The New Social Worker Vol. 20, No. 2, Spring 2013 | Page 12
Groups
Don’t Overlook the Basics:
Managing Many Groups at Once
by Loretta Hartley-Bangs, LCSW
I
n the course of my day as clinical
supervisor of an outpatient substance
abuse treatment program, I have
the opportunity to witness and facilitate
group work among a varied population. As this program treats all ages with
specialty tracks for seniors, as well as
adolescents, my day can include running a recovery group for those 60 and
older struggling with substance abuse, a
therapy group for adult women in early
recovery, as well as a group for adolescents with substance abuse issues attending an intensive outpatient program. In
addition, I provide group supervision for
the adolescent treatment team.
I am always struck by the commonalities among all these groups—the
essentials, if you will, that are needed for
all groups to function and how easy it is
to overlook the basics.
Regardless of age, role, treatment
need, or focus, all individuals in groups
need the following:
Safety is not only emotional, but
physical. Social workers have always
been confronted with utilizing space that
may not have been designed with their
work in mind. Flexibility and creativity is
needed to make the best use of the space
available to provide the best working
environment to help our clients. Because
this agency treats an array of ages, we
need to be aware of the interaction of
minors and adults. All ages share a building. Although they are not in treatment
together generally, they encounter each
other in the waiting room, hallways, and
so forth. From an administrative perspective, this can be daunting. Because
we treat minors, we have an additional
responsibility to provide for safety that
goes beyond the basic safety needs for
clinical work. Couple that with the issues
that arise among male and female adolescents in treatment.
However, as the result of this sharing, I was able to facilitate a one-session,
intergenerational group with members
of the Senior Recovery Program and the
Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).
Seeing each other in the building,
each group was curious about the other.
This led to a wonderful dialogue between
the two groups and identified for me
the common issues for all persons in recovery despite their ages. The impact of
substance use on families and the power
of social peer pressure were identified
by both age groups as their primary
struggles in recovery. All clients involved
seemed to have developed a new respect
for the other age group through being able to identify with the other, thus
dispelling myths. A new respect was apparent from seeing how they interacted
and spoke about what they learned.
Boundaries are not only a clinical issue, but a physical one. Because
of increasing demand to treat more
clients with mental illness in addition to
substance abuse (co-occurring disorders),
the agency has had to develop additional
services, including more groups. Once
we are able to develop appropriate types
of groups, we need to be aware of space
issues. A newly-formed group for those
with co-occurring disorders revealed
the need to allow more space between
members who may be struggling with
paranoia, trauma histories, and anxiety
disorders. A room that may be of sufficient size to hold a group of 10 members
primarily dealing with substance abuse
may be too small for 10 clients dealing
with more psychiatric issues.
Members of all groups need to know
that what they say stays in the room, literally. Most buildings are not acoustically
designed to keep noise down, so we need
to make accommodations such as sound
machines or relocating group to a more
private area, if available.
Clear communication is necessary
not only within the treatment session, but
throughout the building.
All rooms should be clearly identified. Because we treat older clients, as
well, it is important that the building is
handicapped accessible and all signs are
large enough to enable visually impaired
clients to read them. All staff needs to
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Spring 2013
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A safe place
Respect for each other
Clear boundaries
Clear communication
Clear roles
The New Social Worker
know what the room is being used for to
prevent disruptions and delays because
a clinician is using a room that a colleague was expecting to use at a certain
time. Clients should expect to be seen
in the same office or group room each
session. Consider the disorganization that
one’s mental illness can cause for them.
The clinician and agency need to be
organized, so we don’t add to the client’s
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