Discuss the issues of process illumination and consolidation of learning as related
to member gain or growth. Provide a separate discussion and a specific illustration
from one of your groups for each of these two concepts.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING REQUIREMENTS

The Master of Science in Counseling Psychology is sequentially arranged and includes an

emphasis on principles of experiential learning. Students are expected to participate from both
counselor and client perspectives in individual, dyadic, and group exercises. Accordingly, the
Counseling Psychology program places a particular value on personal exploration in training
and supervision. This philosophy is reiterated in two of the program’s stated objectives.
Enrollment in the Program implies student consent to engage in individual and group learning
activities of its various courses.
This informed consent is particularly important in the two group courses in the CPSY program
since students are expected to be a participant in a weekly experiential group. Numerous
authorities in the field contend that being a member of a group is “indispensable” (Corey &
Corey, 2006, p. 90) for effective group leadership. Collectively, they agree that leaders are
much more successful and helpful if they have experienced the range of emotions and events
that are common for members of a group. While some of these may be uncomfortable, they
are clearly a necessary component of learning.

The group experience is designed to assist students in encountering and exploring personal
issues that may impede their effectiveness as a therapist. In addition to this opportunity for
self-exploration, students will be expected to provide feedback to others as well as to receive
their perceptions. Members are free to decide what aspects of their personal life they are
willing to explore and can, at any time, decline to participate in the discussion. Like the Coreys
(p. 91), however, your instructor would like for you to stretch” yourself thereby creating
opportunities for you and others to learn.

Your instructor will serve as the facilitator of the small group experience and will take care to
insure that the focus of the group is on training for effective leadership. While the process can
be therapeutic, it is not meant to substitute for personal psychotherapy, although issues
certainly will arise that students may wish to explore in their own counseling. Care will be taken
to balance the multiple roles the instructor necessarily must play when teaching a group
counseling class. In order to increase objectivity on the part of the leader, every session of the
small group experience will be videotaped, and observers will be present at all meetings. A
process observer will also be present with those watching the small group meeting. Finally,
the grade in the CPSY 660 class will be determined by the quality of work done on the
assigned papers, and not on the basis of any content or processes that occur in the small
group or observation experience.

CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENT

It is important for students to remember that they are enrolled in a program designed to train
professional counselors. The use of case vignettes, live clients, and student experiences are
essential to this process. It is, thus, expected that students will conduct themselves as
professionals and maintain the confidentiality of all client or student material generated or
presented in any program class. A violation of this ethical requirement of confidentiality will
result in faculty review of a student’s progress in the program.

GRADE REQUIREMENT

This course requires the attainment of a B- or better grade. The class must be repeated until
such grade is achieved.